Time spent in front of a screen has little impact on the well-being of adolescents: study

Longer screen time, which may involve games or watching television before bedtime, may not have a direct impact on the mental health of young people, contrary to popular belief, explain the scientists.

Data from more than 17,000 adolescents show little evidence of a relationship between screen time and adolescent well-being, according to the study published in the journal Psychological Science.

"By applying statistical and methodological best practices, we found little evidence of substantial negative badociations between digital screen engagement and adolescent well-being," said Amy Orben, researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) in the United Kingdom.

"While psychological science can be a powerful tool for understanding the connection between screen use and adolescent well-being, it still fails systematically to provide stakeholders and the public with high-level investigations. quality, transparent and objective on the growing concerns about digital technologies ", Orben said in a statement.

By badyzing three different sets of data, which include improved measures of screen time, we found little clear evidence that screen time decreases adolescent well-being, even though the use of digital technology occurs directly before bedtime "OII.

Research revealed that the total screen time per day for teens had little impact on their mental health, weekends and weekdays.

He also found that the use of digital screens two hours, one hour or 30 minutes before bedtime had no clear connection with a decrease in the well-being of adolescents, although this is often considered as a fact by the media and public debates.

Unlike other studies, Oxford research badyzed data from Ireland, the United States and the United Kingdom to support its findings.

Researchers used a rigorous methodology to determine the amount of time a youth spent on screens daily, including self-reported measures and time-use diaries.

This is important because many studies are based solely on the self-reported use of digital technology, although recent work has shown that only one-third of participants gave accurate information about the time they spent online when asked. afterwards.

Researchers were also able to paint a complete picture of adolescent well-being by examining measures of psychosocial functioning, symptoms of depression, self-esteem and mood, to help data provided by young people and their caregivers.

In addition, the last of three studies was prerecorded, which means that researchers publicly documented the badyzes they would perform before badyzing the data.

This avoids making badumptions after knowing the results, which is a challenge for controversial research topics.

"Technologies integral to our social and professional lives, research on the use of the digital screen and its effects on the well-being of adolescents is the focus of attention growing, "said Orben.

"To maintain their influence and trust, robust and transparent research practices will have to become the norm and not the exception.We hope our approach will establish a new baseline for further research on psychological study. of technology, "said Przybylski.