Why ‘Screen Time' for Kids Is a Parenting Pitfall

WebMD

09-07-2025

July 8, 2025 – You've set limits on screen time, taken your kid's iPad away, maybe even tried a digital 'fast' – but these may not be the most effective ways to manage the impact of screens on your child's mental health.
Increasingly, research suggests it's not the amount of time kids spend on screens that matters – it's how they spend it. The latest such study, published in June, linked suicidal thoughts and behavior to addictive screen use – but not length of screen use – in children ages 10 to 14.
Findings like this are becoming a consistent trend in screen research, pointing toward habits of use and what happens in your child's online world as the most important intersection of health and screen time.
'This really is good news for parents because screens are everywhere in teens' lives and they use screens in so many different ways,' including for schoolwork and leisure, said Jessica L. Hamilton, PhD, a Rutgers University professor and expert in how social media is linked to suicidal thoughts and behaviors among teens.
You can take comfort in knowing that most young people use screens daily without experiencing mental health problems – and that a lot can go right with screen time.
'Not all screen time is created equal,' said Brooke Ammerman, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 'I encourage young people and their parents to think about: How are screens being used by yourself and members of your family? When are you using them? Why are you using them? Rather than thinking screens are bad, look for how they could potentially be a signal for other things that could be going on.'
First, the Dangers
Plenty of studies link screen use to health harms in kids, a focus that stems from concerns over the persistent rise of mental health problems among adolescents. While depression, anxiety, and attention issues all apply, much of the research centers on suicidal thoughts and behaviors, which have been increasing in two important ways – they're happening more, and among younger and younger kids.
In 2023, 10% of high school students reported seriously considering suicide, and 9% said they attempted it. A 2024 analysis of preteen suicide shows it has increased among 8- to 12-year-olds by 8% annually since 2008.
The newest study examined the link between 10-year-olds' screen use (self-reported and parent-reported) and the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The researchers looked at how much trouble the children had disengaging from devices and how much they experienced distress when not using phones, social media, or video games – patterns of addictive behavior.
'Your children may spend a lot of time on their phone or online but still be mentally healthy,' said study author Yunyu Xiao, PhD, professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. 'But if the screen time becomes addictive – meaning that they cannot stop even when it's hurting their sleep, schoolwork, or relationships – that's when the risks for suicidal behavior, thoughts, and mental illnesses start to increase significantly.'
Such addictive patterns were shockingly common. By age 11, one-third of the 4,000-plus kids in the study displayed them. By age 14, children with the highest levels of addictive screen use were more than twice as likely as other children to think about suicide or inflict self-harm. Overall, 18% of kids in the study had suicidal ideas (thinking about harming oneself or making a suicide plan), and 5% showed suicidal behavior (making preparations for or attempting suicide).
One way to look it: The escalating progression of addictive screen use over time 'also means there are lots of points for intervention,' Hamilton said.
How 'Screenomics' Could Help Flag a Problem
One challenge of screen research is that a lot of it relies on surveys, which can be unreliable due to self-report bias and error. Just as people tend to think they eat healthier than they actually do, many also underestimate how much time they spend using screens – often by two or three hours per day.
To gather better data, Ammerman and her team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are using a new approach called screenomics – the moment-by-moment capture and analysis of a person's digital life, or 'screenome.' Research participants install an app on their phones that takes a screen shot every five seconds, collecting 95,000 images in a month.
'If someone begins thinking about suicide, what was happening in the hours and days leading up to that?' Ammerman said. 'And ultimately then, what can we do to prevent or intervene upon these processes?'
The Wisconsin team is analyzing how nighttime use (and non-use suggestive of sleep) is associated with suicidal thoughts and planning, and they can even analyze how different types of phone use – such as using the keyboard or not and during which hours – may be linked to suicidal thoughts.
The end goal is to develop a phone app that tracks usage, alerting the person and sending resources if it detects high-risk patterns. Ammerman's prior work has revealed about 250 words associated with suicide that may be more likely to appear on people's phones in the three hours leading up to suicidal thoughts or planning.
'We have a paper under review right now that highlights that individuals with lived suicidality are actually pretty open to the idea of having their smartphone use monitored as a way to determine the timing of an intervention,' Ammerman said. 'That paves the way for the idea of having an app on your phone that does this sort of monitoring and could help people in real moments of distress.'
Managing Your Child's Mental Health Amid Screen Time
The key is twofold, Xiao, Hamilton, and Ammerman agree: Engage with your child about their screen use and model healthy habits yourself.
Experts say screen time poses the biggest risk when it is displaces activities that support good health, like physical activity, in-person socialization, and – arguably the most important – sleep. So start at night, refraining from screens before bed and while in bed. If that sounds tough, try just cutting it back by 10 or 15 minutes each week.
When talking with your children about their screen time, ask about their motivation for using a device, game, or app. What are they getting out of it? Show curiosity. The AAP offers a list of conversation starters – 'I heard you talk about something you saw on social media. I'd like to hear more' – and ideas for helping children 10 and under develop healthy relationships with media.
Make the talks feel less like an interrogation by asking about your child's friends. 'Teens are really motivated to help their peers,' Hamilton said. Questions like 'What is it like for your friends on social media? Where do they struggle?' can be a way into understanding your own child's experience.