A claim you hear on longevity podcasts
The claim checked: Regular smartphone use appears to lead to deficits in attention Hear it at 2:11:03
Five of ten studies, all observational, linked more phone or screen use to attention or ADHD symptoms in young people. The other five found weaker or mixed links, three of them in adults, and one found no gap on attention tasks.
Computed from 10 studies that test this point, each judged by two readers, in full. 2 more studies are waiting for a full read and do not count yet.
“and so the question is, does that sort of interaction on a regular basis lead to deficits in the types of attention that we need in order to perform well in work, in school, relationships, et cetera and the short answer is yes, it does appear so we are inducing a sort of ADHD”
trial or observed group · 2018
“The baseline use of mobile phones was associated with higher scores in the conduct problems scale (b = 0.55, p < 0.05) and in the hyperactivity/inattention scale at follow-up (b = 1.10, p < 0.01).”
Reciprocal Associations between Electronic Media Use and Behavioral Difficulties in Preschoolers. Int J Environ Res Public Health
Who: 527 preschool children (mean age 3.8 at baseline) in the LIFE Child cohort, Leipzig, Germany
PMID 29690498
other primary study · 2014 · cited on tape
“After adjusted for age, sex, area of residence (urban/rural) and whether living close to mobile base stations, the prevalence of inattention was significantly associated with MP ownership (OR 2.92; 95% CI 2.51-3.39) and time spent on entertainment daily (OR 1.87; 95% CI 1.28-2.73).”
Association between mobile phone use and inattention in 7102 Chinese adolescents: a population-based cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health
Who: Middle school students aged 12-20 (mean 15.3) from 4 schools in southwestern China
PMID 25273315
systematic review · 2024 · landmark
“The present results showed that a majority (74%) of the studies found significant associations between digital media and later ADHD symptom levels.”
Longitudinal associations between digital media use and ADHD symptoms in children and adolescents: a systematic literature review. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry
Who: Children and adolescents aged 0-17 in longitudinal studies of digital media use (screen time, gaming, social media, internet addiction) and ADHD symptom levels
PMID 36562860
other primary study · 2024 · landmark
“Higher total screen time was associated with all DSM-oriented scales in adjusted models (Model 2), and the association was strongest for depressive symptoms (B = 0.10, 95% CI 0.06, 0.13, p < 0.001), conduct symptoms (B = 0.07, 95% CI 0.03, 0.10, p < 0.001), somatic symptoms (B = 0.06, 95% CI 0.01, 0.11, p = 0.026), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity symptoms (B = 0.06, 95% CI 0.01, 0.10, p = 0.013).”
Screen time and mental health: a prospective analysis of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. BMC Public Health
Who: US adolescents aged 9-10 at baseline in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, 21 sites
PMID 39370520
other primary study · 2023
“Results showed that increases in screen time in a given year were associated with an exacerbation of ADHD symptoms within that same year (within-person association), over and above potential common vulnerability (between-person association).”
Screen time, impulsivity, neuropsychological functions and their relationship to growth in adolescent attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms. Sci Rep
Who: Canadian adolescents recruited in 7th grade (mean age 12.8, 49% girls) from 31 Montreal-area schools (Co-Venture cohort), followed to 11th grade
PMID 37872184
other primary study · 2018
“Among adolescents followed up over 2 years, there was a statistically significant but modest association between higher frequency of digital media use and subsequent symptoms of ADHD.”
Association of Digital Media Use With Subsequent Symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Among Adolescents. JAMA
Who: Los Angeles County 10th-graders aged 15-16 without significant ADHD symptoms at baseline
PMID 30027248
other primary study · 2022
“In this cross-sectional study, we mainly observed that there is a positive association between mobile phone screen exposure and inattentiveness among healthy teenagers.”
Impact of Mobile Phone Screen Exposure on Adolescents' Cognitive Health. Int J Environ Res Public Health
Who: 632 healthy adolescents aged 11-16 with a personal mobile phone, from 12 Barcelona high schools (WALNUTs project baseline), cross-sectional
PMID 36231371
other primary study · 2023
“The findings establish a negative link between media multitasking and sustained attention of a medium effect size, whether questionnaires (r =.20) or a task-based measure (r =.21) are used.”
Unravelling the link between media multitasking and attention across three samples. Technol Mind Behav
Who: Adults aged 18-35 recruited online via MTurk (322), Prolific (304) and a University of Amsterdam student pool (298)
PMID 37397029
other primary study · 2024
“The problematic smartphone use group had higher trait impulsivity than the normal use group, but there was no difference in their performance on behavioral attention tasks.”
The mediating effect of attentional impulsivity between mindfulness and problematic smartphone use. BMC Psychiatry
Who: 90 Korean adults aged 19 or older without major psychiatric illness, split into 42 problematic smartphone users and 48 normal users
PMID 38637786
other primary study · 2025
“Generally, for participant A, quick checking on the smartphone was associated with lower positive affect, and lower state anxiety and ADHD symptoms.”
Person-Specific Analyses of Smartphone Use and Mental Health: Intensive Longitudinal Study. JMIR Form Res
Who: 5 US adult female Android users (ages 20-62) from the Human Screenome Project, each with >=3 h/day smartphone use and at least one clinically significant symptom period
PMID 39808832
None.
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