Digital-Use Disorders in the Mediterranean Configuration: A Comparative Documentary Synthesis of European Screen-Time and Sleep-Disruption Evidence through the Digital Vulnerability Framework (2017–2025)

Abstract

The integration of digital technology into daily life across the Mediterranean European Union member states has accelerated substantially over the past decade, with the 2020 World Health Organization recognition of digital addiction marking the institutional moment at which the disorder cluster associated with excessive screen engagement became a recognised public-health concern. The contemporary Mediterranean configuration exhibits structurally distinctive features within the broader European pattern, with Eurostat data identifying the Greek population mean daily screen time as the highest among fifteen European countries and Spanish and Italian comparator data documenting elevated problematic-internet-use prevalence rates. This article advances a comparative documentary synthesis of the published European and international evidence base on digital-use disorders in the Mediterranean configuration, organised through the Digital Vulnerability Framework — a two-by-two typology distinguishing exposure intensity and sleep-disruption severity. Four propositions are advanced concerning the Mediterranean positioning within the European digital-wellbeing landscape, the cross-country variation within the Mediterranean configuration, the sex and age asymmetries documented across comparator member states, and the policy implications for the European institutional response.

Received: 19 May 2026 / Accepted: 28 June  2026 / Published: July 2026