This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Two-hour limit on screen use may be outdated
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Data from a cross-sectional online survey of Australian primary and secondary school students indicated many children exceed the recommended 2 hours of daily screen-based media use.
“Changes in children’s and adolescents’ lifestyle over several decades, particularly in relation to increased screen-based media use, sedentary behavior and the associated adverse outcomes led the AAP to recommend that children under 2 years of age have no screen exposure and that parents of children older than 2 years limit their children’s exposure to less than 2 hours per day,” Stephen Houghton, PhD, of the University of Western Australia, and colleagues wrote. “However, these guidelines focus on [screen-based media use] for entertainment rather than educational purposes.”
Stephen Houghton
To assess children’s use of screen-based media, researchers utilized data from a cross-sectional online survey administered to 2,620 children aged 8 to 16 years. On a normal weekday, 62.7% of participants reported their daily screen use exceeded 2 hours, ranging from approximately 45% among the youngest study participants to 80% among the oldest participants.
Television was the most popular type of screen used, as nearly 90% of participants reported watching the medium in the last week. More than half of the cohort reported using laptops (59%), iPads or tablets (58%) and mobile phones (57%) within the last week.
Analysis indicated girls were significantly more likely to exceed 2 hours of daily screen time compared with boys in grades 3, 7 and 9. Overall, boys were 1.75 times more likely to exceed the 2-hour recommendation for gaming compared with girls.
School grade also influenced time spent gaming. Children in grade 3 were 1.4 times more likely to exceed the 2-hour recommendation for gaming compared with children in grades 5 and 7, and 1.93 times more likely compared with children in grade 9.
Social networking increased with age, but increased at a significantly higher rate for girls. Girls in grade 9 were 15.67 times more likely to exceed the 2-hour recommendation for social networking compared with girls in grade 3; while boys were 2.61 more likely.
“[Social-based media use] plays a pertinent and relevant role in the everyday lives of young people, and both parents and schools are enthusiastically embracing the digital age,” Houghton and colleagues wrote. “Consequently, the less than 2 hours per day recommendation may no longer be tenable given the surge in social media engagement and school derived [social-based media use].
“Further research is now required to develop evidence-based [social-based media use] guidelines for children and adolescents in relation to the mental, social and physical health impact of such behaviors.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts