United States: A study that followed nearly 10,000 kids aged 9 and 10 for two years found that spending a lot of time watching TV and using screens can increase the chances of having ADHD and feeling depressed.
Dr. Jason Nagata, who led the study at the University of California, San Francisco, explained that using screens might take away time that kids could spend playing, sleeping, or hanging out with friends.
As reported by the HealthDay, These activities can help reduce feelings of sadness and anxiety. The study’s results were shared on October 7 in a health journal.
According to Nagata’s group, they pointed to the fact that anxiety and depression disorders have slowly increased regarding students of adolescent age.
UCSF news release state, ’ adolescents are 50% more likely to experience a major depressive episode … and 30% more likely to commit suicide today as they were 20 years ago’.
At the same time, the average saturated with screens is 5.5 hours a day for ‘tweens’ in the United States rising to 8.5 hours for teenagers, the researchers pointed out.
Could there be a link?
In a major survey of child brain development, Nagata’s team gathering information on 9,538 9 and 10-year-old adolescents between 2016 and 2018. Number of children diagnosed with a conduct disorder, depression, ADHD and any other mental health illness and the children’s amount of screen time per day were recorded.
While the research did not show cause and effect of abstinence, the team did note that they observed a very slight but real correlation.
A significant relationship was also found between total screen time and poor mental health since the former was found to correlate with all the mental health symptoms assessed by the researchers.
Those kids who spent most of the day looking at the screen were 10% more likely to be depressed, 7% more likely to have conduct problems, 6% more likely to have ADHD than the kids who spent less time on the screen.
As Nagata and colleagues found the specific screen types that were most strongly related to depressive symptoms were video chat, texting, videos, and video games.
We also found that the effect of non-prescribed stimulant use was larger for white adolescents than for Black adolescents.
“To minority adolescents, screens and social media may actually be important for giving voice and connection with peers of color, for instance,” said Nagata, an associate professor of pediatrics at UCSF. “Instead of replacing close contacts with friends and family, technology may assist them in increasing the size of their support network greater than is possible within their localized circumstances.”
Of course, there are a lot of the ways parents can help pry their kids away from the screens and towards more healthy pursuits said Nagata.
The American Academy of the Pediatrics recommends developing a Family Media Use Plan that considers the unique needs of each child.