If you're worried about the amount of time your adolescent spends glued to their screens then take heart - new research suggests that teens are "resilient" to screen consumption for up to six hours daily. In other words, they're probably going to be just fine.
According to a recent study published in Psychiatric Quarterly, there's only a "negligibly small association" between excessive screen time and higher levels of depression and delinquency among teens.
Lead author, Christopher Ferguson and his team, examined data from the 2013 Youth Risk Behaviour Survey as part of their research. Participants, who were on average 16 years old, were questioned about their sleeping habits, how often they engaged in exercise and how often they ate meals with their family. They were also asked to report if they experienced any symptoms of depression as well as the amount of time they spent watching TV or playing video games. Finally, the teens were asked about their school marks, whether they engaged in "delinquent" behaviour, risky driving or sexual activities, used illegal substances or had experienced any eating disorders.
Results indicated that moderately high use of screens (i.e higher than the previous two-hour limit from the American Academy of Pediatrics) but not "excessive" was not associated with delinquency, risky behaviours, sexual behaviours, substance abuse, reduced grades or mental health problems.
"Even excessive screen use," the authors note, "was only weakly associated with negative outcomes related to delinquency, grades and depression only, and at levels unlikely to be practically significant."
Reflecting on the findings, Ferguson admitted that while an "everything in moderation" message may be the most productive when talking screen-time with parents, he added: "Our results do not support a strong focus on screen time as a preventative measure for youth problem behaviors."
Furthermore, Ferguson noted that setting "narrow limits" on screen time may no longer be appropriate, given how pervasive their use is. "Screens of various sorts are increasingly embedded into daily life, whether they involve education, work, socialisation or personal organisation." he said. "Setting narrow limits on screen time may not keep up with the myriad ways in which screens have become essential to modern life."
Ferguson also argued that it may also be inappropriate to "needlessly frighten parents with the spectre of outcomes related to violent crime, mental health problems, serious school failure, drug and alcohol abuse or eating disorder diagnoses when evidence for substantial links between media use and these outcomes is fairly limited."
Previous research from the Australian Institute of Studies found that from their early teens, children average three hours each weekday and almost four hours a weekend day of screen time - with TV the biggest contributor.
Acknowledging its increasing presence at home, work and school, last year the AAP dropped its two-hour per day screen-time recommendation for teens in favour of a Family Media Use Plan.
"Children today are growing up in an era of highly personalised media use experiences, so parents must develop personalised media use plans for their children that attend to each child's age, health, temperament, and developmental stage," the AAP said at the time.
"Parents play an important role in helping children and teens navigate media, which can have both positive and negative effects," they continued. "Parents can set expectations and boundaries to make sure their children's media experience is a positive one. The key is mindful use of media within a family."
Among the AAP's recommendations included:
- For children ages 6 and older, place consistent limits on the time spent using media, and the types of media, and make sure media does not take the place of adequate sleep, physical activity and other behaviours essential to health.
- Designate media-free times together, such as dinner or driving, as well as media-free locations at home, such as bedrooms.
- Have ongoing communication about online citizenship and safety, including treating others with respect online and offline.
For more information read the AAP guidelines on Media Use in School-Aged Children and Adolescents
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