Teenagers stuck on phones risk a "modest" increase in ADHD symptoms: Study – Parents



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A new study released Tuesday indicates that digital overload could be linked to a "modest" but significant increase in new ADHD behaviors, providing a warning to the person with hyperactivity. The findings from the journal of the American Medical Association were based on nearly 2,600 teenagers in Los Angeles who responded to survey questions over a two-year period – making it one of the largest More social media, video streaming, text messaging, music downloads, or the online chats they interact with, the more likely they were to report symptoms such as difficulty organizing and completing tasks, or problems remaining

About 10 percent of young people who reported using digital media platforms frequently showed new symptoms of ADHD during the study period, the report said.

In contrast, 4.6% of students who were not frequent users of any digital activity showed symptoms of ADHD.

The researchers warned that the increase in ADHD symptoms was "modest" and at least a part of the effect could be more, since the study was observational in nature and that # 39; it was based on the survey responses of the teens themselves, the researchers claimed that they could not prove that the use of smart phones actually caused ADHD symptoms.

for more research because "it was a statistically significant association," said Adam Leventhal, professor of preventive medicine and psychology at the University of Southern California.

"We can confidently say that teens who were exposed to higher levels of digital media were significantly more likely to develop ADHD symptoms in the future."

Read also: Seven Parenting Tips in the Digital Age

Previous studies have shown that ADHD, a psychiatric disorder causing a persistent difficulty in maintaining attention, Hyperactivity and impulsivity, affects about seven percent of young people in the United States and could increase in some populations.

The study of the effect of watching television and playing video games revealed modest increases in ADHD in children.

According to Jessica Agnew-Blais, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London, rightly cautious not to over-interpret "their results."

"The authors only evaluate the frequency of ADHD symptoms, so it remains to be seen whether a relatively small change" It is worth noting that more than 80% of students reported using digital media to high frequency, and the vast majority of these students reported that the frequency of ADHD symptoms during these two years disrupts or harms everyday life.

Another expert who did not participate in the study, Andy Przybylski, associate professor at the Oxford Internet Institute of Oxford University, described the search as "interesting" but "provisional". [19659002] "The study is a proof of concept that tells us that we need very large samples when we design future studies because the possible effects are extremely small," he said.

Future studies on the subject should distance survey responses reported and include clinical diagnoses and external measurements of the use of the device, experts have suggested.

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