Too much use of smartphones and tablets exerts a bigger negative impact on children than watching TV

by Paul Morris

Smartphones are a very useful device, but parents are concerned that children are worrying about using too much smartphones. "There is a claim that the feeling of crisis against smartphones is a refusal only to be unfamiliar with new technology", but researchers have confirmed the adverse effects on children caused by looking at the screen of smartphones and others too much, Portable screen devices have a bigger negative impact than television. "

Associations between screen time and sleep duration are primarily driven by portable electronic devices: Evidence from a population-based study of US children ages 0 to 17 - ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389945718306099

Worry over kids' excessive smartphone use is more justified than ever before
https://theconversation.com/worry-over-kids-excessive-smartphone-use-is-more-justified-than-ever-before-108585

How does screen time affect kids' brains? The first results of a landmark study are alarming.
https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/screen-time-nih-study-60-minutes

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent 300 million dollars (about 34 billion yen) and studied the impact of children using devices such as smartphones and tablets. We tested learning abilities for various children with different device usage times per day and said they also scanned by MRI.

As a result, children with screen with smartphone and other screens found that the test score for measuring linguistic and thinking abilities was low for children whose usage time exceeded 2 hours per day. In addition, as a result of checking the state of the brain by MRI scan, it was found that the cerebral cortex was thinned in children with screen device usage time of more than 7 hours per day. The phenomenon that the cerebral cortex becomes thin is itself a change that occurs most people at the stage when the brain matures, but it seems that the cerebral cortex is becoming thinner for children with long use hours of smartphones and tablets.

Dr. Gaya Dowling of NIH who conducted the research said, "We do not understand exactly whether the phenomenon that the cerebral cortex thinning is related to the long time to see the screen, It is unknown whether the phenomenon is bad or not, and the result of this research is just a report of facts, "he stated a cautious stance on the evaluation of facts.

by Honza Soukup

There are also persistent people who think that these reactions are a rebound against the latest technology against the research that the use of screen devices brings negative results like this time. "In the old days, over-calling and over-viewing of television were regarded as a problem, but in the end children of the time grew normally", and smartphones and tablets in modern times, like past TVs, It is not that it will be so nervous.

However, Jean Twenge , professor of psychology at San Diego State University , says that there is a big difference between television that was viewed as a problem in the past and modern screen devices. Researchers have investigated children 's television viewing time for many years, but it seems that the average viewing time per day did not exceed an average of two and a half hours. However, as of 2016, the average teenager touched digital media for more than 6 hours per day.

Mr. Twenge notes that modern children are getting absorbed in screen devices so that they have to cut down time to meet with friends directly. Unlike traditional phones and televisions, smartphones attract children to such an extent is citing the fact that digital media and web services are made "to attract people" by many engineers.

Also, unlike televisions that are usually kept stationary somewhere in the living room or in your own room, smartphones and tablets can be carried anywhere. Even at school or during dinner, children can watch smartphone screens and consume digital media crazy.

by natureaddict

Research results that the long-term use of digital devices such as smartphones adversely affect children's sleeping time have also been announced, but the claim that "that not only smartphones and tablets but also television has the same negative effect" There is also. Twenge et al.'S research team has investigated not only the relationship of sleeping and portable screen devices, but also the relationships between sleep and watching TV.

Twenge analyzed the survey results of the United States Census Bureau and found that children aged 2 to 10 who use portable screen devices for more than 4 hours per day are twice as fast as children who do not use screen devices It turns out that there is an adverse effect on remarkable sleep in proportion. The TV viewing time was related to the decrease in sleeping time, but it seems that the degree of relationship was lower than the portable device.

In addition, young people between 14 and 17 years of age using screen devices for more than 4 hours per day increased the percentage of sleep deprivation by 44% compared to young people of the same age who did not use the device. On the other hand, the relevance between the use time of TV and sleep deprivation was not so high.

by Drew Rae

In contrast to smartphones and tablets being different from televisions, Mr. Twenge occupies the majority of social life, such as exchanges with friends and information gathering at SNS, while smartphones and others just consume media Points are pointed out. Twenge said that the development of screen devices that can be easily brought into the bed may have a great relationship with the fact that sleep deprivation is rapidly increasing in teenagers since 2012.