Estimating global population-level health burden associated with digital media use in young people

Digital media use is deeply integrated in the daily lives of young people. With rapidly increasing digital access across the globe, young people are digitally connected earlier, for longer periods of time, and across more areas of their lives. Individuals under 25 years of age are a key population, as digital media serves as a primary channel for the young to access and engage with digital environments. Evidence from a recent umbrella review revealed consistent associations between digital media use and a wide range of health outcomes: self-harm, obesity, depression, myopia, tobacco, alcohol, and drug use. Quantifying the scale of potential harms associated with digital media is essential for public health planning. Hence, this study aims to model the global population-level health burden associated with digital media use among young people under 25 years. We applied a Population Attributable Fraction (PAF) approach using pooled effect estimates from the umbrella review and country-level prevalence of exceeding two hours per day of screen time across 49 countries participating in the Global Matrix 4.0. PAFs will be calculated using standard formulae and applied to age-matched Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2023 disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) estimates. We estimate that approximately 20% of depression cases and 10% of obesity cases among young people under 25 are associated with digital media use. Applied to age-matched GBD 2023 estimates, this corresponds to approximately 2.80 million attributable DALYs for depression and 0.16 million attributable DALYs for obesity globally. The same approach will be applied to self-harm, myopia, tobacco, alcohol, and drug use, with additional analyses planned to assess lifelong consequences of digital media use in young people. These preliminary findings highlight the public health relevance of digital media use among young people and support the development of targeted and informed prevention strategies.

Key messages

• Digital media use among young people under 25 is shown to be consistently associated with a wide range of mental, physical and behavioral health outcomes.

• Modelling population health burden reveals that digital media use may result in substantial attributable health burden among young people.