Tyler Dows

Policy Solutions for the Growing Problem

of Screen Addiction in Adolescents

Introduction
The time that children
and teens spend looking
at screens each day has
greatly increased over
the past decade. This
can partly be attributed
to the pandemic, but
screen time usage has
not decreased from
pandemic levels even
now that life has mostly
returned to normal.
Instead, it has roughly
stayed the same—five-
and-a-half hours for
tweens (ages eight to
twelve) and eight-and-
half for teens.1 Note that
this does not include Total entertainment screen use among tweens and teens, per
screen time for day, 2015 to 2021. [Source1]
schoolwork.

Spending a lot of time on screens is detrimental to many aspects of an adolescent’s health. It has
been linked to anxiety, depression, vision problems, loneliness, sleep problems, obesity, poor
academic performance, antisocial behavior, and ADHD-related behavior.2 These negative health
effects are more pronounced when it comes to certain activities than others. In other words, some
types of screen use are worse than others. For instance, while video games and social media are
linked to anxiety and depression, television viewing is not.2 Generally, the worst types of screen

1
Germain, Jack. 2022. “Kids’ Screen Use Sees Fastest Rise in 4 Years.” TechNewsWorld. May 12, 2022.
https://www.technewsworld.com/story/kids-screen-use-sees-fastest-rise-in-4-years-176735.html.
2
Muppalla, Sudheer Kumar, Sravya Vuppalapati, Apeksha Reddy Pulliahgaru, and Himabindu Sreenivasulu. 2023.
“Effects of Excessive Screen Time on Child Development: An Updated Review and Strategies for Management.”
Cureus 15 (6). https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.40608.
use also tend to be the most addictive and the ones that adolescents spend the most time on. For
example, teens spend an average of 4.8 hours a day on social media.3

While spending a lot of time on screens is harmful, it does not necessarily mean addiction, which
is an even worse problem. Screen addiction does mean spending too much time on screens, but it
also means doing so compulsively, “regardless of the negative impacts on daily activities and
obligations such as work, school, or social relationships”.4 People who are truly addicted can
have trouble completing everyday tasks, while people who simply spend too much time on
screens do not. Screen addiction is very broad, and it can take many forms, of which the most
relevant are social media addiction and video game addiction. Technology companies have a
responsibility to design their products in a way that reduces the risk of users spending too much
time on screens, or worse, developing either of these types of screen addiction. Currently, they
are very rarely fulfilling that responsibility; more often, they are doing the exact opposite
because it benefits them financially to have addicted customers spend more time and money on
their products and services.

Social Media
Most social media platforms require users to be thirteen, but their age restrictions are easily
bypassed. Usually, a user simply has to lie about their birthday and then they can create an
account, and this is done very frequently. In fact, 68% of pre-teens use social media even though
they aren’t yet thirteen.5 There are good reasons for this minimum age of thirteen. Children
younger than thirteen have a harder time knowing what information they can and can’t share
online, and they are worse at dealing with cyberbullying, misinformation, and inappropriate
messages from strangers.6 These things lead to all sorts of problems; for example, cyberbullying
often causes mental health issues. Children under thirteen are also at a higher risk of using social
media excessively and developing an addiction.6

Thus, making age restrictions for social media platforms much more difficult to bypass would
help to reduce addiction as well as numerous other problems. Unfortunately, making age
restrictions more difficult to bypass is not a feasible task. Recent history has proven that there are
simple workarounds to every new security measure. Instead, parents need to do more to keep
their child off social media until they turn thirteen, and even after that, they need to talk to their
child about the dangers of social media before letting them use it.6 Today, many parents do tell
their preteen not to access social media but are unaware that their child is doing it behind their
back.7 These parents should be informed that they should keep a closer eye on their child. Other

3
Adgate, Brad. n.d. “Gallup: Teens Spend More Time on Social Media than on Homework.” Forbes. Accessed April
10, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradadgate/2023/10/18/gallup-teens-spend-more-time-on-social-media-than-
on-homework/?sh=6dae87af3dcb.
4
“Screen Addiction.” n.d. Addiction Center. https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/screen-addiction/.
5
“U.S. Pre-Teen Social Media Reach 2022.” n.d. Statista. Accessed April 10, 2024.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1417175/us-preteens-social-media-reach.
6
“Is 13 Too Young to Have a TikTok or Instagram Account?” n.d. The University of Sydney.
https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2023/02/10/is-13-too-young-to-have-a-tiktok-or-instagram-
account-.html.
7
Oglethorpe, Martine. 2019. “Social Media Age Restrictions: Why the System Isn’t Working - the Modern Parent.”
The Modern Parent. May 1, 2019. https://themodernparent.net/social-media-age-restrictions-why-the-system-isnt-
parents allow their child to lie about their age and sign up for social media accounts, and these
parents should be informed of the dangers of allowing this.

Another way to reduce

social media addiction in
adolescents is to prohibit
social media companies
from “using practices that
exploit human psychology
or brain physiology to
substantially impede
freedom of choice”.8 A
bill called the Social
Media Addiction
Reduction Technology
(SMART) Act was
proposed in the Senate in
2023 with this as its
purpose. It never passed.
First, the SMART Act
would ban infinite scroll,
auto refill, autoplay, and
similar features. This
means that users would
have to consciously decide
to see more content
instead of automatically
having it fed to them.
Second, it would ban the
process of giving out
meaningless awards to
users who spend more
This diagram represents the theory behind designing addictive
time on the platform or
apps, such as social media platforms. [Source9]
who maintain a streak of
doing something on it
every day, for instance.8 Third, it would require social media platforms to allow users to set time
9

limits and periodic reminders for themselves. The time limit would have to be set to half an hour
a day by default, allowing the user to turn it off if they choose. The SMART Act would be very
effective at reducing social media addiction, so it needs to be passed by Congress.

Video Games
working/.
8
Rubio, Marco. 2023. “Text - S.2314 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): S.2314 - PRESERVE Online Speech Act of
2023.” Www.congress.gov. July 13, 2023. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2314/text.
9
“Why the Most Addictive Apps Are Impossible to Put Down.” n.d. CleverTap. https://clevertap.com/blog/most-
addictive-apps/.
While the SMART Act focuses solely on social media addiction, it can be used as an example of
what policies designed to combat other forms of screen addiction should look like. For instance,
to help reduce video game addiction, video game companies should be prohibited from designing
their games in a way that preys on human psychology to make players addicted. The most
common predatory practice today is to allow players to purchase in-game loot boxes with real
money. The player doesn’t know what they will get, so this is akin to gambling, and gambling in
any form can be very addictive.10 The fact that real money is often used makes this problem even
worse. The United States should follow the example of The Netherlands, Belgium, and China by
either regulating loot boxes or banning them outright.10 A bill was introduced in the Senate in
2019 that would ban them outright (along with pay-to-win microtransactions)11, and while this
bill would have a great positive effect if passed, the fact that its terms are so extreme makes that
very unlikely. A much more feasible policy would be to regulate loot boxes the same way China
is doing by requiring that the probabilities of receiving prizes be published, reward probabilities
increase as more boxes are purchased, and there are daily purchase limits.10 If not the more
drastic bill, a policy accomplishing this should be passed by Congress.

Similarly, the SMART Act would require social media platforms to allow users to set time limits
and periodic reminders for themselves, and this can also be applied to video games. Games can
be required, as a default setting that could be changed by the player, to monitor how long a
player has spent and remind them to take breaks every once in a while or block them after a time
limit is reached. They can also be required to include parental controls so that parents can set up
these restrictions. Additionally, games can use a “fatigue system,” which means reducing
rewards as a player spends more time on the game12. Unlike the SMART Act, it would be a
mistake to implement these ideas by passing a law to force video game creators to comply. This
is because there are so many more gaming companies than there are social media platforms, and
many of these companies are very small. New games are also being created every day. Thus,
enforcing a law would be very difficult, and the government would have little incentive to track
down and investigate every new game published. Instead, a tax and rebate policy could be used:
Gaming companies would be taxed based on their active player count unless they implemented
the time limits, the parental controls, and the fatigue system. Implementing the policy this way
would be much easier because there wouldn’t be anything to enforce. Game companies would
simply request the rebate, and they would be given it if they fulfilled the requirements. The
success of a tax and rebate policy for the fatigue system specifically has been confirmed by a
simulation done in South Korea12. In addition to reducing gaming addiction, it was found that it
would also increase the revenues of gaming companies.

Conclusion
10
“The Growing Issue of Unregulated Gambling: Loot Boxes | College of Law.” n.d. Law.fsu.edu.
https://law.fsu.edu/growing-issue-unregulated-gambling-loot-boxes.
11
Hawley, Josh. 2019. “Text - S.1629 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): A Bill to Regulate Certain Pay-To-Win
Microtransactions and Sales of Loot Boxes in Interactive Digital Entertainment Products, and for Other Purposes.”
Www.congress.gov. May 23, 2019. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/1629/text.
12
Király, Orsolya, Mark D. Griffiths, Daniel L. King, Hae-Kook Lee, Seung-Yup Lee, Fanni Bányai, Ágnes Zsila,
Zsofia K. Takacs, and Zsolt Demetrovics. 2018. “Policy Responses to Problematic Video Game Use: A Systematic
Review of Current Measures and Future Possibilities.” Journal of Behavioral Addictions 7 (3): 503–17.
https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.6.2017.050.
Screen addiction in children and teens is a growing problem, and not enough is being done about
it. If more attention is brought to the issue, policies that attempt to control the problem could
garner support and be passed. These policies would force companies to develop social media
platforms and video games in ways that discourage excessive use and addiction. We have a
responsibility to ensure that current and future generations of children and teens grow up to be
capable adults without crippling technology addictions. Recall that even those who aren’t
addicted but still use screens excessively are at risk of antisocial and ADHD-related behavior.
American society will cease to be productive if it is consumed by widespread screen addiction.