Beyond minimal effects: a cumulative digital exposure framework for digital childhood

Digital technologies are increasingly embedded within the infrastructures of childhood as they are now shaping learning and everyday developmental environments. However, research on digital technology use and well-being has largely relied on time-based exposure measures that consistently report small associations with global well-being indicators. This conceptual review synthesises interdisciplinary evidence from behavioural science, epidemiology, clinical research and educational studies to examine the limitations of prevailing exposure models and to reconceptualise digitally mediated childhood as a cumulative exposure process. Drawing on these literatures, the article develops a cumulative digital exposure framework that conceptualises digital engagement as a multi-level system in which algorithmic platform design, institutional embedding and developmental processes interact over time. The review highlights how time-based and snapshot measurement approaches may be poorly suited to capturing adaptive, personalised and cumulative exposure dynamics characteristic of contemporary digital ecosystems. Evidence across clinical, educational and public health domains suggests that digital environments may influence development through cumulative effects on attention, emotional regulation, learning practices and physical health. By reframing digital technology use as a cumulative and system-level exposure, this review contributes a theoretical foundation for advancing research on digital childhood and outlines implications for measurement, causal inference and population health approaches in digital health research.