By Matthew Cimitile, University Communications and Marketing
The survey will inform a groundbreaking study that will track digital media use and wellness across the lifespan.
A new study of young people’s digital media use has revealed surprising results, including evidence that smartphone ownership may actually benefit children.
The study also suggests a link between social media posting and various negative outcomes, as well as data connecting cyberbullying to depression, anger and signs of dependence on digital media.
The Life in Media Survey, led by a team of researchers at the University of South Florida, surveyed more than 1,500 11-to-13-year-olds in Florida. These findings will help inform a 25-year national study that will track young people’s digital media use and wellbeing into adulthood.
Key findings include:
- Children who have their own smartphones fared better than kids who don’t on nearly every measure of wellbeing assessed. Kids with smartphones were less likely to report depression and anxiety symptoms, and more likely to spend time in-person with friends and report feeling good about themselves than kids who don’t have their own smartphones.
- Efforts to limit digital media use among kids don’t appear to be working, as more than 70 percent of 11-year-olds surveyed have their own smartphone, with many acquiring them by the age of eight and a half.
- Posting publicly to social media was associated with multiple harms. Children who often post to social media platforms were twice as likely as those who never or rarely post to report moderate or severe symptoms of depression (54% vs. 25%), moderate or severe symptoms of anxiety (50% vs. 24%) and having sleep issues.
- Even the smallest amount of cyberbullying – being called a mean or hurtful name online – is associated with adverse outcomes. Nearly six in ten respondents said they endured a form of cyberbullying in the past three months. Those children were more likely than un-bullied kids to report feeling depressed most days in the past year (32% vs. 11%), getting angry and losing their temper (36% vs. 10%), and finding it hard to stop using technology (64% vs. 45%).
“We went into this study expecting to find what many researchers, teachers and other observers assume: smartphone ownership is harmful to children. Not only was that not the case, most of the time we found the opposite – that owning a smartphone was associated with positive outcomes,” said Justin D. Martin, lead researcher on the project and the Eleanor Poynter Jamison Chair in Media Ethics and Press Policy as USF.
Based on these findings, the research team of experts from journalism, psychology, public health, political science and communications, as well as a researcher from the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, provide a few recommendations:
- Allowing children as young as 11 to have their own smartphone is likely fine and may be beneficial.
- Parents should discourage young children from posting publicly on social platforms. Parents should also be on alert for the slightest signs of cyberbullying, which is prevalent and harmful.
- Don’t let kids sleep with their smartphones. One in four kids surveyed sleep with a smartphone in their hand or in bed. Children who keep their phones in their bed don’t get enough sleep compared to those who sleep with phones in another room (8.6 vs. 9.3 hours on average).
“Our findings indicate that the effects of smartphone ownership are complex,” said Wendy Rote, USF associate professor of psychology. “It’s what kids do with cell phones and challenges in regulating their device use, rather than merely owning a smartphone, that may cause difficulties or inversely benefit their lives.”
“We went into this study expecting to find what many researchers, teachers and other observers assume: smartphone ownership is harmful to children. Not only was that not the case, most of the time we found the opposite – that owning a smartphone was associated with positive outcomes,” said Justin D. Martin, lead researcher on the project.
Informed by this survey, the research team will now prepare to start a nationwide, long-term study of some 8,000 children in early adolescence that tracks them across their lifespan.
The upcoming Life in Media Survey will be the first lifespan study of its kind examining digital media use. It sets out to track participants from youth to adulthood to learn more about the long-term health and wellness impacts of smartphones, social media and other digital media and devices.
Research will be conducted over the next 25 years, and data collected every six months will give ongoing insight to parents, teachers, researchers, health providers and others on the impact of digital media use on children and as they age into adults.
“Our data provide a snapshot of how the media influences young people in the moment. But many of the problems and benefits of media use accumulate over time, which is why it is essential to also conduct a long-term study to accurately assess the effects of digital media on wellbeing through an individual’s life,” said Stephen Song, co-principal investigator and USF assistant professor of journalism.
Researchers hope to determine how digital media impacts and changes attitudes, behaviors and health throughout people’s lives. For example, over time, the Life in Media Survey will be able to provide specifics about the impact of short video consumption on attention span, the effects of staring at screens for five hours a day on eyesight and how online socialization in childhood affects sociability at age 30.
"Experiences during childhood and adolescence can influence health outcomes later in life. This study will help us understand the impact of digital media use on sleep quality and mental health in adolescents, ultimately informing interventions to mitigate any harmful effects,” said Chighaf Bakour, a USF College of Public Health associate professor of epidemiology.
The USF study differs from past research into children's media use and wellness, which has mostly focused on smartphones, social media use and gaming. The USF study measures these things, but also assesses binge-watching, parental controls, news consumption, cyberbullying, podcast listening, music streaming and other digital topics. Many past studies also begin with youth in the 13-to-17 age range, whereas this research starts with children as young as 11.
All data was collected from Nov. 12 – Dec. 9, 2024, via online surveys and obtained with parental permission. Findings and insights from the study of the Life in Media Survey are published here.