Katharina Buczek
According to the American Academy Of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), children in the United States between the ages of 8 and 12 spend an average of four to six hours watching or using screens – like iPads – each day.
This number only rises as children get older, too, with teenagers spending up to nine hours of their day on digital devices.
In the wake of such widespread technology, screen time has become a hot topic among physicians and parents alike – with many citing concerns over the impact of screen time on sleep, eye strain, academic performance, obesity, and more.
Now, a new study led by researchers from the University of Southern Denmark has demonstrated the positive effects of cutting back children’s screen time.
The study’s findings suggest that significantly lowering leisure screen time to only three hours per week can greatly enhance children’s mental health and behavior within just two weeks.
The research included 89 families with 181 children and adolescents who were between the ages of 4 and 17. For the study, half of the families – known as the intervention group – were instructed to limit their leisure screen time, totaling a maximum of three hours per week for each family member.
This represented a significant reduction from the average amount of time kids spend using screens for entertainment each day.
Then, just two weeks of reduced screen time later, kids within the intervention group actually demonstrated notable improvements in both their overall emotional well-being and behavior.
The researchers used the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and discovered that these kids witnessed a reduction in behavioral difficulty. This effectively moved them from the “borderline” to the “normal” category.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
