The impact of screen engagement on neurodevelopment in children and adolescents has been a topic of much inquiry. We examined how screen engagement relates to functional brain connectivity in a large sample of U.S. children between ages 9e12 years. While patterns of functional brain connectivity were related to pattern of screen engagement, we found no meaningful associations between overall profiles and measures of cognitive and mental wellbeing, even if we set the evidential threshold very low. Overall, this study does not support policies centered around limiting screen time to protect neurocognitive development.

The idea that the increased ubiquity of digital devices negatively impacts neurodevelopment is as compelling as it is disturbing. This study investigated this concern by systematically evaluating how different profiles of screen-based engagement related to functional brain organization in late childhood. We studied participants from a large and representative sample of young people participating in the first two years of the ABCD study (ages 9–12 years) to investigate the relations between self-reported use of various digital screen media activity (SMA) and functional brain organization. A series of generalized additive mixed models evaluated how these relationships related to functional outcomes associated with health and cognition. Of principal interest were two hypotheses: First, that functional brain organization (assessed through resting state functional connectivity MRI; rs-fcMRI) is related to digital screen engagement; and second, that children with higher rates of engagement will have functional brain organization profiles related to maladaptive functioning. Results did not support either of these predictions for SMA. Further, exploratory analyses predicting how screen media activity impacted neural trajectories showed no significant impact of SMA on neural maturation over a two-year period.