Mental Health & Screen Time
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Rethinking screen time: The science behind social media and mental health
Thursday, 14 May, 2026Social media use and screen time has been a hot topic this year: globally, there is a growing sense of concern about use and overuse, particularly in children and young people, and efforts are underway in many countries – including the UK - to regulate and restrict social media use for children and young people
While these concerns are real and justifiable, things aren’t as straightforward as they might first seem. Despite stories in the media often focusing almost exclusively on the negative impacts of digital technology use, research on its effects on our wellbeing often paints a different, more nuanced picture.
Pete Etchells, Professor of Psychology and Science Communication at Bath Spa University, has been researching and writing about the topic for over a decade. His most recent book, Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time (and how to spend it better), unpacks some of the most common misconceptions about screens. For Mental Health Awareness Week, we sat down with him to discuss what we actually know – and what have yet to find out – about the effects of digital tech on our behaviour and wellbeing:
There’s a lot of alarm about social media and young people’s mental health right now, but you’ve argued that the evidence is more complicated than the headlines suggest. What does the science actually tell us?
"It feels as though the debate about screen time – whether we’re talking about social media, or video games, or smartphones generally – is often framed in an all-or-none, good-versus-bad sort of way. And I understand the concerns that many people have. We’re in a moment where anxiety and depression rates have clearly gone up, and we want to understand why that’s happened. At the same time, screen-based technologies have become a core part of our everyday lives, so it’s hard not to draw an obvious link between the two."
"When you look at the scientific research, the relationship between different types of screen use and mental health outcomes is much weaker and much more inconsistent than the headlines imply. There’s simply no consensus among researchers on the strength and direction of that relationship. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything to worry about – of course that’s not the case. But it does mean that we need to think more carefully about how screen use sits within a wider ecosystem of factors that can either promote or undermine our mental wellbeing."
Mental health awareness week feels like a good moment to reflect on our relationship with digital technologies more broadly. What does a healthy relationship with our tech look like, and is that something that we have control over?
"We often talk about our digital technology use in addiction terms, but I don’t think that’s the most useful framework to apply. When we ask questions like ‘how much screen time is too much?’, we inevitably end up considering that in terms of maladaptive or problematic use. More than that though, the solutions that we end up being left with often focus on abstinence, and there’s not much strong evidence to suggest that things like ‘digital detoxes’ actually work in the way we want them to."
Pete added:
"I’ve argued before that framing our use in terms of technology habits is more useful and can empower us to take more control over our digital diets. What are we actually doing when we use our screens, and how does that align with what we want to be doing? Are we using them in a goal-directed manner, or are we using them as a sort of coping mechanism to manage our reactions and responses to other things going on in our lives? And are we finding that useful, entertaining or helpful, or have we dropped into more negative, and yes potentially more harmful, mindless habits?"
"If we start to shift our way of thinking about screens in this way, and start asking these sorts of questions of our own use, it helps us to consider a broader range of solutions beyond things like digital detoxes that might be more impactful in terms of developing a sustained healthier relationship with the tech we use."
Is ‘screen time’ a useful concept for thinking about mental health?
"The problem with screen time is that it’s so vague, it’s essentially meaningless – both in terms of the way that we talk about its effects, but also in terms of the way we research it too. If we want to improve our understanding of our digital lives and how they interact with our mental health, we need to move beyond the idea that we can suitably capture a complex set of behaviours with a single, time-based measure."
Pete continued:
"It’s likely that how much we use different types of screen-based technologies isn’t as helpful as understanding the impact of the content we interact with, how (and why) we encounter that content, and how it sits within the wider context of what’s going on in our lives. Those are difficult questions to answer easily, but if we focus on them more, we’ll get a more accurate view of where we’re getting benefits from our tech use, and where we need to be holding the tech companies to a higher standard."
If someone is feeling anxious or worried about the amount of time that they’re spending on their phone, or on social media or video games, what would you say to them?
"I would take that feeling seriously – if we’re worried about the impact that our tech use is having on us, that is something that deserves a proper response rather than being dismissed out of hand. Also, I’d say that identifying that you have a worry is a good first step in making a positive change – you can’t do anything about an issue if you don’t see it in the first place! And don’t feel guilty about this.
It’s very easy to fall into bad habits with our screens, and they never came with a guidebook on how to use them in a wellbeing-supportive way. We’re all trying to figure this out. So, it’s important to take some time to experiment with little tweaks and adjustments, here and there, to try and weed out the habits you’ve spotted that you aren’t happy with and keep the ones that you’re happy with. When it comes to social media for example, it might mean things like switching off notifications – so that you make a conscious choice to check your account, as opposed to the platform telling you when to check it."
If you are struggling with your mental health for any reason, then you can find more information about how to get help Student Wellbeing Services.