So your patient is a gamer: an exploration of benefits and harms

Abstract

Purpose of review The appropriate amount and type of screen time for children remains a persistent topic of discussion between parents and pediatricians. During the COVID-19 pandemic, screen time has considerably increased. The need to quarantine and utilize remote learning prompted our review of the basis for current screen time recommendations and more recent research. Recent findings The broad stroke of recent research points to an association of increased video game screen time with sedentary lifestyle and its related harms. However, there also are specific instances where video games have been found to be therapeutically useful for certain populations. Summary In light of these findings, it is prudent for the pediatrician to explore more of the ‘why’ of video game use as opposed to purely the ‘how much’. Given the future beneficial therapeutic uses of some video games, clinicians should keep their eyes on this space for its continued development.

Effective Strategies for Promoting Physical Activity through the Use of Digital Media among School-Age Children: A Systematic Review

“…These data were also confirmed by the 2019 survey from Okkio alla Salute [5] concerning Italian children ages 8 and 9, in which it was reported that 20.3% of children in 2019 did not perform any physical activity the day before the survey, 43.5% still had a TV in their bedroom, and 44.5% of children spent more than 2 h a day in front of TV/tablet/mobile. Moreover, children have been forced to stay at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which in turn may have negatively modified their lifestyles by increasing time spent in sedentary behaviors [6]. In this context, Dunton et al [7] showed that American children decreased physical activity levels between the months before and during the lockdown.…”