Open research questions in Impact of Technology on Adolescents

What the literature leaves open

• China has one of the world’s largest obese populations combined with the largest scale of mobile internet penetration, but there is limited evidence on the relationship between mobile internet use (MIU) and body mass index (BMI) among obese Chinese adults.

  Mobile Internet Use and Obesity Among Chinese Adults · 2026 · DOI

• Educational organizations should create programing focused on advanced cyber safety, rather than basic cyber safety to include attention to "Interpersonal Privacy." These programs can include workshops on creating digital boundaries with peers as well as an understanding of how to interpret and utilize the privacy policies of technology platforms to minimize the high levels of "Privacy Concern Anxiety." Counseling services should utilize a cognitive-behavioral approach to assist students in separating their self-esteem from social media metrics (likes, follows etc.). Given the documented connection between self-evaluation of shared content and the anxiety produced from such evaluations, using a cognitive-behavioral approach could aid students in coping with the stress of achieving the idealized image of a "perfect" digital self. Because one of the main causes of anxiety is the unconsented sharing of personal information by friends, student organizations should promote awareness of “Digital Consent”, through campaigns. Defining the social norms of tagging or sharing with others will reduce Interaction Anxiety and enhance the sense of security that students feel regarding the digital campus communities to which they belong.

  Analysis of Social Media and Privacy-Related Anxiety Among College Students · 2026 · DOI

• 1. Athletes should be educated about responsible and balanced use of social media, with emphasis on time management, digital boundaries, and avoidance of late-night screen use. Parents should adopt supportive and motivational parenting practices, encouraging discipline, open communication, and healthy routines rather than excessive control or punishment. Coaches and sports clubs should integrate digital well-being awareness and mental health education into regular training programs. Sports institutions and educational authorities should develop policies and intervention programs targeting social media addiction, particularly for lower socioeconomic and rural athletes. 2. 3.

  Effects of Social Media Addiction on Sports Performance and Psychological Health of Athletes: Mediating Role of Parental Motivation · 2026 · DOI

• Conclusion: Given the variability in directionality, further longitudinal, mixed methods, and qualitative research is warranted to elucidate the relationship between PMU and psychopathology to advance our understanding of child and adolescent mental health in the digital age.

  Unveiling the Digital Maze: A Comprehensive Scoping Review on Problematic Media Use and Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents · 2026 · DOI

• The synthesis of the directionality of the relationship between PMU and psychopathology yielded mixed results, showing no consistent direction of causation.

  Unveiling the Digital Maze: A Comprehensive Scoping Review on Problematic Media Use and Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents · 2026 · DOI

• Background: While existing research on psychopathology and problematic media use (PMU) in children and adolescents continues to grow and presents a complex, multifaceted issue, the direction of this relationship remains unclear.

  Unveiling the Digital Maze: A Comprehensive Scoping Review on Problematic Media Use and Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents · 2026 · DOI

• Since the long- term effects of both NES and problematic internet or social media use are not clearly defined, future studies are needed to improve on these findings.

  Internet addiction and social media addiction are related with night eating syndrome in university students · 2026 · DOI

• While physical activity (PA) is a recognized protective factor, the longitudinal dynamic interactive mechanisms among PA, IGD, and insomnia remain unclear.

  Longitudinal relationships among physical activity, internet gaming disorder, and insomnia: a cross-lagged panel analysis · 2026 · DOI

• Chinese Gen X women (born 1965–1980), the core user and high-risk group for this addiction, have had the underlying mechanisms of their addictive behavior not yet elucidated.

  Problematic short drama addiction among Chinese Gen X women: a ZMET approach · 2026 · DOI

• Based on the research findings, various suggestions have been developed for relevant institutions and future studies on the topic. First of all, planning competitions held within the scope of school sports outside of class hours as much as possible will reduce the negative impact on student athletes' academic processes. In this regard, it is important to prepare and implement remedial programs for students participating in sports activities when necessary. To effectively manage this process, regular communication and cooperation must be established between physical education and sports teachers, school administration, and parents. Providing awareness-raising training for parents on digital games, game addiction, and controlled digital game use will also contribute to guiding students' behavior in a healthy way. Additionally, conducting future research on students from different socioeconomic levels and different types of schools will increase the generalizability of the findings. To gain a deeper understanding of the topic, the use of qualitative research designs and the examination of student experiences from a holistic perspective are also recommended for future studies. From the perspective of educational sciences, physical education classes aim for outputs such as self- regulation, responsibility, cooperation, and value acquisition alongside psychomotor development as a planned part of the formal learning process; school sports serve as a complementary structure that creates the application and reinforcement area for these gains. Extracurricular sports activities, being based on voluntary participation, can be considered semi-formal/informal learning environments that strengthen students' motivation, social identity, and sense of belonging. According to the findings, the lower digital game addiction scores of students participating in school sports suggest that sports may have a positive impact on Kastamonu Education Journal, 2026, 34(2) 401 behavior regulation by supporting time management and self-control skills. At the same time, the sports environment can contribute to strengthening the sense of school attachment by increasing student-teacher and peer interactions. In this context, establishing a more systematic integration between physical education classes and school sports, relating lesson achievements to school teams and club activities, and encouraging primary education students' participation in extracurricular sports activities are important for educational policies; as strengthening the pedagogical function of sports can lead to increased school attachment and a more holistic and sustainable educational approach to reducing behavioral risks such as digital game addiction.

  An Examination of Middle School Students’ Digital Game Addiction and School Engagement Levels Based on the Variable of Participation in School Sports · 2026 · DOI

• of the present study should First, an important limitation concerns the assessment of problematic smartphone use (PSU). , screen-time records, application usage logs, or passive sensing data) represents an important limitation. Nevertheless, the extent to which the present sample is representative of the broader population of French university students remains uncertain.

  Demographic, social, psychological, mental health, and academic correlates of problematic smartphone use among French psychology students · 2026 · DOI

• Despite increased awareness and numerous studies on behavioral addictions, particularly social media addiction, the full scope remains unclear due to challenges in defining its impact area. This study aims to support preventive research on the development of social media addiction and contribute to closing the existing gap in the literature by raising awareness.

  The Mediating Effect of Loneliness on the Relationship Between Social Media Addiction and Attachment Styles: A Multiple Mediation Model Study · 2026 · DOI

• Additionally, future research could explore the feasibility of device-level solutions designed to filter harmful content before it is displayed to minors. First, our findings warrant further investigation on a larger scale to increase the confidence of content moderation findings. Finally, the hypothesis that repeated exposure to low-severity harmful content contributes to desensitization remains an important, though underexplored, research question.

  Protecting Young Users on Social Media: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Content Moderation and Legal Safeguards on Video-Sharing Platforms · 2026 · DOI

• The present study could be extended in the future to include a gender comparison and a comparison between college students and working females, regarding dependency on mobile phones and their interplay with happiness. Hence, this approach may help draw attention to both protective and risk factors due to such effects. Researchers have implied that the existing biomedical disease prevention model may need to be extended to incorporate community health. This perspective may also be applied to generate community health programs to resolve health issues emerging from mobile phone addiction in young adults and guide them towards a happy way of living.58 Thus, biomedical, psychological, and sociological approaches can be integrated for the societal good in the 21st century.59 This line of thought is adapted from the biopsychosocial model in health psychology by George Engel in 1977. Several studies have recommended certain measures to help move towards a digitally deaddicted society.

  The concealed enslavement: Mobile phone addiction and subjective happiness among young adult Indian undergraduate women · 2026 · DOI

• to establish a cause-and-effect There are certain drawbacks of the current study that may be overcome in future research, such as the use of longitudinal designs relationship. Longitudinal design may also mitigate the Hawthorne effect. Variables such as academic stress levels, sleep patterns, or extent of social media use could be potential confounders, and their confounding effects could not be incorporated into the current research. Sampling restricted to young adult women limits the generalizability. The inclusion of a control group, along with randomised sampling, can improve generalizability and internal validity. On the positive side, a high response rate of more than 65% reduces non-response bias and improves the value of the findings for the considered population cohort.

  The concealed enslavement: Mobile phone addiction and subjective happiness among young adult Indian undergraduate women · 2026 · DOI

• Among young adults in urban Indonesia, emotional attachment to AI companions was driven less by physical isolation than by social-interaction Several limitations temper these conclusions.

  The Algorithmic Sanctuary: Social-Interaction Burnout, Loneliness, and Emotional Attachment to AI Companions Among Young Adults in Indonesia · 2026 · DOI

• Thus, while there was substantial variability in the within-person link between social media use and negative affect (though the average within-person effect was not significant38), this variability did not account for individual differences in average negative affect or in changes in depressive symptoms in the current sample.

  Affective reactivity to upward social comparisons rather than social media use predicts increases in early adolescents’ depressive symptoms · 2026 · DOI

• Several limitations should be acknowledged. First, the generalizability of the findings is limited due to the use of a convenience sample of early adolescents living in Germany. The sample was positively selected, with an overrepresentation of families with higher educational backgrounds and household incomes. Moreover, cultural differences in norms of self-evaluation and social comparison may further shape how individuals interpret socially relevant information, highlighting the importance of cross-cultural research in this domain. Future studies should therefore examine these processes in more socioeconomically and culturally diverse samples. The second limitation concerns the use of chronological age as a proxy for developmental processes. Early adolescence is characterized by substantial variability in pubertal maturation, and youths of the same age may differ markedly in their biological and psychosocial development17[,53. Such differences may be relevant for sensitivity to social evaluation, engagement in social comparisons, and affective responses to daily experiences. As pubertal status was not assessed in the present study, we cannot determine whether individual differences in developmental timing contributed to the observed associations. Future research would benefit from including direct measures of pubertal development to more precisely capture developmental heterogeneity and to examine potential interactions with sex and other individual characteristics. Third, social media use was measured based on the average use of Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. While these are popular platforms among youths, the findings may not generalize to other platforms with different social or content dynamics (e.g., Snapchat, WhatsApp). Fourth, it is important to consider that mediation models do not establish causality per se; rather, researchers specify the presumed causal direction of associations based on theory and prior empirical evidence. In the present study, affective reactivity and average negative affect were both derived from the same diary period, limiting the extent to which temporal ordering between these processes can be established. Therefore, the observed indirect effects should be interpreted as statistical associations consistent with the proposed theoretical framework rather than as direct evidence of causal mediation. Experimental and longer-term longitudinal designs are necessary to more conclusively test causal mechanisms and temporal dynamics. The fifth limitation concerns the temporal scope of the study and the interpretation of change in depressive symptoms. In our study, depressive symptoms were assessed at days before and after the 14-day diary period. However, depressive symptomatology is generally considered relatively enduring and slow-moving, raising the question of whether meaningful change can be expected over such a limited time frame.

  Affective reactivity to upward social comparisons rather than social media use predicts increases in early adolescents’ depressive symptoms · 2026 · DOI

• However, little is known about how the associations between PSMU, mental health, and substance use differ depending on participation in distinct types of extracurricular activities.

  Problematic social media use, mental health, and substance use in Czech adolescents: the comparative role of extracurricular activities — findings from the 2022 HBSC study · 2026 · DOI

• While public and scientific discourse vigorously debates the impact of SMU on well-being, existing research offers mixed evidence, often lacking in gender-specific analyses, control for key confounders, and clarity on the functional form of this relationship.

  The Goldilocks dilemma: gendered patterns of social media usage and adolescent life satisfaction across OECD countries · 2026 · DOI

• Despite the rapid growth of TikTok and its algorithm-driven content delivery, the contribution of individual psychological factors and users’ awareness of algorithmic processes to addictive symptoms remains insufficiently understood, particularly in Latin American contexts.

  Personality, Algorithmic Awareness, and Addictive Symptoms of TikTok Use in University Students · 2026 · DOI

• Background Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) represents a significant behavioral health concern, yet the roles of internalizing and externalizing psychological vulnerabilities in its development remain underexplored, particularly in Arabic-speaking populations.

  Internalizing and externalizing pathways to internet gaming disorder: the roles of anger and social anxiety · 2026 · DOI

• Several limitations should be acknowledged. First, the study involved a relatively small sample consisting of 20 survey respondents and five interview participants. As a result, the findings cannot be generalized to the broader population of Indonesian young adults. Second, participants were recruited through purposive snowball sampling, which may not fully capture the diversity of experiences across different demographic groups, geographic locations, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Third, the interviews were intentionally brief and exploratory in nature, lasting approximately 10–15 minutes. While they provided valuable insights into participants’ experiences, longer interviews may have generated richer and more detailed narratives. Finally, this study relied on self-reported experiences, which may be influenced by memory bias, personal interpretation, or participants’ willingness to disclose sensitive experiences. Future studies may benefit from larger samples, more diverse participant groups, and the inclusion of longitudinal or mixed-method approaches to further explore the relationship between ghosting, parasocial relationships, digital silence, and communication fatigue in digital communication environments. APPENDIX A. SURVEY QUESTIONS 1. What is your age? 2. What is your gender? 3. Which social media platforms do you use most frequently? 4. Approximately how many hours per day do you spend on social media? 5. Have you ever ghosted someone by ending communication without explanation? 6. If yes, what was your primary reason for doing so? 7. Have you ever been ghosted by someone? 8. How did being ghosted affect you emotionally? 9. Have you ever developed a strong emotional attachment to a content creator, influencer, streamer, or public figure? 10. How would you describe your relationship with that creator or public figure? 11. Have you ever intentionally reduced your online activity, stopped posting, or avoided responding to others for an extended period? 12. When you think about communication on social media today, how does it make you feel? APPENDIX B. INTERVIEW GUIDE 1. Can you tell me about your general experience using social media? 2. Have you ever ghosted someone or been ghosted? How did that experience affect you? 3. Have you ever felt emotionally connected to a content creator, influencer, or online personality? Why? 4. Have you ever taken a break from posting or interacting online? What motivated that decision? 5. How do you feel about the expectation of always being available and responsive online? 6. Do you think social media helps or harms meaningful communication? Why? 7. Is there anything else you would like to share about your experience with digital communication? TABLE 1.

  The Quiet Shift in Digital Communication: Ghosting, Parasocial Relationships, and Digital Silence Among Indonesian Young Adults · 2026 · DOI

• 18 19 Summarise key results with reference to study objectives 13 Discuss limitations of the study, taking into account sources of potential 13-14 bias or imprecision.

  The Effects of Open-World and Fun, Accessible Games on Perceived Loneliness and Stoicism in Adults: Cross-Sectional Survey Study · 2026 · DOI

• This investigation contains several limitations. Firstly, adolescents’ self-reports were used to quantify parent-child technoference, which may introduce recollection bias. Future research can adopt behavioral observation methods, such as using mobile applications to record data related to technology use [4], which is more objective and accurate. Second, despite the crucial mechanisms revealed by the cross-sectional data in the current study, to better understand the causal relationship between parent-child technoference with adoles- cent PSMU, as well as the relationship between adolescent affective and cognitive processes and PSMU, cross-lagged research is required. Third, as the present investigation was carried out within a Chinese cultural context, the association of parent-child technoference with adolescent PSMU may be stronger, and the beneficial effect of self-compassion may be less pronounced, given the influence of collectivist cultural values [36, 93]. Future studies could be carried out across diverse cultural contexts—such as collectivistic and individualistic societies—to explore whether the association between parent-child technoference and ado- Psychiatric Quarterly1 3 lescent PSMU varies as a function of cultural value systems. In addition, given the relatively high proportion of male participants (61.6%) in this study, the findings should be interpreted with caution regarding potential gender differences in coping strategies. Previous research indicated that men were more likely to adopt instrumental and avoidance-oriented coping strategies when dealing with stress, such as engaging in video games to divert attention [45, 95]. Accordingly, when facing parental technoference, males may be more inclined to turn to online environment as a means of self-regulation. Therefore, the generalization of these findings to the broader adolescent population should be approached cautiously, and future studies are encouraged to further examine gender differences in the model pathways. Lastly, our study concentrated on the general concept of parent-child technoference, while it may be meaningful to distinguish between mother technoference and father technoference. Pre- vious research has found that father technoference did not predict children’s externalizing and internalizing behaviors, while mother technoference did [65]. This may be attributable to adolescents’ differential reactions to maternal and paternal responsiveness. Future studies can collect data from mothers and fathers on their technoference behaviors separately to investigate the potential difference of the two subtypes of parental technoference in terms of their impact on adolescent PSMU.

  Parent-child Technoference and Adolescent Problematic Social Media Use: a Moderated Serial Mediation Model · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Impact of Technology on Adolescents

• A conceptual and methodological critique of internet addiction research: Towards a model of compensatory internet use · Computers in Human Behavior · 2013 · 2,020 citations
• A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents · International Journal of Adolescence and Youth · 2019 · 1,397 citations
• Annual Research Review: Adolescent mental health in the digital age: facts, fears, and future directions · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · 2020 · 907 citations
• Uses and Gratifications of Social Media: A Comparison of Facebook and Instant Messaging · Bulletin of Science Technology & Society · 2010 · 756 citations
• Smartphone use and smartphone addiction among young people in Switzerland · Journal of Behavioral Addictions · 2015 · 683 citations
• The Welfare Effects of Social Media · American Economic Review · 2020 · 678 citations
• How “phubbing” becomes the norm: The antecedents and consequences of snubbing via smartphone · Computers in Human Behavior · 2016 · 669 citations
• Global prevalence of gaming disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis · Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry · 2020 · 653 citations
• Internet Addiction or Excessive Internet Use · The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse · 2010 · 650 citations
• Loneliness and Social Internet Use: Pathways to Reconnection in a Digital World? · Perspectives on Psychological Science · 2017 · 590 citations

Most recent work

• Short video addiction and its impact on cognitive functioning in adolescents and youth: a systematic review · International Journal of Adolescence and Youth · 2026
• Health response to problematic usage of the internet: A global survey on trends, available treatments and key challenges · Journal of Behavioral Addictions · 2026
• Linking FoMO to social media addiction: a moderated mediation model of Big Five personality traits and academic disciplines · The Educational and Developmental Psychologist · 2026
• Teen social media use for more than two hours a day linked to a raised risk of depressive symptoms, Australian study finds · BMJ · 2026
• Turkish Version of the Generative AI Dependency Scale: Validity, Reliability, and Psychometric Properties · Research on Education and Psychology · 2026
• Reconceptualizing cognitive-behavioral processes in youth anxiety in the digital age · Nature Mental Health · 2026
• Risks and Benefits of Social Media on Adolescent Health · Pediatric Annals · 2026
• Parent-child Technoference and Adolescent Problematic Social Media Use: a Moderated Serial Mediation Model · Psychiatric Quarterly · 2026
• Care Bag Theory for Healthy Internet Use in Adolescents · Advances in Nursing Science · 2026
• Exploring factors affecting viewers’ intention to continuously watch game streaming by the theory of planned behaviour · Journal of General Management · 2026

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