Monday, September 23, 2013

postheadericon What do we really know about the effects of screen time on mental health? | Pete Etchells

9:45 AM | Posted by ject | | Edit Post

A recent report by the Public Health England warns that too much screen time cause emotional problems in children . But is it that simple?

Public Health England announced this week that too much time in front of television screens and computer is causing the increase in psychological problems such as depression and anxiety in children . The report, which can be found here , suggests that the amount of time spent playing computer games was negatively associated with well- being of children - in other words, their mental and physical health , strength and the degree to which they are happy or care about the different aspects of their lives. The effects , particularly in mental health , are more pronounced for children who spent more than four hours a day using some form of screen -based technology.

Although this seems totally dark, there are some caveats that must be taken into account. The report was released to coincide with the Change4Life campaign , not a piece of peer-reviewed , scientific research. In his analysis of screen time , citing data from other reports, for example , Commissioner of the Department of Health , which are themselves secondary analysis of existing data sets , such as the Millennium Cohort Study . If you have read these reports, it is very difficult to have an idea of ??what they did and did not control in the study of the effects of video games or watching television.

But it is interesting to note that the PHE conference begins with a clear overview of the limitations of their research - perhaps the most important is that it is not possible to establish causal relationships of most studies question. In other words , when a study says 'X associated with Y' , which means that " X causes Y " , which is the frequency can interpret. It could also mean " X causes Y ', or perhaps another factor has an effect on both.

So it's a shame when you see titles like The Independent " screen time overload causes depression in children ," the Daily Mail or "TV makes children unhappy " - study no one said anything like that.

But what do we really know about the effects of screen time on the development of the child? In fact, this is a very difficult question to answer , in part because "screen time " is pretty useless question. It takes into account the use of anything that has a screen - TV , mobile phones , game consoles and tablets. In a sense, it is easy to see how a measure of weight to use: it is a simple idea that everyone can easily identify . The problem is they do not really do justice to the diversity of the technology on display can provide content. For example, two hours of watching Teletubbies is likely to affect our behavior in a completely different way of playing halo for a couple of hours ( even if it is questionable whether it will do more damage ) .
  • With this in mind , what are the latest scientific evidence in this area look like ? In March, researchers at the Science Unit of Public Health in Glasgow released data also came from the Millennium Cohort Study ( although not mentioned in the PHE Conference ) , who consulted when watching TV or playing video games 5 years was associated with behavioral or psychological problems at age 7. They controlled a large number of factors that could have an impact on its results - things like health , socioeconomic status of the family, the frequency of parent-child activities , and a measure of chaos in the house.
  • The results showed that when considering screen time on your own, there was no association between the amount of time spent in a screen and all the problems that consulted - hyperactivity , abnormal behavior, peer relationship problems , and so on . However, these associations disappeared when confounders included almost mentioned. The significant association between the rest went to watch TV for more than three hours a day and conduct disorder.
Obviously , a study does not tell the whole story - for example , we know that the amount of time spent watching TV is linked to poor physical health. But we also know that there is - or should be - a distinction between active and passive screen time . In this sense, a systematic review in 2010 indicated that active video games actually promote mild to moderate physical activity in children.

In its current form , however , research on the long-term effects of screen time is still relatively young, so you still do not know what effect video games , using computers or watching television has on children's development .



With the launch of the campaign Change4Life steering wheel , the PHE is trying to encourage people to adopt a more active lifestyle , changing the car to bike or walk , which limits the display time and operation of healthy snacks for healthier foods . These are all great ideas, but it seems that the best way to stay healthy is to change all these things, not just one.

Similarly , we must be careful not to look at the effects of screen time in the isolation of many factors in the wider family environment , which can affect child development behavior.



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