Kids Nearly Doubled Screen Time During The Pandemic, But There Is Something You Can Do About It

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(CNN) — Children are racking up hours of surface clip since the pandemic began, and determination doesn’t look to beryllium an extremity successful sight.

Adolescents reported that they spent astir 8 hours a time successful beforehand of a screen, treble their pre-pandemic estimates of astir 4 hours per day, according to a survey published Monday successful JAMA Pediatrics.

Kids’ surface clip did not see clip spent online for virtual classes. The survey focused connected recreational activities similar streaming, gaming, societal media, texting, video chatting and surfing the web.

Adolescents who reported much surface clip besides reported suffering successful different areas of their lives, said pb survey writer Dr. Jason Nagata, adjunct prof of pediatrics astatine the University of California successful San Francisco.

Screen usage and intelligence health

“More surface clip was linked to poorer intelligence wellness and greater accent among teens,” Nagata said.

Some 5,412 adolescents betwixt the ages of 10 and 14 years aged were asked astir their screen-time habits. Researchers recovered the children spent an mean of 7.7 hours a time successful beforehand of a screen, up from pre-pandemic estimates of 3.8 hours per day.

Participants were asked to fertile their intelligence wellness from “much worse” to “much better” compared to the erstwhile week. They were besides asked 4 questions astir their perceived stress, specified arsenic “In the past month, however often person you felt difficulties were piling up truthful precocious that you could not flooded them?”

The nexus betwixt higher surface usage and accent was surprising, said Dr. Jenny Radesky, a practicing developmental behavioral pediatrician and adjunct prof of pediatrics astatine Michigan Medicine C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital successful Ann Arbor, who was not progressive successful the study.

“Most families were hoping that connecting with friends done gaming oregon societal media, oregon relaxing watching videos, would beryllium a accent reliever during the pandemic,” she said.

The antagonistic correlation could beryllium owed to “doomscrolling,” Radesky said. That’s erstwhile radical scroll connected societal media looking astatine antagonistic quality for agelong periods of time. Higher hours of surface clip could person besides fixed children little clip to enactment successful activities that “help enactment resilience during hard times, including sleep, mindfulness, oregon carnal activity,” she added.

Conversely, participants who reported little surface clip were recovered to person stronger household and person relationships and much coping behaviors.

The adolescents were asked astir the prime of their household and person relationships. They were besides fixed a database of 9 coping behaviors specified arsenic exercising and meditating and asked to stock however overmuch they participated successful each activity.

Set screen-time limits

As the pandemic subsides, higher surface times won’t beryllium going distant anytime soon, Nagata predicted.

Academic and societal activities are opening to modulation to in-person again, but the accrued availability of online options means “screen usage is apt to stay higher than pre-pandemic levels,” helium said.

Nagata recommended adults acceptable screen-time limits for their children and promote them to debar screens earlier bedtime.

Model device-free behavior

“Parents should besides pb by illustration by putting distant their devices during household clip and meals, and not often interrupting their interactions with their kids to be to their devices,” said Michael Robb, elder manager of probe astatine Common Sense Media, who wasn’t progressive successful the study.

Many videos and online games are designed with features to suck the idiosyncratic successful and support them coming backmost each day, specified arsenic autoplay and notifications, Radesky said. Grown-ups tin play alongside their children to find what circumstantial features are being utilized truthful they tin crook them off, she said.

Rather than counting the minutes children walk successful beforehand of screens, adults should absorption connected making definite their children implicit the tasks they request to similar homework and chores, Robb recommended. After those are accounted for, past absorption connected managing surface time.

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