Cascading bidirectional influences of digital media use and mental health in adolescence

A substantial portion of critical adolescent development is occurring within digital environments. However, certain individual differences may lead adolescents to use digital media in diverse ways. In this chapter we suggest that the way teens use digital media influences how digital media affects their mental health. Further, we propose a model in which these influences, in the context of ongoing development, may have feedback effects on how digital media is subsequently used, thus resulting in a self-perpetuating cycle. Our model suggests that certain developmental risk/protective factors and maladaptive/adaptive digital media behaviors likely perpetuate each other in a cyclical manner each serving to maintain and/or escalate the other. We discuss existing evidence of these processes in psychosocial, identity, incentive processing, and physical health development. Future research focusing on individual differences and self-reinforcing digital media behaviors that manifest these feedback loops may portray a more complete picture of cascading digital media influences across adolescent development.