Citation

Ferrari M, Schick A. Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Department of Public Mental Health, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00127-020-01858-0

PMID

32377761

Abstract

As stated by Paracelsus centuries ago: “Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy.” This maxim, deeply embedded in common sense, has also influenced risk assessment in many areas. For instance, the growing use of digital technologies over the past decades by children and adolescents has led to concerns among parents, educators and health providers for their potentially negative, or “poisonous”, impact. Their concerns, echoed by those of researchers who also tend to view digital technology use as problematic, focus on the consequences of digital technology for health and well-being but most especially for the mental health of young people at a sensitive phase of development. Seeking to establish much needed scientific evidence may increase understanding on this topic, while guiding policy and decision-making for the benefit of everyone concerned about the use of digital technology among youth.

In this context, the publication of Amy Orben’s review of reviews on the association between digital technologies and adolescent psychological well-being in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology is important and timely ...

One of the greatest challenges facing researchers interested in understanding the impact of digital technology use on adolescent mental health concerns how to define “the problem” and the selection of appropriate variables for study. As Orben found, most studies are based on an overly simplistic definition of screen time, as the amount of time a user spends interacting with screens within a specific time frame. This conceptualization is, in our view, incomplete, since screen time involves a range of interactions with digital technology and activities such as watching, reading, browsing or interacting on social media and gaming. Social media use, as screen time activity involves a variety of actions that may be used in either active or passive ways...

Language: en