Functional and dysfunctional digital media use: comparing adolescents’, parents’, and teachers’ perspectives

Empirical research has studied extensively what type of digital media use benefits or threatens children’s and adolescents’ well-being. To use digital media in a functional way, children and adolescents need this knowledge. Here we assessed in three online surveys how adolescents aged 14–18 years (N = 710), parents of adolescents (N = 289), and secondary school teachers (N = 278) from Germany differing in demographics conceptualize a digital media use that is (dys)functional for adolescents’ well-being. In more detail, we asked them to rate the perceived effects of 23 different use behaviors derived from the Digital Media-use Effects Model (Liebherr et al., 2025) on adolescents’ well-being (on a scale from very bad to very good). We also studied whether adolescents’, parents’, and teachers’ understanding is in line with scientific evidence from reviews. Participants were recruited by two independent social marketing and research institutes. Results indicate that adolescents, parents, and teachers tend to accurately identify types of use that are beneficial for adolescents’ well-being such as using digital media for communication. However, they tended to underestimate or ignore the use behaviors that according to empirical evidence pose a risk for adolescents’ well-being such as night-time use or social comparisons (Cohen’s d = 0.12–1.27). Particularly being young (|r| = .10-.32) and male (|r| = .09-.33) was associated with expecting positive effects among adolescents. These insights help tailoring interventions and media education for adolescents, parents, and teachers: Particularly the identified risky use behaviors that are not perceived as such should be in focus.