Heavy Screen Use and Problematic Behaviors Feed Into Each Other, Study Finds

Children often turn to screens as a coping mechanism for anxiety, depression, and social difficulties.

Technology and history have grown more at odds in recent decades. Miljan Zivkovic/Shutterstock

Spending too much time on screens may be both a cause of harm and a symptom of an underlying problem. A new study of more than 300,000 children worldwide found that excessive device use is often an attempt by struggling children to cope with anxiety, depression, and social difficulties they can’t yet articulate.

“It’s like comfort eating, but with devices,” Michael Noetel, associate professor of psychology at the University of Queensland and coauthor, told The Epoch Times.