Letters | Would curbs on young Hongkongers’ screen time improve mental health?
- Readers discuss whether Hong Kong should limit children’s screen time, one area where the city is leading the United States, and Donald Trump’s guilty verdict

Recently, The Economist analysed suicide data from 17 developed countries (including the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, South Korea and Australia) between 2003 and 2021, and found that the suicide rate among young women, especially girls aged 10-19, had risen sharply over the past decade. This coincides with the rise of social media. Is there a correlation between social media consumption and poorer mental health?
In Hong Kong, 86.7 per cent of children aged 10-14 own a mobile phone. According to a survey last year, primary school pupils here spend a daily average of four hours on digital devices on weekdays, and up to six hours during weekends and public holidays. These figures are comparable to those elsewhere. Both in the United States and Japan, separate polls last year found that teenagers spend on average nearly five hours a day online.