Negative Effects of Excessive Screen Time on Children’s Health

Introduction

This essay discusses the negative effects of excessive screen time on children’s health. Nowadays, children of all age groups are more exposed to digital screens and indulged in excessive screen time. This increasingly common trend significantly affects their initial developmental stages because screen time includes both stationary and non-stationary screen usage, to which they become addicted at an early age. Excessive screen time will have an adverse effect on their health as they develop. It is vital to investigate the potential implications of new technologies related to the extensive use of various screens for children’s mental and physical health, such as gaming, social networking, and educational screen time, considering they are always growing.

To examine how increased exposure to screens can be managed positively, this essay seeks to address two major tasks. The first task is to look at how screens affect children of different ages and the extent to which exposure to screens is projected to expand. The latter part reviews the methodological data on attention, obesity, physical health, and the consequences of headache-related computer use on the possibility of examining the effects of screens. Even when children spend only a small portion of their day stuck in front of a screen, the results remain serious and rise as children develop more active screen-related strategies, such as over-enrolling in computer and mobile online activities with social media. Overall, parents and caregivers should be aware that they are obliged to take absolute responsibility for ensuring that the screen-related activities in which they are involved are child-friendly and age-appropriate. The purpose of this essay is to investigate the current prevalence of screen time among children, review the potential negative impacts of screen-related activities on physical and mental health, and outline strategies for parents to help establish healthier screen habits in children.

The Impact of Excessive Screen Time on Physical Health

Children may suffer from both negative physical and psychosocial health complications due to extended screen time. One of the main issues is that they often sit still staring at a computer or smartphone when using digital media. A lack of physical activity relates to obesity, mainly because it does not burn the calories required to keep them fit. Moreover, obesity is 6.5 times more likely in children who use more than 4 hours of screen time daily than in children who watch screens for less than an hour. Other minor negative outcomes of screen time among children include bad posture, aching neck, headache, discomfort, and tired or dry eyes. Uncommon in children, myopia has been linked with excessive viewing of screens. Clinical sleep symptoms of sleep latency, movement, or disorder of breathing are associated with the amount of total daily screen time.

Recommendations for limiting screen exposure are low all over the world, with one recommendation suggesting no more than 2 hours of recreational screen time per day for children aged 5 to 18 years. Compared to those recommendations, about 1,300 Australian parents and caregivers report an average daily amount of screen time that is four times higher. If the new recommendations are taken into account, children spend ten times more time on screens than the time they are allowed to view them! Many studies have also suggested that people are currently spending more than four to nine hours every day on screens. A number of signs have shown that prolonged exposure to screens can result in physical health implications. This could mean that children who spend more time in front of screens also have negative physical health implications. Excessive screen time has been connected to obesity, inactivity, irritability, persistent headaches, tiredness, and decreased health-related quality of life. While these consequences are immediate, there are also lifelong effects on children. In older adults who have spent much of their childhood watching TV and using computers, these effects include less physical strength and a higher chance of obesity than people who had more active childhoods.

The Impact of Excessive Screen Time on Mental Health

Excessive screen time is linked to a myriad of mental health effects on children today. Studies suggest that too much screen time can lead to anxiety and depression; in fact, increasing screen time boosts the risk of anxiety and depression by 20 percent. Furthermore, excessive exposure to screens during crucial development periods increases the likelihood of developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). For tweens and teens, developing adolescents negatively affected by social media and other online interactions are over 27 percent more likely to experience feelings of isolation. As a platform for unrealistic and unhealthy comparisons, social media usage correlates directly with falls in self-esteem, school performance, and quality of life. Excessive exposure to shows, games, and movies that are often designed to be as addictive as possible is another problem facing children and teenagers today. Video game and internet addiction currently affects an estimated 2 million children today, a sharp rise from less than 400,000 in 2018. These negative influences have been linked to an uptake in ER visits for self-harm among children and adolescents.

Evidence strongly supports the conclusions about how excessive screen time affects children’s mental health presented here. Increased screen use is linked to addiction, feelings of isolation and depression, and even social and emotional development delays. This risk is also rising with the current virtual learning and play environment. During the first wave of the pandemic in April 2020, the average number of devices a child owned jumped from 0 to 1 or 2 in millions of homes, many of which lacked adult supervision. Only 13 percent of children in the U.K. today have screen time restrictions, despite the commonly recommended 2-hour maximum. Consequently, we are edging into a generation inheriting mental and social distress unprecedented by any other before, so this information will naively provide U.K. parents with the awareness to safeguard their children, promoting the outset of a crucial conversation surrounding the harms of excessive screen time. We need to come to a balanced approach with digital content engagement that promotes the mental wellness of our children.

Strategies to Limit Screen Time and Promote Healthier Lifestyles

To limit screen time, schools and organizations suggest strict cutoff points, such as no more than two hours a day for older children and no screen time at all for younger children. If digital devices are part of daily life, parents can also consider a more structured approach. For example, having structured periods of time, such as no tech during meals, or from 5 to 7 PM, when they can play and enjoy the outdoors and engage in physical activity, can also be part of a comprehensive plan. Children with a balance between digital activities and activities such as playing outdoor games, basketball, soccer, bike riding, reading, or arts and crafts can continue to be active, but in a different way.

Parents and other caregivers should also be positive role models and limit their own screen time. Adult lifestyles are linked to the time their children spend on screens, which could also influence the degree of screen use. Another key factor is the environment. Parents can create a media-friendly environment by linking family activities with digital media, such as reading a story together on a tablet and allowing time in the family home. Parents can also consider promoting alternatives for the benefits of digital and technological environments, such as means that could decrease daily screen time, allowing children to read comics, join library activities, or participate in hobbies on topics of interest. There is no evidence that using digital applications such as screen time limiters or blockers reduces the need to use high doses. As mentioned in the type of game, it might be possible to use technology to monitor and manage games effectively. Developing and deploying community resources that include more education can help caregivers better understand how much time they spend on efficient and effective physical activity for their children and the health risks associated with sedentary time. It can also help us think about how best to reduce daily screen time and promote the potential of shared physical activities in the lawn as a bounty of prey while being sedentary. It can also help strengthen the awareness of strategies to introduce, maintain, and promote healthier lifestyles, including increased physical activity and simpler social interaction.