https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence New evidence added to the TechKids Foundation Evidence Library — studies, government reports, laws, films, and testimony on problematic screen use in children. en-us https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/afterschool-alliance-america-after-3pm-2025 https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/afterschool-alliance-america-after-3pm-2025 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT America After 3PM is a national household survey conducted by the Afterschool Alliance that measures participation in and demand for afterschool programs among U.S. children, including middle school youth. The December 2025 release finds that unmet demand for afterschool programs among middle-schoolers has reached an all-time high, with millions of families who want a program for their child unable to access one — citing cost, transportation, and a lack of available programs in their area as the primary barriers. The Alliance presents this as descriptive survey data on program supply and family demand, not an evaluation of any specific program's effectiveness. TechKids Foundation cites this survey to describe the scale of unmet need for structured, adult-supervised, skill-building afterschool time — exactly the gap our Screen-to-Builder Labs are designed to fill for children who would otherwise spend those hours unsupervised and largely on screens. https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/cdc-mmwr-social-media-bullying-suicide-risk-2023 https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/cdc-mmwr-social-media-bullying-suicide-risk-2023 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT This CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report supplement analyzes 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data on U.S. high school students, examining how frequent social media use relates to experiences with bullying victimization, persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and suicide-risk indicators such as having seriously considered or attempted suicide. Students who reported more frequent social media use also reported higher rates of being bullied — including online — and higher rates of persistent sadness, hopelessness, and suicide-risk indicators, compared with students reporting less frequent use. The report presents these as patterns observed across a large national survey, not as evidence that social media use by itself causes bullying or suicide risk; suicide and self-harm are complex outcomes shaped by many factors together. TechKids Foundation cites this report to describe cyberbullying and self-harm risk as warning signs associated with heavy social media use, never as a single-cause claim. https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/bls-stem-employment-outlook https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/bls-stem-employment-outlook Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT This U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data table projects employment growth and wages in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) occupations compared with non-STEM occupations over a ten-year projection period. BLS projects STEM employment to grow substantially faster than non-STEM employment over the period, with STEM occupations also carrying a median annual wage more than double that of non-STEM occupations. These are government labor-market projections and current wage statistics, not a guarantee of any individual's career outcome. TechKids Foundation cites this data to describe the economic opportunity gap our creator programs aim to help close: children who spend their technology time consuming rather than building are less exposed to the skills, confidence, and career pathways connected to a fast-growing, higher-wage segment of the job market. https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/cdc-nhis-teen-screen-time-2021-23 https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/cdc-nhis-teen-screen-time-2021-23 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT This CDC/NCHS Data Brief reports how much screen time U.S. teenagers use on an average weekday, drawing on National Health Interview Survey data collected from July 2021 through December 2023. It finds that just over half of U.S. teens ages 12–17 report four or more hours of screen time on a typical weekday outside of schoolwork — time that, added up across a school week and a school year, can amount to more hours than any single class they attend. The brief presents descriptive national estimates rather than evaluating specific health effects; TechKids Foundation uses these figures, phrased as association and displacement, to describe how much time a large share of American teenagers spend on screens outside of schoolwork, not as evidence that screen time alone determines any child's outcomes. https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/cdc-pcd-teen-screen-time-health-outcomes-2025 https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/cdc-pcd-teen-screen-time-health-outcomes-2025 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT This CDC-published analysis in Preventing Chronic Disease examines associations between weekday screen-time use and a range of health outcomes among U.S. teenagers ages 12–17, using National Health Interview Survey (NHIS-Teen) data collected between July 2021 and December 2023. The study finds that teens who report four or more hours of screen time on an average weekday outside schoolwork are also more likely to report warning signs across several health measures, including anxiety and depression symptoms, compared with teens reporting lower screen-time levels. The authors frame these findings as associations observed in survey data, not as proof that screen time alone causes any particular outcome. TechKids Foundation treats this analysis as one data point describing patterns linked to heavy passive screen use among U.S. adolescents, not a diagnosis of any individual child. https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/hhs-surgeon-general-harms-of-screen-use-webpage https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/hhs-surgeon-general-harms-of-screen-use-webpage Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT This HHS Office of the Surgeon General web resource summarizes the public health case for concern about screen use among children and teens, drawing together research the office has reviewed on how screen use is associated with outcomes such as sleep loss, attention difficulties, mood changes, and social withdrawal. The page frames these as warning signs and risk factors observed across a growing body of research, not as proof that any single child's difficulties are caused by screens alone. It calls for shared responsibility among families, schools, technology platforms, and policymakers to reduce potential harms while preserving the benefits technology can offer. TechKids Foundation cites this page as an official federal public health source establishing that screen-use harms are a recognized area of concern, not a fringe claim. https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/nces-cell-phones-hurt-academic-performance-2025 https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/nces-cell-phones-hurt-academic-performance-2025 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT This National Center for Education Statistics (NCES/IES) press release reports findings from a national survey of U.S. public school leaders about cell phones in schools. More than half of surveyed school leaders say cell phone use by students hurts academic performance, and the same survey finds that fewer than half of public schools currently teach students about artificial intelligence, with only a minority having a written policy governing student AI use. NCES presents these as school-leader-reported survey findings, describing perceptions and existing school policy, not a controlled study of cause and effect. TechKids Foundation cites this survey to describe a policy and instruction gap — schools recognizing a problem with unmanaged device use while AI-literacy instruction and clear policy both lag behind — that after-school creator programs like TechKids Labs are positioned to help fill. https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/pew-how-teens-use-view-ai-2026 https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/pew-how-teens-use-view-ai-2026 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT This Pew Research Center report, published February 2026, examines how U.S. teens ages 13–17 use artificial intelligence tools and what they think about them — including where teens turn to AI for help with schoolwork, how much they trust AI-generated answers, and how comfortable they are questioning or verifying what AI tells them. The survey finds that many teens use AI regularly but that comfort verifying AI outputs and awareness of AI's limitations vary widely. Pew reports these as self-reported attitudes and usage patterns, not as a measure of accuracy or harm. TechKids Foundation cites this report to describe a gap between how often teens use AI and how equipped they feel to question it — the gap our AI-literacy curriculum modules on verification, bias, privacy, and responsible use are designed to close. https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/pew-teens-social-media-ai-chatbots-2025 https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/pew-teens-social-media-ai-chatbots-2025 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT This Pew Research Center report surveys U.S. teens ages 13–17 about their social media habits and their use of AI chatbots, tracking how quickly AI tools have entered teenagers' daily lives alongside existing social media use. The report finds that a majority of teens now report having used AI chatbots, with a notable share using them on a daily basis, while also documenting continued heavy use of social media platforms among the same age group. Pew presents these as self-reported survey findings describing current teen technology habits, not as an assessment of health effects. TechKids Foundation cites this report to describe how quickly AI chatbots have become part of teenagers' everyday technology use, often layered on top of already-heavy social media habits, underscoring the need for AI literacy alongside the mentoring and creation TechKids programs provide. https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/preventive-medicine-screen-time-suicidal-behaviors-2023 https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/preventive-medicine-screen-time-suicidal-behaviors-2023 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT Published in the journal Preventive Medicine, this prospective cohort study followed a large sample of U.S. children ages 9–11 over time to see whether screen time was associated with later suicidal behaviors, including suicidal ideation and attempts. Children with higher baseline screen time were more likely to report suicidal behaviors at follow-up than children with lower screen time, even after the researchers accounted for other measured factors. Because the study tracked the same children over time rather than comparing them at one moment, it offers a stronger design than a single snapshot survey — but the authors are clear that suicidal behavior in children has many contributing causes, and screen time is one associated risk factor among several, not a standalone cause. TechKids Foundation cites this study as one of the stronger pieces of evidence linking heavy screen time in younger children to elevated self-harm risk over time. https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/psychiatry-research-screen-based-self-harm-meta-analysis-2024 https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/psychiatry-research-screen-based-self-harm-meta-analysis-2024 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT This systematic review and meta-analysis, published in the journal Psychiatry Research, pools findings from multiple studies to examine how screen-based activities relate to self-harm and suicidal behaviors among young people. Combining data across the included studies, the authors report a consistent association between higher levels of certain screen-based activities and increased odds of self-harm and suicidal behaviors, with the strength of the association varying by the type of activity studied — for example, social media versus gaming versus general screen time. As a meta-analysis, this study synthesizes correlational evidence from many settings rather than proving that screen use directly causes self-harm; the authors describe self-harm and suicidal behavior as outcomes shaped by many interacting risk factors. TechKids Foundation treats this meta-analysis as strong, aggregated evidence that certain patterns of screen-based activity are linked to elevated self-harm risk in young people, phrased here strictly as association, never as single-cause proof. https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/surgeon-general-harms-of-screen-use-2026 https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/surgeon-general-harms-of-screen-use-2026 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT This is the formal 2026 U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on the Harms of Screen Use, published via the National Library of Medicine's Bookshelf. A Surgeon General's Advisory is issued when the office judges an issue significant enough to warrant the public's attention, and this one lays out the evidence reviewed for associations between screen use patterns and outcomes in children's mental health, sleep, attention, and development. The advisory calls this a public health concern warranting action from parents, educators, technology companies, and policymakers, while stating clearly that children are affected differently and that outcomes reflect many interacting factors, not screen use in isolation. TechKids Foundation treats this advisory as the highest-level federal acknowledgment that problematic screen-use patterns are linked to real risks for children, reinforcing rather than replacing the association language used throughout this campaign. https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/techkids-foundation-linkedin-profile https://techkidsfoundation.org/evidence/techkids-foundation-linkedin-profile Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT This is TechKids Foundation's own public organization description as published on its LinkedIn company profile, accessed July 2026. It states TechKids Foundation's mission, program focus, and how the organization describes its own work helping children move from passive technology consumption toward hands-on technology creation through robotics, 3D design, AI literacy, and entrepreneurship programming. As a self-published organizational description rather than independent research, this entry is included in the library for transparency and citation purposes — anywhere the campaign references TechKids Foundation's own stated mission or program description, this is the primary source. It is not evidence of screen-use harms and should not be read as an outcome or impact claim; those are reported separately, tied only to what the organization actually measures.