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Child Psychiatrist: Screen Time Isn't Main Threat to Kids
Newser • • technology
Key Points:
- Dr. Jonathan Slater, a child psychiatrist, argues that the national focus on kids' screen time distracts from the more critical issue of insufficient mental health care and insurance coverage for children.
- He emphasizes that addictive and compulsive use of social media, rather than total screen time, is linked to underlying mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, and trauma.
- Research, including a JAMA study, shows that total screen hours do not predict depression or suicidal thoughts, but compulsive use does, highlighting the importance of addressing deeper mental health problems.
- Schools, the primary providers of mental health services for children, are underfunded and understaffed, and federal programs aimed at increasing school clinicians have been cut.
- Slater advocates for expanding evidence-based mental health treatments and ensuring insurance coverage instead of imposing blanket screen time limits, calling out the blame on screens as a way to avoid addressing systemic mental health care failures.
