Profile: screen maximalists

A WIRED profile has put a name to a familiar habit: “screenmaxxers” who keep a phone in front of them for nearly every waking hour. (wired.com) WIRED’s story follows people including Morgan Dreiss, who told the magazine they spend much of the day reading, gaming, or scrolling on a phone and even disabled autolock to keep one game running. The article was published in April 2026 as a profile of people who reject the usual pressure to cut back. (wired.com) The behavior sits at the far end of a much larger pattern. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in October 2024 that 50.4 percent of United States teenagers ages 12 to 17 reported four or more hours of daily screen time on a typical weekday, excluding schoolwork. (cdc.gov) That same Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brief found teenagers with four or more hours of daily screen time were more likely to report anxiety or depression symptoms in the prior two weeks. A 2025 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study using the same national survey data also linked higher non-schoolwork screen use with irregular sleep, less physical activity, weight concerns, and weaker social support. (cdc.gov, cdc.gov) Federal health officials have been warning about the broader social media environment for several years. In a May 2023 advisory, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said the government could not conclude social media was “sufficiently safe” for children and adolescents and cited evidence that more than three hours a day on social media was associated with double the risk of mental health problems such as depression and anxiety symptoms. (hhs.gov) Pediatricians shifted their guidance in February 2026 away from simple hour limits and toward the design of the digital environment itself. The American Academy of Pediatrics said many platforms are built to keep children engaged for as long as possible and that this can disrupt sleep, learning, physical health, and mood. (healthychildren.org) Teen habits already show how normal constant connection has become. Pew Research Center reported in December 2023 that 93 percent of United States teens used YouTube, 63 percent used TikTok, 60 percent used Snapchat, and 59 percent used Instagram. (pewresearch.org) The same Pew survey, conducted from September 26 to October 23, 2023, found one-third of teens said they used at least one of five social media platforms “almost constantly.” That helps explain why WIRED’s extreme users look less like an isolated subculture than an exaggerated version of an always-on norm. (pewresearch.org) WIRED’s profile does not claim every hour on a screen causes harm, and the research it cites is largely correlational rather than proof of direct cause and effect. But the people in the story make visible what health agencies and pediatricians have been describing: a media environment built for continuous input, and a generation growing up inside it. (wired.com, healthychildren.org, hhs.gov)