STUDY: Excessive screen time linked to elevated anxiety in teens [Video]

A survey of U.S. and Canadian teens from Western University in Ontario, Canada, linked “clinically elevated anxiety levels” to excessive screen time.

PHOENIX — When neuroscientist Emma Duerden saw the initial results of a survey about teens and social media consumption, she hoped there was an error in the results.

“It’s one of those findings that you don’t even want to be true,” Duerden said.

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Duerden and her colleagues at Western University in Canada surveyed over 500 teens in Canada and the U.S. It revealed that 45% had “clinically elevated anxiety levels,” significantly higher than expected.

“Based on past studies, it should be between 8% and 15%,” Duerden said. “And before the pandemic, it was probably about 6% in school-aged children,” Duerden said.

“It really is surprising, and really speaks to a call to action.”