Syntes: Al-Jbouri (2026): an umbrella review links screen exposure with somewhat lower academic achievement and language, but not with maths, science or reading scores

Källa: Al-Jbouri, E.; Nivison, M. D.; Neville, R. D.; Marsh, A.; McArthur, B. A.; Christakis, D. A.; Fearon, P.; Madigan, S. (2026). Screen Use and Child and Adolescent Development and Mental Health Outcomes (umbrella review). JAMA Pediatrics, published online 28 September 2026. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2026.4339

Verified content (abstract (Crossref record); full text not read, checked 2026-10-13)

• Design: umbrella review (PRISMA); Embase, MEDLINE and PsycINFO searched to 25 November 2025; 23 meta-analyses of population-based samples aged 18 or younger, 2,817,252 children from 64 countries; two independent extractors; effects converted to Pearson r.
• Associations (abstract): screen exposure associated with lower academic achievement (r = −0.15; 95 % CI −0.23 to −0.07) and language skills (r = −0.14; −0.18 to −0.10); higher internalizing (general screen use r = 0.10; social media r = 0.09), externalizing (r = 0.11), emotional problems (r = 0.30) and peer problems (r = 0.28).
• No association (abstract): executive functioning (r = 0.01), prosociality (r = −0.22; CI −0.43 to 0.01), mathematics (r = −0.10; CI −0.23 to 0.03), science (r = −0.03) and reading (r = −0.02; CI −0.12 to 0.09) scores. Screen type, behaviour subtype, publication year and age moderated some associations.
• Causation: the pooled studies are population-based associations. This source cannot establish that screens cause any of these outcomes (reverse causation and confounding are not ruled out by the design).

Why it is in the library

The broadest current synthesis of screen time and child outcomes. It is about overall screen exposure (mostly at home), not about reading the same text on paper versus screen (C3), phones in lessons (C6) or 1:1 school devices (C9), so it gives context, not a test of those claims.