To Infinity and Beyond, with a New Danger Ahead 

Despite growing awareness of the harm caused to health by excessive use of electronic devices—especially to the development of children and adolescents—people spend an average of nine hours a day online, according to a recent global report. How can this be explained? 

The search for an answer to this question gave rise to the report “Hyperstimulation and Self-Diagnosis: How Screen Affect the Health of Children and Adolescents”, guided by two core concerns: going beyond common sense and avoiding blaming parents and caregivers. 

For children aged two to five, for example, the recommendation of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics is that screen time should not exceed one hour a day and should always be supervised. In practice, however, families rarely follow this guidance. 

Experts interviewed for the report point to factors such as parents’ working hours and the lack of access to leisure options, like going to the park or playing ball. In short, playing and having fun—preferably with other children, using the body rather than just the fingers and a limited set of senses such as sight and hearing—has become increasingly rare in childhood. 

Many adults argue that leaving children at home with screens is a way of keeping them safe, shielding them from the dangers of the streets. But the threats contained in smartphones and tablets are significant as well. Anyone who has watched the series Adolescence, based on real events, knows what I’m talking about. 

Educational or hyperstimulating? 

Moreover, content considered “educational” can actually be dulling, conditioning children to get used to—and constantly seek out—the same stimulus. This is because, especially up to the age of three, children are unable to transfer knowledge from screens, which is two-dimensional, to concrete, three-dimensional reality. Not to mention that hyperstimulation encourages symptoms such as impatience, tantrums, and language delays. 

After my article was published, a release in the world of cinema and entertainment reinforced the relevance of the topic: the trailer for Toy Story 5. What child of my generation didn’t grow up with the adventures of Woody and Buzz Lightyear, imagining that toys came to life when no one was watching? The fact is that in the new feature film, scheduled for release in June 2026, the main villain is no longer a bear but—believe it or not—a tablet. 

The social critique speaks for itself—and directly connects to hyperstimulation and, consequently, self-diagnosis. Today’s children are losing their dolls and toy cars and, at ever earlier ages, gaining electronic devices. The consequences can be seen, even more starkly, in projections for the future. 

A diagnosis to call your own 

It was from this line of thought that the second part of the report emerged: self-diagnosis among adolescents. Who hasn’t scrolled through TikTok’s For You page and come across a short video listing symptoms that supposedly mean you have a certain condition if you recognize them in yourself? Content like “put a finger down if you have this symptom” has become extremely common on social media. The result is that young people encounter these videos on their screens and, without seeking medical guidance, conclude that they have the condition in question—often driven by the need to belong to a group. I have a diagnosis, therefore I exist. 

The aim of the article, then, was to investigate whether a child who grew up immersed in screens would become an adolescent seeking to fit into the content they consume. The specialists were reluctant to endorse this hypothesis, citing the lack of concrete studies to establish such a relationship. This was distressing for me, because the causality seemed obvious. As often happens in any journalistic production, I feared the piece wouldn’t come out or would fall apart. Still, I understandthat for journalists, as for scientists, it is important to respect the pace of research, avoiding hasty conclusions while continuing to raise questions. 

One undeniable fact, however, is that many adolescents actively seek a diagnosis—almost always related to mental health, such as ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)—and social networks encourage this behavior. A recent article analyzed how TikTok’s algorithms fuel this trend toward self-diagnosis. The conclusion, both of the article and of my own reporting, is that the platform’s content distribution logic reinforces the search for a disorder. How? By delivering this type of content at night, when users are more vulnerable, usually alone and introspective. 

Fighting this contemporary enemy is not limited to the adventures of Woody and Buzz. Caregivers, educators, policymakers, adolescents themselves—in short, society as a whole—need to find ways to minimize negative effects and seek alternatives to navigate this reality, since imagining a world without screens would be utopian. This is not about assigning blame, but about taking responsibility and taking action. 

Isabela Daudt, 20, studies Journalism at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. She aims to specialize in health reporting and has already written articles on thetopic. Her report “Hyperstimulation and Self-Diagnosis: How Screens Affect the Health of Children and Adolescents,” co-authored with Ana Carolina Nascimento and Júlia Campos, won second place in the 5th José Luiz Setúbal Communication Award