Excessive phone and screen use tied to manic symptoms in pre-teens, study finds

A recent study from the University of California, San Francisco, indicates that pre-teens with greater exposure to certain types of tech use could be at a higher risk of developing manic symptoms.

Published in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, the study analyzed a nationwide sample of 9,243 children in the U.S. between 10 and 11 years old.

Young people who spent more time engaged with social media, texting, videos and video games were more likely to have “inflated self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, distractibility, rapid speech, racing thoughts and impulsivity — behaviors characteristic of manic episodes, a key feature of bipolar-spectrum disorders,” a press release noted.

“This study underscores the importance of cultivating healthy screen use habits early,” said co-author Kyle Ganson, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, in the release. 

“Future research can help us better understand the behaviors and brain mechanisms linking screen use with manic symptoms to help inform prevention and intervention efforts.”

Tips for safer use from experts

To mark the Global Day of Unplugging (March 7), Verizon hosted its first-ever “digital wellness summit” in New York City to share insights with the public about the safe use of technology.

Sowmyanarayan Sampath, CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, discussed the importance of setting digital boundaries, especially for kids.

“Digital wellness should be for every age, but really we need a new blueprint as parents, because we’ve never been through this before,” Sampath said at the event in the Big Apple. 

“This digital age is new to us all. There’s no time in history we can reclaim how we handle that.”

In a separate interview with Fox News Digital, Sampath shared compelling statistics on phone use, including findings from Verizon’s 2024 Consumer Connections Report.

Kids and teenagers use social media for four to five hours a day and receive between 250 and 275 notifications daily, the report revealed.

Kids were also found to touch and pick up their phones about 150 times per day. 

A quarter of these events occurred during school hours.

“This is what sparked us to think there is a healthier relationship people can have,” Sampath said.

Tech’s impact on kids

Dr. Keneisha Sinclair-McBride, attending psychologist at Boston’s Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, also spoke at a panel at the Verizon event and in a follow-up interview with Fox News Digital.

The expert noted that kids spending “hours and hours” of their free time on their phones can be “problematic,” especially considering the possibility that they’ll experience threats such as cyberbullying and hate speech.

“We know that these are associated with depressive symptoms and other mental health concerns,” she said. 

“We also know that there’s so much positive for social connection, learning and fun, so we have to balance those two things.”

She pointed out that some social media apps are “designed to keep you stuck” through the loop of an algorithm.

This problematic use can lead to poorer functioning at work or school and can negatively impact sleep and relationships, Sinclair-McBride warned.

“Are they able to live their life and do the things they want and need to do in a positive way? If there are concerns in any of those areas, that’s usually a sign of something needing to be reassessed.”

Prompts for parents, grandparents

Sinclair-McBride encouraged parents and grandparents to learn about the apps children are using and teach them to be “critical consumers” of content by training them to detect scams, misinformation or AI-generated content.

“Slowing down and being more thoughtful and mindful about what you’re doing is, I think, the first step in modeling that as a parent,” she told Fox News Digital.

“Parents can also look at their own use and [ask], ‘Am I on my phone too much? Am I too addicted to social media?’”

The CEO also urged adults to set boundaries involving phone use, whether it’s limited to certain spaces in the home or specific times of day.

‘Create space to have fun’

Sampath shared simple advice for families to ensure a healthy balance between tech use and unplugged activities.

“Go for a movie. Go for a walk. Go and play a game or just hang out with friends. Or just hang out with your family in your kitchen and do fun things,” he suggested.

“I think kids are going to have to be comfortable sometimes doing nothing … reading a book, just hanging out,” he said.

“Kids are going to have to get way more comfortable doing that – that’s part of a healthy boundary, and it’s part of a good relationship with technology.”

Sampath also encouraged Americans to take advantage of living in areas with “some of the best weather” and “the best natural sights in the world” by exploring outdoor spaces and moving more.

“You want to create space to have fun. You want to create space to play. You want to create space to have physical activity, to have real relationships,” he said. 

“It has long-term benefits on mental health … When you do things in real life, you feel happier.”

Sinclair-McBride echoed the advice to get outside and “touch grass.”

“The time that people spend with digital technology needs to be balanced with real-life stuff, whether it’s sports, the arts, creative activities, reading or actual hands-on, tangible things,” she said.

“I think people are in this mindset that this generation only wants to do digital, digital, digital,” she added. 

“They still like other stuff, too. We have to give them options, space and freedom to have that time.”

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Stephen Collopy

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