Science

Using smartphones and tablets does not damage children's well being


Teenagers using tablets or smartphones before bed are not negatively affected by their digital habits, a shock new study claims. 

Oxford University researchers say the well-being of children is not impacted at all by considerable use of electronic devices either during the day or at night time.  

Many previous studies have suggested screen time is directly linked to several health concerns – including mental health illness. 

The findings cast doubt on the widely accepted idea that social media, gaming or watching TV should be restricted to children – especially later at night. 

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Oxford University researchers say the well-being of children is not impacted at all by considerable use of electronic devices either during the day or at night time (stock image)

Oxford University researchers say the well-being of children is not impacted at all by considerable use of electronic devices either during the day or at night time (stock image)

Academics tracked more than 17,000 British and American nine to 15 year-olds between 2011 and 2015 and studied their screen time habits and well-being.  

Dr Amy Orben, a college lecturer in psychology at the University of Oxford, said: ‘We found little evidence for substantial negative associations between digital-screen engagement and adolescent well-being.’

Her team pooled data from three studies across the UK, Ireland and the US in which participants kept daily diaries of their activities – including time spent on screens.

Some experts caution that the study may not how the full picture and that what children are watching is just as important as when and how often they view it.   

They found there was no link between this and their reported levels of happiness and satisfaction. 

Dr Bernadka Dubicka, chair of the child and adolescent faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, told MailOnline: ‘Although this is a well conducted study involving a large data set, the conclusions can only be limited.

‘The study looks at how long children spend looking at screens but not at what harmful content they might see. We know that screen time is not the main driver of mental illness, but dangerous online content can have an enormous impact on young people and their mental health.

‘As a frontline clinician, I regularly see young people who have deliberately hurt themselves after discussing self-harm techniques on social media.

‘Urgent research is needed to explore the complex relationship between online content and young people, with particular attention given to the most vulnerable.’ 

It is one of the most comprehensive analyses of its kind as recent work has shown only one-thirds of people accurately judge their screen time when asked.

The researchers wrote: ‘We found little evidence for substantial negative associations between digital-screen engagement – measured throughout the day or particularly before bedtime – and adolescent well-being.’ 

Dr Max Davie, officer for health improvement for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) said: ‘The controversy around screen use and adolescent well-being has always suffered from an excess of opinion relative to data, and this paper helps to correct this imbalance. 

‘The analysis is robust and suggests an overall population effect too small to warrant consideration as a public health problem. 

‘They also question the widely held belief that screens before bedtime are especially bad for mental health.

‘However, none of this is intended to suggest that screen time cannot become excessive in individual cases, and we would still suggest that families follow our guidance published earlier this year. 

‘We continue, for now, to recommend that screens be avoided for one hour before bed since there are other reasons beside mental health for children to need a good nights’ sleep.’  

The study published in Psychological Science used a more rigorous method to gather adolescents’ screen time – combining both self reports and the diaries.

HOW CAN PARENTS PROTECT THEIR CHILDREN ONLINE?

A recent study found when sharing parenting advice on social media, common topics included:

  • Getting kids to sleep (28 per cent)
  • Nutrition and eating tips (26 per cent)
  • Discipline (19 per cent)
  • Daycare/preschool (17 per cent)
  • Behaviour problems (13 per cent) 

These common topics of conversation often reveal key information about a child, including: name, age/date of birth, school name and even their appearance.

Whilst it may be very difficult to protect the privacy of children in the digital age, there are some things that can be done to shelter children from online dangers. 

Know your privacy settings

It is amazing how many parents leave on their Instagram location settings. Set your location settings to off if you do not want people to be able to figure out where you and your children live.

Only share with people who care

Ask yourself if all the people you’re sharing your photos with really want to see them and will they protect them in a way you would.

Explore private social networks

Private social networks offer a secure way to share the pictures of your children with your family and friends.

Don’t take any digital photos

Ultimately the only way to be 100 per cent sure that you don’t have a digital footprint is not to have any digital photos taken but this isn’t a road the vast majority of people want to go down.    

Teenagers using tablets or smartphones before bed are not negative affected by their digital habits, a shock new study claims. The findings cast doubt on the widely accepted idea that social media, gaming or watching TV should be restricted to children - especially later at night (stock)

Teenagers using tablets or smartphones before bed are not negative affected by their digital habits, a shock new study claims. The findings cast doubt on the widely accepted idea that social media, gaming or watching TV should be restricted to children – especially later at night (stock)

The UK dataset involved 11,884 boys and girls from the Millenium Cohort Study. Like their Irish and US counterparts they were asked about their screen use on a scale of 1 to eight – ranging from none to 7 hours or more.

This included ‘watching television programmes or films,’ ‘playing electronic games on a computer or games systems,’ ‘using the internet’ at home and being ‘on social networking or messaging sites or Apps.’ 

It also created a comprehensive picture of youngsters’ well-being by examining psychosocial functioning, depression symptoms, self-esteem, and mood.

This was based on information provided by both they themselves and their parents. They were asked about hyperactivity or inattention and emotional, conduct and peer-relationship problems.

The Growing Up in Ireland study involved 5,023 children – 2,514 boys and 2,509 girls – and included a depression questionnaire as an indicator of well-being.

The participants answered questions about how they felt or acted in the past two weeks using a three-level scale that ranged from true to not true.

Items included ‘I felt miserable or unhappy,’ ‘I didn’t enjoy anything at all,’ ‘I felt so tired I just sat around and did nothing,’ ‘I was very restless,’ and ‘I felt I was no good any more.’

Others were ‘I cried a lot,’ ‘I found it hard to think properly or concentrate,’ ‘I hated myself,’ ‘I was a bad person,’ ‘I felt lonely,’ ‘I thought nobody really loved me,’ ‘I thought I could never be as good as other kids,’ and ‘I did everything wrong.’

The United States Panel Study of Income Dynamics included 741 girls and 767 boys who were asked how often they used a computer or electronic device such as a tablet or smartphone in the past 30 days.

This included for school work done, news, watching or listening to music, videos, TV shows, or movies, following topics or people on websites, blogs, or Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, to play games and for interacting with others.

Participants answered using a scale ranging from one to five – never to every day. 

They were also asked to think about the last 2 weeks and select a sentence that best described their feelings.’

Dr Orben said: ‘Because technologies are embedded in our social and professional lives, research concerning digital-screen use and its effects on adolescent well-being is under increasing scrutiny.’

The insights come days ahead of the anticipated release of the UK government’s new White Paper on Online Harms, which is expected to set out plans for legislation governing social media companies.

This new study builds on previous work by the same team that used novel and transparent statistical approaches to show that technology use has a minuscule influence on adolescent well-being.  



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