Screen Time Struggles: What a Data Science Competition Taught Us About Problematic Internet Use in Teens

As parents, educators, and mental health professionals, we’re all grappling with the impact of technology on our kids. How much screen time is too much? What types of internet use can become a problem? And how can we tell if a teen is struggling?

The Child Mind Institute recently explored these very questions by hosting a unique competition on Kaggle, a platform where data scientists from around the world compete to solve real-world problems. The challenge? To develop tools that could help identify Problematic Internet Use (PIU) in adolescents from easily measurable metrics of physical health.

It’s easy to get caught up in tracking the number of hours a teen spends online. But PIU is about more than that. It’s about when internet use starts to negatively impact a teen’s life — their schoolwork, relationships, sleep, and overall well-being.

Think of it this way: it’s the difference between a child enjoying a hobby and that hobby taking over their life to the detriment of everything else.

• They’re preoccupied with being online: Even when they’re not using the internet, they’re constantly thinking about it.
• They get irritable or anxious when they can’t go online: This can be a sign of withdrawal, similar to what happens with substance use.
• They try to cut back but can’t: They recognize it’s a problem but feel unable to control their usage.
• Their grades slip, they lose interest in other activities, or their relationships suffer: The internet starts to take priority over other important aspects of their life.
• They lie about or hide their internet use: They become secretive and defensive about how much time they’re spending online.

The competition provided us with a treasure trove of information from nearly 4,000 children and adolescents. This Included surveys about their internet habits, mental health, and physical activity, as well as common at-home measurements like height and weight. For some participants, data were also collected from clinical surveys and wearable devices.

The data scientists used this information to build models that could predict a teen’s PIU severity. The results were fascinating, sometimes surprising, and ultimately highlighted some of the great challenges in assessment in mental health care.

This competition highlighted the limitations of current clinical definitions and assessments of Problematic Internet Use (PIU), particularly their inability to precisely map to overall health or produce generalizable insights across populations. We have kept the competition dataset openly available so researchers can work to improve these tools.

This competition was just one step in our ongoing effort to understand and address the challenges of the digital age for children and adolescents. We’re committed to:

• Developing evidence-based resources to help parents, educators, and clinicians navigate these issues.
• Conducting cutting-edge research to improve our understanding of PIU and other mental health challenges.
• Providing high-quality clinical care to children and families who are struggling.

• Start a conversation: Talk to your teen about their internet use in an open and non-judgmental way.
• Set healthy boundaries: Establish clear expectations around screen time and digital device use.
• Be a role model: Demonstrate healthy technology habits yourself.
• Seek professional help if you’re concerned: Don’t hesitate to reach out to a mental health professional if you think your teen might be struggling with PIU.

The digital landscape is constantly evolving, but by working together — parents, educators, researchers, and clinicians — we can help our teens develop a healthy and balanced relationship with technology. Learn more about our resources and how to seek help at childmind.org.

About the Child Mind Institute

We are the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health providing gold-standard, evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing open science initiatives and tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments.

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For press questions, contact our press team at childmindinstitute@ssmandl.com or our media officer at mediaoffice@childmind.org.