Mechanisms of Digital Media Engagement and Adolescent Anxiety
Theoretical conceptualisations of adolescent digital media use and affective disorders diverge markedly between quantitative duration models and qualitative behavioural frameworks. Traditional exposure paradigms examine aggregate digital consumption, conceptualising anxiety as a cumulative outcome of high screen duration and social media immersion that warrants targeted policy guidelines (Screen Time, Social Media, and Adolescent Mental Health, 2026). In contrast, alternative behavioural paradigms suggest that raw temporal metrics obscure the underlying etiology of affective distress; instead, compulsive engagement patterns and addictive psychological mechanisms serve as more robust explanatory vectors for adolescent anxiety (Beyond Screen Time—Addictive Screen Use Patterns and Adolescent Mental Health, 2025). Alongside these behavioral models, somatic and physiological perspectives conceptualise the relationship indirectly, positing that screen engagement influences anxiety primarily by disrupting essential restorative sleep and altering baseline health behaviours (Screen Time Impacts on High Schoolers’ Sleep, Weight, and Mental Health, 2025). Synthesising these differing theoretical frameworks demonstrates that adolescent vulnerability to anxiety is neither a uniform consequence of device availability nor an isolated cognitive response. Rather, anxiety emerges through an interplay between compulsive engagement topologies and physiological displacement mechanisms. School mental health policies must therefore transition from simplistic temporal restrictions toward structural frameworks that account for both behavioural dependency and physiological disruption.