Is all that scrolling really dulling your attention? Researchers combed 71 studies — the link is real, but how compulsively you scroll matters more than how long

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Time on the apps showed only a weak link to cognition and a still weaker one to mental health. Across the 61 studies measuring mental health, the overall association was weaker (−.21) but consistent: stress (−.34) and anxiety (−.33) led, with depression, loneliness, and sleep quality trailing behind. Duration — sheer time spent — was weakly linked to cognition (−.20) and barely linked to mental health (−.10). How often people opened the apps showed no significant link to mental health at all. But addiction-style scores correlated with poorer cognition at −.37 and poorer mental health at −.32.