ArticleNpj mental health research2022
Effects of limiting digital screen use on well-being, mood, and biomarkers of stress in adults.
Article in Npj mental health research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Causal effects of social media use on self-esteem, mindfulness, sleep and emotional well-being: a social media restriction study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Trial
- Screen Media Use and Mental Health of Children and Adolescents: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Article
- Physical activity motivation is inversely associated with anxiety: a cross-sectional serial mediation analysis involving smartphone addiction symptoms and sleep quality in medical undergraduates.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Article
- The declining mental health of the young and the global disappearance of the unhappiness hump shape in age.PloS one · 2025Article
- A Genetically Informed Study of Digital screen time, Video game play, and Impulsivity in Established Adulthood.Computers in human behavior · 2024Article
- Ten Myths About the Effect of Social Media Use on Well-Being.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Review
- Screen time and mental health: a prospective analysis of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Screen viewing patterns and their association with mental wellbeing and psychological distress: a cross-sectional study amongst university students.BMC public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Studies have linked higher digital screen use with poorer mental health. However, there is limited experimental evidence to suggest a causal relationship. In this trial, we aimed to investigate the effects of limiting recreational digital screen use on mental well-being, mood, and biomarkers of stress in healthy young and middle-aged adults. We randomly allocated 89 families (including 164 adults) to participate in an extensive screen media reduction intervention or control. Participants in the intervention group were instructed to decrease their recreational screen use to less than 3 hours/week/person. Intervention compliance was assessed using applications and tv-monitors. Overall subjective mental well-being and mood, and collected daily biomarkers of stress (salivary cortisol and cortisone) was assessed at baseline and 2-week follow-up. Reducing recreational digital screen use resulted in significantly improved self-reported well-being and mood in adults allocated to the intervention compared to control. We observed no intervention effects for biomarkers of stress. (ClinicalTrials.gov
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.