MENTAL HEALTH, ADOLESCENCE AND DIGITAL MEDIA: A NARRATIVE REVIEW FROM A HISTORICAL-CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The expansion of digital media has transformed communication, socialization, learning, and identity development during adolescence. This article analyzes, through a narrative literature review, the relationship between digital media use and adolescent mental health from a historical-critical perspective, in dialogue with Socio-Historical and Cultural-Historical Psychology. Scientific articles, books, and institutional documents published or made available between 2016 and 2026 were considered, with emphasis on recent publications and relevant theoretical references. The literature indicates that the relationship between digital media and mental health is neither linear nor uniform: general use shows weak or inconsistent associations in part of the review literature, whereas problematic use is more consistently associated with psychological distress. Sleep, social comparison, body image, cyberbullying, and the need for belonging also emerge as relevant mechanisms. The historical-critical analysis situates these experiences within transformations in social relations, digital culture, consumption, and contemporary forms of subjectivity. It is concluded that understanding the phenomenon requires articulating singularity, particularity, and social totality, avoiding both blaming adolescents and attributing simplistic causal effects to technologies.