Protect Your Child from Digital Threat: A Comprehensive Medical Reference for Researchers and Clinicians

The convergence of digital technology proliferation and rising childhood obesity represents one of the most pressing public health challenges of the 21st century. Children worldwide are spending unprecedented amounts of time in front of digital screens — including televisions, smartphones, tablets, computers, and gaming consoles — with accumulating evidence suggesting that such behaviour contributes to sedentarism, disrupts dietary patterns, and precipitates a cascade of adverse metabolic outcomes. Despite a growing body of research, a key gap remains in the literature: existing studies often examine physical activity displacement, dietary behaviour, sleep disruption, and metabolic outcomes in isolation, with limited integration into a comprehensive framework that captures the multidimensional and interacting pathways linking modern digital technology use to childhood obesity. The objective of the study is to examine how digital screen use contributes to obesity risk in young people through behavioural and biological pathways. This narrative review synthesises the available evidence on the relationships between digital technology use, screen sedentarism, dietary behaviour, and metabolic health in children and adolescents. Literature searches were conducted across multiple academic databases. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature published predominantly between 2000 and 2026, alongside authoritative reports from international health organisations, the review examines the mechanistic pathways through which prolonged screen exposure fosters physical inactivity, promotes unhealthy food consumption, disrupts sleep architecture, and engenders cardiometabolic dysfunction. Evidence indicates that screen time displaces physical activity, encourages passive eating in front of screens, amplifies children's exposure to digital food marketing, and suppresses melatonin production through blue-light emission — collectively predisposing children to excess adiposity, dyslipidaemia, insulin resistance, and elevated blood pressure. Neurobiological pathways, including dopaminergic reward signalling and hypothalamic appetite dysregulation, further mediate the relationship between digital technology and unhealthy eating behaviour. Socioeconomic inequalities compound these associations, with children from lower-income households often experiencing greater screen exposure and more nutritionally disadvantaged food environments. The review concludes by examining current and emerging policy responses, including screen time guidelines, digital food marketing regulations, and school-based interventions, and identifies research gaps requiring urgent attention.