Overview

• The JAMA study tracked nearly 4,300 youths from age 9–10 through early adolescence and used machine learning to identify addictive use trajectories across social media, mobile phones, and video games.
• Nearly half of participants reported consistently high addictive mobile phone use and more than 40% exhibited high or increasing addictive social media engagement over the study period.
• Youth on high or rising compulsive use trajectories faced two to three times greater risk of suicidal thoughts or behaviors than peers with low addictive use.
• Total screen time showed no association with future suicide-related or mental health outcomes, highlighting addictive behavior as the key risk factor.
• Researchers and psychologists urge routine assessment of addictive use patterns, professional intervention for at-risk children, and age-appropriate design changes by technology companies to curb compulsive features.