01 May Impact of Screen time in children and Adolescents
In today’s world, media has become an inevitable part everybody’s life.
They are the essential tools for communication, information sharing, entertainment and amusement in daily lives.
Media can be called as double-edged sword where you have great hope for the educational potential of interactive media for young children, and health concerns further to overuse during this crucial period of rapid brain development.
Media usage in recent times
Research and studies infer TV hours among school-aged children have decreased in the past decade for children younger than 8 years. TV viewing also has changed over the past decade, with content available via streaming or social media sites, such as YouTube and Netflix.
However, media use among adolescents has continued to grow over the past decade, aided by the recent increase in mobile phone use among teenagers.
Common Terminologies
Screen time: Total time spent in watching screens like computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, television, and handheld video games in a day.
Digital media: These are defined as a group of media or applications that operate with the use of encoded numeric data formats and allow the creation and exchange of user generated content. It includes blogs, social networking sites, collaborative projects, virtual game worlds, apps, and virtual social worlds. Smart-phones, computers, laptops, and tablets are the devices used to access the digital media.
Broadcast media include television and movies.
Interactive media include social media and video games in which users can both consume and create content. Interactive media allow information sharing and provide an engaging digital environment that becomes highly personalized.
Benefits of Media
For children above 2 years of age, shared use of media between children and parents may help enhance learning interactions. Adolescents find social media useful to develop and nurture friendships.
Digital media can promote healthy behaviours and counter undesired effects among children and adolescents. Social marketing campaigns are effective means to promote behaviour change, like prevention and control of substance abuse, encouraging physical activities, maintaining healthy diet and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. According to a systematic review, tailored audio or text messages on cell phones can enable adolescents improve their health-related knowledge, increase compliance to medications and disease monitoring, setting reminders for regular appointments.
Media risk on development
Exposure to television has negative association with the child’s executive functioning and cognitive development.
Background television has been shown to impair the quality and quantity of parentchild interaction and disrupt sustained toy play in this age group
A systematic review concluded that children with excess screen time are at a higher risk of delayed language development, learning problems and reading problems.
Children older than 6 years are more likely to watch adult-directed media, which can influence anti-social and aggressive behaviour, due to exposure to violent content. Changes in aggression can be long-lasting and shape the child’s personality. Adolescents who are exposed to violent video games reported increased hostility, physical fights and poorer school performances
Blue light emitted by electronic media suppresses and disrupts melatonin secretion. Use of light emitting media prior to sleep is associated with decreased subjective sleepiness and suppresses late evening rise of pineal melatonin.
Violent daytime media exposure has also been associated with sleep problems, nightmares and night awakenings, again affecting sleep quality adversely.
Social media use and internet surfing was seen to cause maximum sleep onset latency and midsleep awakenings. Use of media as sleeping aids was found to be associated with higher fatigue, later time to bed.
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| Age Guidelines | |
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Infants and toddlers 0 to 23 months
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Children below 2 years age should not be exposed to any type of screen.
Screen media (e.g., smartphones, tablets, television) should not be used to facilitate feeding. Screen media should not be considered as an easy option to calm a crying/distressed child. |
| Toddlers to Pre-schoolers
24months to 59 months
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Limit screen time to a maximum of 1 hour per day (with each session not more than 20-30 min); the lesser, the better. • Use only one screen at a time. Do not start a habit of media multitasking.
Screen time needs to be always supervised by the caregivers. Promote shared use of screen media between child and families to ensure interaction and quality exposure. |
| Children 5 to 10 years of age
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Limit screen time to less than 2 hours per day; the lesser, the better. This includes recreational screen time, and time spent on screen at home to complete educational and extra-curricular assignments.
Screen media exposure should be mainly for the purpose of education, learning, and social interaction. Recreational screen time should be kept to a minimal. Parents should monitor when children are using screens for education so that children are not straying away from lessons to play games, view online content, or communicate with others online |
| Adolescents 11 to 18 years
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Balance screen time with other activities that are required for overall development. These activities include at least one hour of outdoor physical activity |
The influence of the media on the psychosocial development of children is profound. Thus, it is important for Paediatricians to discuss with parents their child’s exposure to media and to provide guidance on age-appropriate use of all media, including television, radio, music, video games and the Internet. Media is everywhere and managing it all can be tough.
Designate media-free times together (eg, family dinner) and media-free locations (eg, bedrooms) in homes. Promote activities that are likely to facilitate development and health, including positive parenting activities, such as reading, teaching, talking, and playing together.
Communicate guidelines to other caregivers, such as babysitters or grandparents, so that media rules are followed consistently.
Engage in selecting and co-viewing media with your child, through which your child can use media to learn and be creative, and share these experiences with your family and your community.
Actively develop a network of trusted adults (eg, aunts, uncles, coaches, etc) who can engage with children through social media and to whom children can turn when they encounter challenges.
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