Digital Media Use, Social Isolation, and Mental Health Symptoms in Canadian Youth: A Psychometric Network Analysis

The associations between adolescents' screen use and socioemotional well-being have been long contested. Advancing the presently discrepant literature base requires researchers to consider nuances by assessing how associations vary across specific forms of digital media use and in the context of social isolation and demographic characteristics. This cross-sectional study of Canadian youth (M-age = 14.2 years, n = 946, 60.15% female) examined the links between time spent on different digital activities, mental health symptoms, and experiences of social isolation as a complex system of interdependent constructs via psychometric network analysis. Models were constructed for the full sample and subgroups based on age, gender, and subjective socioeconomic status. The results indicated that the strongest associations emerged between mental health and feelings of social isolation across network models. Nonetheless, youth who spent more time watching TV/movies/videos/live streams and searching the internet reported higher feelings of social isolation, while gaming was related to less irritability, nervousness, and loneliness. Higher social media use for connecting with others was associated with lower feelings of social isolation but worse mood and more irritability. Some associations differed between models across preadolescents (ages 9-12) and adolescents (ages 13-18), highlighting developmental differences. These findings suggest a need to examine the contexts of media use and point to the importance of helping youth establish healthy digital media use patterns by encouraging activities that bolster social connections and balancing them with offline experiences.