A worsening mental health crisis is unfolding among American teenagers, with two out of every five high school students reporting persistent sadness or hopelessness, according to new data underscoring the harmful effects of screen addiction on youth well-being.

The 74, a U.S.-based nonprofit news outlet focused on education, published a commentary Tuesday highlighting the alarming scope of the crisis. Citing new research from the Coalition to Empower our Future, the piece noted that nearly 60 percent of parents rate their children’s mental health as "very or somewhat poor."

Experts cited in the report emphasized that the nature of screen engagement—such as compulsive use of social media or smartphones—poses a greater threat than the overall amount of time spent online. These patterns are believed to be a significant source of deep psychological stress among adolescents.

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Scientific support for this concern emerged in June, when a landmark study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association tracked around 4,300 American children over four years. The research found that teens who exhibited addictive behavior with social media, smartphones, or video games were twice as likely to engage in suicidal behavior compared to peers with lower levels of addictive use.

Lead researcher Dr. Yunyu Xiao, assistant professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine, stressed that the key issue is addictive use, rather than screen time alone.

The study showed that approximately 31 percent of the participants developed increasingly addictive social media use, while 25 percent displayed similar patterns with mobile phones.

Challenging long-held assumptions about screen time limits, the study found no link between total screen time at age 10 and future suicide-related outcomes. However, children who exhibited compulsive behavior—such as inability to stop using devices, anxiety when disconnected, or relying on screens to avoid problems—faced notably higher risks.

These trends begin early. About half of the children reported consistently high levels of mobile phone addiction from the start of the study into early adolescence. In the case of social media, around 40 percent showed either high or escalating addictive use.

The study also uncovered disparities in mental health consequences. Highly addictive video game use was linked to the greatest increase in internalizing symptoms like anxiety and depression. Meanwhile, rising addiction to social media was associated with the most serious externalizing behavioral issues. Children with peak levels of social media addiction had two to three times higher risk of suicidal behavior.

This problem is not confined to isolated individuals. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey show that one in five high school students seriously considered attempting suicide.