Self-Regulated Learning and Perceived Clinical Stressors in Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Childhood obesity has emerged as a global health concern with substantial short- and long-term health and societal consequences []. In this article, childhood obesity refers to obesity among children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years. We focus on this age range because it corresponds to school-aged children and adolescents, for whom independent device ownership, peer interaction, school schedules, and exposure to social media platforms increase rapidly. Preschool children aged 2 to 5 years also experience screen exposure, but their media use is more dependent on caregiver mediation and requires a different prevention and regulatory framework. The health risks of obesity are already evident during childhood and adolescence, including metabolic, orthopedic, respiratory, and mental health consequences that may track into adulthood [,]. Although lifestyle, environmental, genetic, and socioeconomic determinants remain central, broader technological factors are increasingly relevant to childhood obesity []. In China, the prevalence of childhood obesity and youth internet use has increased in parallel over the past decade (), suggesting the need to examine social media as an upstream commercial and behavioral environment rather than as a single causal exposure. Traditional prevention strategies focused mainly on individual diet and physical activity have had limited population-level impact []. The transition from an individual-centered approach to a more comprehensive, societally driven prevention strategy is urgently needed. This requires rethinking current childhood obesity prevention strategies and exploring the upstream drivers of childhood obesity, such as government regulations regarding the use of social media in China and beyond. China is home to one of the largest online populations in the world, and children are increasingly engaged with digital platforms []. The widespread availability of smartphones, affordable internet access, and the rise of popular social media platforms have drastically changed how children interact with the world. In this Viewpoint, “social media” refers to interactive, internet-based platforms that support user-generated content, social interaction, algorithmic recommendations, targeted content delivery, and live streaming or influencer-based content. Examples in China include WeChat, Weibo, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok). The target audience for this Viewpoint is international, but China is used as a case study because it combines a large youth internet population, rapid platform innovation, and recent regulatory experimentation.