screen time

Early childhood exposure to screen time is becoming more common as mobile devices and televisions are part of most households. That is the same time when children, especially those in their first 3 years, are having an explosion of language and acquiring their speech and language skills. Screen time, especially on mobile devices, can be useful to keep children entertained at home and on the go. However, children who have more screen time may have fewer chances to talk with others, affecting their speech and language development. Current guidelines recommend that children younger than 18 months should not have any screen exposure, and children aged 2 to 5 years should be limited to 1 hour of screen time per day.

Current studies show that screen time keeps children from hearing adult words. Children and parents both vocalize or talk less when children engage with screens. There are also fewer back-and-forth conversations between children and caregivers. Spending more time with screens, even background television, may result in reductions in speech. Having a language-rich home environment promotes strong language skills, school readiness, and healthy brain development. If a child does engage with screens, there are ways to support speech development. Some ways to watch and use screens are better than others.

Author/s:

Lillian E. Sutton, Lindsay A. Thompson

Addictive Screen Use Trajectories and Suicidal Behaviors, Suicidal Ideation, and Mental Health in US Youths

Megan George — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 13:43:37 +0000

Date Added:

July 25, 2025

Journal/Publication:

JAMA

Publication Date:

June 18, 2025

URL:

Addictive Screen Use Trajectories and Suicidal Behaviors, Suicidal Ideation, and Mental Health in US Youths

Type:

Meta-analyses, Reviews, and Guidelines

Format:

Article

DOI (1):

10.1001/jama.2025.7829

Keywords

PMID (1):

40531519

MeSH

adolescent

Adolescent Behavior / psychology

Addictive* / epidemiology

Behavior, Addictive* / psychology

A review of the adverse consequences of addictive screen use behaviors by adolescents. James W. Mold, MD, MPH

View

Importance: Increasing child and adolescent use of social media, video games, and mobile phones has raised concerns about potential links to youth mental health problems. Prior research has largely focused on total screen time rather than longitudinal addictive use trajectories.

Objectives: To identify trajectories of addictive use of social media, mobile phones, and video games and to examine their associations with suicidal behaviors and ideation and mental health outcomes among youths.

Design, setting, and participants: Cohort study analyzing data from baseline through year 4 follow-up in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (2016-2022), with population-based samples from 21 US sites.

Exposures: Addictive use of social media, mobile phones, and video games using validated child-reported measures from year 2, year 3, and year 4 follow-up surveys.

Main outcomes and measures: Suicidal behaviors and ideation assessed using child- and parent-reported information via the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. Internalizing and externalizing symptoms were assessed using the parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist.

Results: The analytic sample (n = 4285) had a mean age of 10.0 (SD, 0.6) years; 47.9% were female; and 9.9% were Black, 19.4% Hispanic, and 58.7% White. Latent class linear mixed models identified 3 addictive use trajectories for social media and mobile phones and 2 for video games. Nearly one-third of participants had an increasing addictive use trajectory for social media or mobile phones beginning at age 11 years. In adjusted models, increasing addictive use trajectories were associated with higher risks of suicide-related outcomes than low addictive use trajectories (eg, increasing addictive use of social media had a risk ratio of 2.14 [95% CI, 1.61-2.85] for suicidal behaviors). High addictive use trajectories for all screen types were associated with suicide-related outcomes (eg, high-peaking addictive use of social media had a risk ratio of 2.39 [95% CI, 1.66-3.43] for suicidal behaviors). The high video game addictive use trajectory showed the largest relative difference in internalizing symptoms (T score difference, 2.03 [95% CI, 1.45-2.61]), and the increasing social media addictive use trajectory for externalizing symptoms (T score difference, 1.05 [95% CI, 0.54-1.56]), compared with low addictive use trajectories. Total screen time at baseline was not associated with outcomes.

Conclusions and relevance: High or increasing trajectories of addictive use of social media, mobile phones, or video games were common in early adolescents. Both high and increasing addictive screen use trajectories were associated with suicidal behaviors and ideation and worse mental health.

Author/s:

Yunyu Xiao, PhD, Yuan Meng, PhD, Timothy T. Brown, PhD

Digital Screen Time and Myopia: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis

Alex Haga — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 17:47:38 +0000

Date Added:

February 27, 2025

Journal/Publication:

JAMA

Publication Date:

February 3, 2025

URL:

Digital Screen Time and Myopia: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis

Type:

Meta-analyses, Reviews, and Guidelines

Format:

Article

DOI (1):

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.60026

Keywords

screen time

myopia

PMID (1):

39982728

MeSH

Screen Time*

Myopia* / epidemiology

Screen appears to be associated in a dose response pattern with myopia. Perhaps another argument to use with parents though causation has not been firmly established. James W. Mold, MD, MPH

Free full text

View

Importance: The association of digital screen time with myopia has been documented, but the dose-response association and safe exposure threshold remain unclear.

Objective: To evaluate the dose-response association of time spent on digital screens with myopia risk.

Data sources: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library databases, CINAHL, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched for full-length articles from peer-reviewed journals without restrictions on study design, publication date, or language from inception to November 25, 2024.

Study selection: Primary research articles investigating the association of exposure to digital screen devices (ie, smartphones, tablets, game consoles, computers, or television) with myopia-related outcomes (ie, prevalent or incident myopia and the rate of myopia progression) were identified by reviewers.

Data extraction and synthesis: Two independent reviewers extracted data using a standardized procedure in accordance with the Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) reporting guidelines. A random-effects, dose-response meta-analysis (DRMA) was utilized to examine the pattern of the association of screen time with myopia.

Main outcome and measures: Increased odds of myopia per hour of daily screen time.

Results: In the linear DRMA of 45 studies with 335 524 participants (mean [SD] age, 9.3 [4.3] years), an additional hour of daily screen time was associated with higher odds of myopia (odds ratio [OR], 1.21; 95% CI, 1.13-1.30). The nonlinear DRMA of 34 studies with 314 910 participants also indicated higher odds of myopia with increasing screen time, ranging from 1 hour of daily exposure (OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.01-1.09) to 4 hours (OR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.56-2.40). The dose-response curve showed myopia risk increasing significantly between 1 to 4 hours of daily screen time, and then rising more gradually after 4 hours.

Conclusions and relevance: In this systematic review and DRMA, a daily 1-hour increment in digital screen time was associated with 21% higher odds of myopia and the dose-response pattern exhibited a sigmoidal shape, indicating a potential safety threshold of less than 1 hour per day of exposure, with an increase in odds up to 4 hours. These findings can offer guidance to clinicians and researchers regarding myopia risk.

Author/s:

Ahnul Ha, Yun Jeong Lee, Marvin Lee, Sung Ryul Shim, Young Kook Kim

Twenty-Four-Hour Movement Guidelines and Body Weight in Youth

John Bayhi — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 18:44:17 +0000

Date Added:

February 20, 2020

Journal/Publication:

The Journal of Pediatrics

Publisher:

Elsevier, Inc.

Publication Date:

January 17, 2020

Issue:

March 2020

Volume:

218

Pages:

204-209

URL:

Twenty-Four-Hour Movement Guidelines and Body Weight in Youth

Type:

Clinical Research Results

Format:

Article

DOI (1):

10.1016/j.jpeds.2019.11.031

Keywords

24-hour healthy movement

PMID (1):

31959469

MeSH

Cross-Sectional Studies

Surveys and Questionnaires

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing or re-reviewing the three 24-hour movement guidelines for children (potentially useful for providing parents with specific/official guidance). James W. Mold, MD, MPH

Commercial full text (fees may apply)

View

Objective

To examine the prevalence of youth meeting the 24-hour healthy movement guidelines (ie, ≥60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, ≤2 hours of screen time, age-appropriate sleep duration), and which combination of meeting these guidelines was most associated with bodyweight status, in a nationally representative US sample.

Study design

Cross-sectional data from the 2016-2017 National Survey of Children's Health were used. A multinomial regression model of body weight status was generated (underweight, overweight, obese vs healthy weight) and then stratified by sex. Analyses were adjusted for potential confounders.

Results

The sample (n = 30 478) was 50.4% female, 52.4% white, and the mean age was 13.85 ± 2.28 years; 15% percent were obese and 15.2% were overweight. Overall, 9.4% met all 3 of the 24-hour healthy movement guidelines, 43.6% met 2, 37.9% met 1, and 9.1% met none. Meeting zero guidelines (vs 3) was associated with the greatest likelihood of overweight (aOR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.31-2.61), and obesity (aOR, 4.25; 95% CI, 2.87-6.31). Females (aOR, 4.97; 95% CI, 2.59-9.53) had higher odds of obesity than males (aOR, 3.99; 95% CI, 2.49-6.40) when zero (vs 3) guidelines were met. Meeting the moderate-to-vigorous physical activity guideline, either alone or in combination with screen time or sleep duration (vs all 3), was associated with the lowest odds for overweight and obesity in the full sample.

Conclusion

Meeting all movement guidelines was associated with the lowest risk for obesity, particularly in females. Meeting the moderate-to-vigorous physical activity guideline may be a priority to prevent overweight and obesity in youth.

Author/s:

Zhu, X, Healy, S, Haegele, JA, Patterson, F