Digital screen exposure and child and adolescent health: A scoping review of a decade of evidence

Background

The pervasiveness of digital screen exposure (DSE) among children and adolescents has raised concerns about its potential impact on health and wellbeing. This scoping review examined the characteristics, quality, and key findings of existing systematic reviews on the relationship between DSE and health outcomes in individuals aged 0–19 years.

Methods

A systematic search was conducted across seven databases to identify systematic reviews, with or without meta-analysis, published between 2015-2025.

Results

We identified 138 systematic reviews, reporting 2,749 unique primary studies, with only 103 (3.3%) conducted in Lower-Middle-Income (LMICs)/Low-Income Countries (LICs). The number of reviews more than doubled after 2020. Most reviews (n = 102, 73.9%) focused on a single outcome category, with mental health/risk behaviours (n = 71) and cognitive development (n = 51) being the most common, and physical outcomes being less frequently explored. Most reviews (n = 84, 60.9%) reported DSE as a risk factor for adverse health outcomes, several reported mixed associations (n = 40, 29%), five (3.6%) null association, two (1.4%) protective, seven (5%) inconclusive. Eight recent reviews were rated as high-quality. High-quality reviews highlighted: i) a harmful association between DSE and anxiety, depression, suicidality/self-harm, psychological and emotional wellbeing, risk behaviours, sleep, and cardiovascular risk; and ii) mixed associations with self-regulation, social wellbeing, and overweight/physical activity.

Conclusions

Further research is needed to inform practice and policy, with priorities including high-quality evidence syntheses with clearer construct definitions, coverage of underexplored outcomes and age-specific effects, increased primary studies in LMICs/LICs, and development of multidimensional metrics for DSE. Meanwhile, these findings support the need for preventive guidance and actions addressing DSE during childhood and adolescence.

Key messages

• A large body of evidence synthesis exists on digital screen exposure and youth health.

• Low quality of most existing systematic reviews, together with gaps in primary studies, highlight that more research is needed to better understand effects of digital screen exposure and youth health.