Children who are allowed to watch too much TV are more likely to misbehave, review claims

According to researchers, children who are allowed to watch a lot of television and play video games are much more likely to misbehave.

Canadian scholars,The lack of consensus that too much screen time is bad for teens.

But after looking at 87 older studies on the subject, they determined it was bad for their behavior.

The analysis showed that children who reported more screen time were more likely to exhibit internalizing behaviors such as anxiety or depression.

They were also more likely to have bouts of aggression or inattention, two manifestations of externalizing behavior.

Scientists at the University of Calgary said that although only “small but important”, the link may still have “significant implications.”

However, they neither quantified nor pinpointed the exact risks. How many hours should children watch television?

And lead author Dr. Sheri Madigan and her colleagues noted that screen time itself may not be the cause of behavior problems.

Instead, viewing inappropriate or violent content can lead to aggressive behavior, while social withdrawal or sleep disturbances can cause anxiety and depression.

According to the NHS, children aged 5 to 16 in the UK spend an average of 6.3 hours a day watching screens.

Global guidelines recommend that children under the age of two should avoid screens altogether, while children between the ages of two and five should watch for less than one hour a day.

Experts criticize new research published today in the scientific journal JAMA Psychiatry †

Professor Andrew Przybylski, an experimental psychologist and director of research at the Oxford Internet Institute, said scholars have “falsely claimed that the statistical significance of the overall result is somewhat informative”.

He said the study only linked “variability in different forms of screen time and psychosocial problems” in one percent.

“Until we have high-quality data from online technology platforms, we can’t say that more than 99 percent of teens’ mental health and well-being has anything to do with how much time they spend in front of digital screens,” he added.

Professor Russell Viner, former chair of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, said: “This is a very complex field and simple conclusions as screen time causes problems are not true.

Previous research had suggested that screen time itself is most likely not the problem, but that the issues are more likely to be caused by the content displayed on the screens.

“For many children and for us adults who access our computers, screens can be a positive source of education and entertainment.”

The assessment included data from nearly 160,000 children aged 12 and under from around the world.

“While the effect sizes found in this study were small, the population-level effects of screen time are likely to be significant,” the researchers said.

The team found a stronger relationship between screen time and outsourcing issues in boys than girls. This may be because boys use the screen more and have more trouble outsourcing than girls, they said.