Background and aims: A growing body of evidence suggests that excessive digital engagement can lead to adverse consequences, especially in children and adolescents. Many stakeholders point to prevention in the school environment as one way to mitigate these harms, though their effectiveness is unclear. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate existing school-based preventive interventions aimed at reducing digital addiction and screen time among individuals aged 6–19 years old. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive literature search across various databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar, to identify relevant studies published between 2013 and 2023, of which 34 met the inclusion criteria. Results: The reviewed interventions were particularly effective at reducing measures of problematic digital technology use ( d = 1.47 after intervention; d = 1.13 at follow-up), while being less effective at reducing screen time ( d = 0.15 after intervention; d = 0.15 at follow-up). Interventions which were externally led, actively included parents, targeted at-risk youth or employed a therapy-based approach were more successful at decreasing problematic digital technology use. A slightly larger decrease in screen time was observed in interventions with external leaders, targeting at risk populations and those lasting upwards of three months. Discussion and Conclusions: Due to the observed publication bias and modest statistical power within subgroup analyses, more empirical research is recommended to confirm the identified trends. Overall, given the promising results, policymakers should strongly consider exploring possibilities of systemic inclusion of digital addiction interventions within the school curriculum.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, social media became one of the most utilized sources of information relating to the disease. With the increased reliance on social media, the risk of excessive use and the development of social media addiction emerges. The aim of the present study was to explore the psychometric properties of the Slovenian version of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, and to explore how psychological resilience affects social media addiction symptoms directly and indirectly through symptoms of depression, anxiety and mental distress. A large online cross-sectional study was conducted in March 2021 among Slovenian tertiary students (N = 4868). The results showed the high reliability, unidimensionality and criterion validity of the Slovenian Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale. The proposed structural model fit the data well and showed a significant direct positive effect of depression and stress on social media addiction. Moreover, the majority of the negative effects of psychological resilience on social media addiction (87.2%) were indirect, through depression and stress symptoms, whereas resilience had a significantly smaller impact on social media addiction by reducing anxiety symptoms. The overall prevalence of social media addiction symptoms was 4.6%, with females exhibiting higher proportions than men. Additionally, female social media users reported a complete absence of social media addiction symptoms less often compared to males. Future research should further explore the mechanisms behind social media addiction, in order to gain a better understanding of the apparently different risk levels for both genders.

Background: In the interest of accurately assessing the effects of digital technology use in early childhood, researchers and experts have emphasized the need to conceptualize and measure children’s digital technology use beyond screen time. Researchers have argued that many patterns of early digital technology use could be problematic, resulting in the emerging need to list and examine their measures. Objective: We aimed to review existing empirical literature that is using measures for problematic digital technology use in preschool children with the end goal of identifying a set of reliable and valid measures, predicting negative outcomes for children’s health, development, or well-being. Methods: We conducted a scoping review across the Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases to identify peer-reviewed publications that were published from January 2012 to December 2023, were written in the English language, described an empirical study, and included a measure of problematic digital technology use beyond exposure (ie, screen time) in children aged 0 to 6 years. Results: The search yielded 95 empirical studies, in which 18 composite measures of problematic use and 23 measures of specific problematic use aspects were found. Existing composite measures conceptualize problematic use as either a group of risky behaviors or as a group of symptoms of a presumed underlying disorder, with the latter being more common. Looking at their conceptual background and psychometric properties, existing composite measures fall short of reliably assessing all the crucial aspects of problematic digital technology use in early childhood. Therefore, the benefits and shortcomings of single-aspect problematic digital technology use measures are evaluated and discussed. Conclusions: On the basis of current research, early exposure to digital technologies, device use before sleep, and solitary device use represent measures that have been consistently associated with negative outcomes for children. In addition, potential measures of problematic use include device use during meals, device use for emotional regulation, device multitasking, and technoference, warranting further research. Public health benefits of defining problematic digital technology use as a group of risky behaviors rather than a group of addiction symptoms are discussed.

Hearing aids can be effective devices to compensate for age- or non-age-related hearing losses. Their overall adoption in the affected population is still low, especially in underdeveloped countries in the subpopulation experiencing milder hearing loss. One of the major reasons for low adoption is the need for repeated complex fitting by professional audiologists, which is often not completed for various reasons. As a result, self-fitting procedures have been appearing as an alternative. Key open questions with these digital tools are linked to their effectiveness, utilized algorithms, and achievable end-results. A digital self-fitting prototype tool with a novel quick four-step fitting workflow was evaluated in a study on 19 individuals with moderate hearing loss. The tool was evaluated in a double-blinded, randomized study, having two study aims: comparing traditional audiological fitting with the new self-fitting tool, which can also be used as a remote tool. The main reported results show moderately high usability and user satisfaction obtained during self-fitting, and quasi-equivalence of the performance of the classical audiological fitting approach. The digital self-fitting tool enables multiple sessions and easy re-fitting, with the potential to outperform the classical fitting approach.

BACKGROUND In the interest of accurately assessing the effects of digital technology use in early childhood, researchers and experts have emphasized the need to conceptualize and measure children’s digital technology use beyond screen time. Researchers have argued that many patterns of early digital technology use could be problematic, resulting in the emerging need to list and examine their measures. OBJECTIVE We aimed to review existing empirical literature that is using measures for problematic digital technology use in preschool children with the end goal of identifying a set of reliable and valid measures, predicting negative outcomes for children’s health, development, or well-being. METHODS We conducted a scoping review across the Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases to identify peer-reviewed publications that were published from January 2012 to December 2023, were written in the English language, described an empirical study, and included a measure of problematic digital technology use beyond exposure (ie, screen time) in children aged 0 to 6 years. RESULTS The search yielded 95 empirical studies, in which 18 composite measures of problematic use and 23 measures of specific problematic use aspects were found. Existing composite measures conceptualize problematic use as either a group of risky behaviors or as a group of symptoms of a presumed underlying disorder, with the latter being more common. Looking at their conceptual background and psychometric properties, existing composite measures fall short of reliably assessing all the crucial aspects of problematic digital technology use in early childhood. Therefore, the benefits and shortcomings of single-aspect problematic digital technology use measures are evaluated and discussed. CONCLUSIONS On the basis of current research, early exposure to digital technologies, device use before sleep, and solitary device use represent measures that have been consistently associated with negative outcomes for children. In addition, potential measures of problematic use include device use during meals, device use for emotional regulation, device multitasking, and technoference, warranting further research. Public health benefits of defining problematic digital technology use as a group of risky behaviors rather than a group of addiction symptoms are discussed.

Background: Conceptualising internet addiction and assessing its symptoms has presented a significant challenge for researchers over the past 25 years. Recently, the Internet Disorder Scale (IDS-15), which is based on the criteria for Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) from DSM-5, has emerged as a promising instrument to assess internet addiction. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Slovenian IDS-15. Methods: The sample was recruited from the National Survey on the Use of Tobacco, Alcohol and Other Drugs that was conducted in 2018 on a nationally representative sample (N = 16,000; age range: 15–64 years; 62.4% response rate). The final sample comprised 9,161 participants, with 80.9% reporting having used the internet at least once a week (n = 7,413). A structured questionnaire was designed and internet addiction was assessed using the IDS-15. Results: Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed acceptable fit to the proposed four-factor structure of the IDS-15. The reliability, and criterion, convergent and discriminant validity were also found to be adequate with a notable exception of the first item of the scale, as shown by its lower factor loading and higher variability. Additionally, latent profile analysis was used to distinguish between internet users with low (n = 3,818; 51.5%), medium (n = 3,111; 42.0%) and high (n = 484; 6.4%) addiction risk. Furthermore, the high-risk class was associated with higher IDS-15 factor scores, higher frequency of internet use in leisure time, and lower age of first internet use. Conclusions: The present study provides new insights about the strengths and shortcomings of the IDS-15. Moreover, the results provide an insight into the prevalence of internet addiction in Slovenia, as well as associations with other potential factors. The results serve as the basis for further analyses on internet addiction epidemiology, policymaking activities, and design for targeted public health interventions in Slovenia.