Everything in Moderation: Moderate Use of Screens Unassociated with Child Behavior Problems

Abstract

The impact of children's use of "screen" media including television and computer games, continues to be debated. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) until recently recommended a relatively restrictive screen time diet of 2 h or less for most youth. A representative correlational sample of youth were assessed for links between screen time and risky behavioral outcomes. Data collection occurred in 2013 conducted by the State of Florida. Use of screens that was moderately high, in excess of the AAP's former recommendations, but not excessive (1 SD or higher than average), was not associated with delinquency, risky behaviors, sexual behaviors, substance abuse, reduced grades or mental health problems. Even excessive screen use (1 SD or higher) was only weakly associated with negative outcomes related to delinquency, grades and depression only, and at levels unlikely to be practically significant. Results conceptually replicate those of Przybylski (2014) with a US sample for depression and delinquency as outcomes. Moderate use of screens, though in excess of the AAP's historical recommendations, are unassociated with problem outcomes. Excessive use of screens is only weakly associated with negative outcomes, and only those related to depression and delinquency as well as reduced grades, but not risky driving, substance use, risky sex or disordered eating. Although an "everything in moderation" message when discussing screen time with parents may be most productive, results do not support a strong focus on screen time as a preventative measure for youth problem behaviors.

Digital Screen Time Limits and Young Children's Psychological Well‐Being: Evidence From a Population‐Based Study

“…Additional analyses indicated linear and parabolic relations linking daily digital screen time and some indicators of psychological well‐being. These findings conceptually replicated results reported from studies with older children, showing there may be some benefits of screen use (Ferguson, ; Przybylski & Weinstein, ). They suggested that there might be extremely small positive effects of digital engagement at levels higher than what many might assume (up to 7 hr/day for both television and computer‐based media).…”

“…*Because eight statistical tests evaluated, the threshold for statistical significance has been adjusted to p < .00625 to account for the family-wise error rate associated with conducting eight tests. may be some benefits of screen use (Ferguson, 2017;Przybylski & Weinstein, 2017). They suggested that there might be extremely small positive effects of digital engagement at levels higher than what many might assume (up to 7 hr/day for both television and computer-based media).…”

Problematic Gaming Is Associated with Some Health-Related Behaviors Among Finnish Vocational School Students

“…For instance, a recently published comprehensive and systematic review reported evidence for an association between higher levels of screen consumption (including gaming) and unfavorable body composition and/or fitness (Carson et al 2016). While most of the relevant scientific literature supports the position that time allocated to screen-based activities should be in harmony with other activities that are considered more advantageous, there is no consensus about its importance in relation to risky behavior outcomes (Carson et al 2016;Ferguson 2017), further indicating that quality matters of behavior may imply more.…”

A Goal‐Theoretic Framework for Parental Screen‐Time Monitoring Behavior

“…Whereas the foregoing studies have documented negative associations between screen time and well‐being, other studies have found no effects, mixed effects, or opposite effects (Ferguson, 2017; Przybylski & Weinstein, 2018). Programming that is age and developmentally appropriate for preschoolers, such as Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood or Sesame Street can have beneficial effects.…”