Infant Screen Time May Result in Greater Adolescent Anxiety: Study

Research finds that increased screen time in infancy may have long-term effects on brain development, cognitive skills and mental health later in life.

A new study indicates that children exposed to excessive screen time before the age of 2 experience changes in brain development linked to slower decision-making and increased anxiety by their teenage years.

The research was published by the journal eBioMedicine on December 29, and is the first study to track screen time during infancy for more than 10 years, to examine its long-term effects on later development.

However, this is not the first study to suggest that childhood screen time can have negative effects. Previous research has shown that children who spend more time on screens exhibit reduced cognitive development, including lower reading and math scores.

Growing concerns about the impact of screen time, particularly its addictive effects on youth, have led parents in recent months to file hundreds of social media addiction lawsuits claiming that companies like TikTok, Facebook, Meta and Google design their platforms to maximize engagement and control what users see.

Similar complaints have been brought regarding the design and marketing of video games as well, resulting in a multitude of video game addiction lawsuits.

In both tracks of litigation, parents, caregivers and school systems contend that developers’ practices have encouraged compulsive and harmful use among children and adolescents, contributing to anxiety, depression, eating disorders and other long-term psychological injuries, and in some situations, suicide attempts or even death.

In the new study, researchers from the A*STAR Institute for Human Development and Potential and the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine followed 168 children and conducted brain scans at ages 4.5, 6 and 7.5 to track the development of their brain networks over time.

The research team, led by Pei Huang, found that children with higher screen time in infancy showed accelerated maturation of the brain networks responsible for visual processing and cognitive control, likely due to the intense sensory stimulation screens provide. 

However, screen time at ages 3 and 4 had no noticeable effects, highlighting the heightened sensitivity of the infant brain. Premature specialization led to altered brain networks, resulting in slower decision-making on cognitive tasks at 8.5 years, suggesting reduced cognitive efficiency and flexibility.

“In children with high screen exposure, the networks controlling vision and cognition specialize faster, before they have developed the efficient connections needed for complex thinking. This can limit flexibility and resilience, leaving the child less able to adapt later in life.”

— Pei Huang, Neurobehavioural links from infant screen time to anxiety

Children with slower decision-making reported higher anxiety symptoms at age 13, suggesting that screen exposure in infancy can have long-lasting effects, shaping brain development and behavior well beyond early childhood.

Social Media Addiction Lawsuits

Due to common issues of fact and law, all youth social media addiction lawsuits filed in federal court have been centralized as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Northern District of California under U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers for pretrial proceedings and coordinated discovery.

In November 2025, Judge Rogers scheduled the first bellwether trials for summer 2026, involving school districts that have suffered increased costs in mental health treatment, tutoring and other expenses linked to those concerns.

Additionally, nearly 30 state attorneys general have asked the court to consolidate all 29 social media addiction lawsuits against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, into a single case to avoid separate, costly and unnecessary litigation when those claims go to trial.

Similar lawsuits filed in California state courts have also been centralized before Judge Carolyn Kuhl in California Superior Court. The first state-level trial is set to begin January 27, 2026, and will involve claims brought by a plaintiff identified as K.G.M.

While the outcomes of these trials will not be binding on other cases, they will serve as tests for how juries might respond and help guide potential settlements.

Sign up for more health and legal news that could affect you or your family.