Amy Orben at Cambridge University has conducted an exhaustive analysis and meta-analysis of studies looking into the effects of adolescent use of digital media and screen time. Her conclusion is that the research overall is far from definitive and often flawed. Her study concludes with suggestions for improving the methodology. Here’s the link:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-019-01825-4

This is an open-source site and you may download a PDF of the study.

Well, here’s an interesting Medium article by a pediatrician discussing a link between social media use and eating disorders in young people.

https://elemental.medium.com/does-social-media-cause-eating-disorders-622a2c1e9f3f

A more direct source for the study is here:

https://www.healio.com/psychiatry/eating-disorders/news/online/%7B909b5c53-b22c-4f66-aaef-622dfdffc44e%7D/social-media-use-associated-with-disordered-eating-among-young-adolescents

And apparently, it’s not just the female gender that is affected. Lead investigator Wilksch found 45% of male adolescents in the study were affected.