What is the right criterion for judging whether a young person's internet use is problematic, and what do Swiss data show about sleep?

Not the time spent online, but the effects on social life, school performance and health. A third of children over 10 report sleep problems at least several times a week, and 14 to 15-year-olds with heavy, loss-of-control use of social networks tend to sleep less than recommended.

Two findings that run against common assumptions:

• Young people reflect on the social consequences of being online and use regulation strategies (turning off notifications, putting the phone away) more often than adults do.
• Counting hours is the wrong measure. Ten hours of creative work with friends online can be healthy; one hour of compulsive scrolling that wrecks sleep may not be. The criteria are impact on social life, school performance and health.

On sleep (HBSC 2023):

• One third of children over 10 report sleep problems at least several times a week.
• In particular, 14 and 15-year-olds with high use and problematic social-network use (in the sense of losing control over the time spent) tend to get less sleep than recommended.

Sleep is a good indicator precisely because it is an impact, not a time count: it links use to health.

Go deeper:

• HBSC Switzerland — the survey behind the sleep findings.
• Pro Juventute: How are young people in Switzerland doing? — the 2025 youth study (German).