Michael Regilio

Multiple studies find that higher screen time does correlate with mental health issues, especially anxiety and depression.

Heavy screen time also correlates with less emotional regulation and less cognitive flexibility.

And study after study shows that

that no group is being hit harder than teenage girls.

Absolutely.

One of the leading researchers on this is David Blanchflower, and he's been flashing the warning lights in a big way.

He has noticed that this very stable happiness index we've been talking about, it started to go awry around 2014.

Yes.

Teens used to be among the happiest age group, like we said.

In recent years, Blanche Flowers noticed that roughly 1 in 10 teenage girls and a smaller but still significant number of boys report severe mental distress, describing their mental health as poor almost every day.

It's a complex issue.

But the fact of the matter is, this is not just a U.S.

phenomenon.

This is cross-national research that shows similar patterns emerging among young people around the entire world.

So there's the thing called the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, and that found that early screen exposure had lasting effects.

Each additional hour of screen time was associated with lower classroom participation and weaker math performance years later.

Yeah, for sure.

It's definitely a cycle, and it's actually a pattern, which is repeating itself.

It's not just the Quebec longitudinal study, but research from Spain has found that higher levels of screen media are associated with lower academic achievement.

Maybe it's too early to say for sure, but the numbers are pretty alarming.