Screens, teens, and psychological well-being: evidence from three time-use-diary studies

Journal article

The notion that digital-screen engagement decreases adolescent well-being has become a recurring feature in public, political, and scientific conversation. The current level of psychological evidence, however, is far removed from the certainty voiced by many commentators. There is little clear-cut evidence that screen time decreases adolescent well-being, and most psychological results are based on single-country, exploratory studies that rely on inaccurate but popular self-report measures of digital-screen engagement. In this study, which encompassed three nationally representative large-scale data sets from Ireland, the United States, and the United Kingdom (N = 17,247 after data exclusions) and included time-use-diary measures of digital-screen engagement, we used both exploratory and confirmatory study designs to introduce methodological and analytical improvements to a growing psychological research area. We found little evidence for substantial negative associations between digital-screen engagement—measured throughout the day or particularly before bedtime—and adolescent well-being.

Authors: Orben, A; Baukney-Przybylski, AK

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Journal: Psychological Science
• Volume: 30
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 682-696
• Publication date: 2019-04-02
• Acceptance date: 2018-11-27
• DOI: 10.1177/0956797619830329
• EISSN: 1467-9280
• ISSN: 0956-7976
• Keywords: specification-curve analysis; large-scale social data; adolescents; digital technology use; well-being; open materials; time-use diary; preregistered