Tackling problematic use of the internet among young people across Europe
With over 90% of UK teenagers now owning a smartphone, young people are more connected than ever - but alongside digital opportunity come serious concerns around excessive and harmful online behaviour.
In response, Professor Naomi Fineberg of the University of Hertfordshire is leading a €7.5 million Europe-wide study called BootStRaP (Boosting Societal Adaptation and Mental Health in a Rapidly Digitalising, Post-Pandemic Europe) - the first standardised analysis of this scale to examine how young people use the internet and when that use becomes harmful.
Funded by Horizon Europe, Innovate UK, and Swiss SARI, BootStRaP is an ambitious five-year project involving 8,000 young people across multiple countries. While the internet brings huge benefits to education, connection, and innovation, it also presents real risks - particularly for younger users. Problematic Use of the Internet (PUI), marked by a loss of control over activities like social media, gaming, online shopping or pornography, is estimated to affect about one in four young people.
Despite growing concerns, there remains a lack of high-quality, large-scale data on how these behaviours vary across regions, education systems, and socioeconomic groups. The evidence gap has slowed progress in crafting meaningful health and social care strategies to prevent or reduce digital harm.
The approach
At the heart of the research is BootstrApp - a mobile application developed to monitor internet usage time, phone use patterns, and daily behaviours. The app surveys participants on their wellbeing, mood, and internet habits, gathering anonymous data across diverse European populations. The data is used to identify those young people showing the earliest sign of potentially harmful patterns of online behaviour, as a basis for developing protective self-help interventions that are delivered to the via the same app before the problem develops into an addiction.
The project places a strong emphasis on ethical standards and privacy protections. Researchers cannot access individuals’ content, locations, or contacts; instead, they analyse broader patterns such as platform types, usage times, and frequency, helping identify signs of excessive or harmful behaviour.
In the UK, the project seeks to recruit 2,000 teenagers, with support from secondary schools across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Essex, Buckinghamshire, Middlesex, and North London.
Impact and vision
Led by Professor Fineberg, in partnership with the Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, BootStRaP aims to deliver evidence-based tools, treatments and recommendations that help shape health and education policy across Europe. Findings will offer clarity on when digital behaviours cross into harmful territory and how young people can be better supported to self-regulate and use the internet safely and meaningfully.
With over 90% of young people in the UK now owning a smartphone, our teenagers are the online generation. It’s why it’s so important to ensure they understand the risks as well as the benefits, learn how to self-regulate internet use and content accessed, and are empowered to use the internet safely. It is currently estimated that around a quarter of young people are affected by PUI, and we regularly hear anecdotally about the issues being faced by parents and young people due to excessive internet use, however, this project isn’t about deterring young people from using the internet. The internet has increased connectedness and delivered benefits that have transformed our society and many parts of life for good.
But there is clear evidence that internet use goes hand-in-hand with some harmful behaviours that are affecting people’s health and wellbeing, particularly younger people. More scientific evidence is needed to determine the boundaries between normal and excessive internet use and behaviour patterns, to help us understand how using the internet affects a young person’s mood and wellbeing and when this can harm health.
Professor Naomi Fineberg,
Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Hertfordshire and the Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust and Principle Investigator & Scientific Coordinator for BootStRaP
The project continues until 2028 and is already generating vital insights into modern digital life. As findings emerge, they will help inform the future of mental health care, education, and digital regulation across Europe.
Find out more about BootStRaP.
Professor Fineburg
Professor of Psychiatry, MBBS, MA, MRCPsych
Naomi Anne Fineberg is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Hertfordshire, and a Consultant Psychiatrist at Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, where she leads the NHS England Highly Specialised Service for Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders. She is President Elect of the British Association for Psychopharmacology, co-chairs the World Psychiatric Association Anxiety & Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders Scientific Section, coordinates the Horizon Europe Network for Problematic Usage of the Internet and is Secretary of the International College of Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders.
Professor Fineberg has a substantial track record in the investigation of the neurobiology and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders and behavioural addiction including problematic usage of the Internet. She is Editor in Chief of Comprehensive Psychiatry.