ArticleChildren (Basel, Switzerland)2024
Is There a Long-Term Link Between Digital Media Use and Adolescent Headaches? A Longitudinal School-Based Study.
Article in Children (Basel, Switzerland), 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Parental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward childhood headache: the impact of parental migraine.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026Article
- Predictors of Problematic Internet Use Among Romanian High School Students.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Pediatric migraine care: bridging gaps, overcoming barriers, and advancing solutions.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
objectivesThe use of digital media, and especially social media, has been increasing over recent years. Previous research has reported a negative impact of media use on headaches; however, most of these studies are cross-sectional. Therefore, we conducted a longitudinal study to explore the relationship between different types of media usage (watching videos, gaming, and social media) and headache frequency and headache intensity over time.
methodsSchool-aged children from five German schools completed five assessments between 2017 and 2018. In total,
resultsThere were only minor associations between media use and headache intensity or frequency. Notably, only high social media usage was linked with worse headache intensity (
conclusionsThe impact of media use on headaches seems to be less harmful than previous research might suggest. We believe that increased time spent consuming media should not be considered a risk factor for pain conditions but rather a helpful resource for pain management.
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Registered trials
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