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Too Much Screen Time Linked to Psychological Problems
Filed under: News, In The News, Weird But True, Movies, Video Games, New In Pop Culture
Make sure your kid isn't getting too much screen time. Credit: Corbis
Playing video games and watching television can affect the psychological well-being of kids who are otherwise active, an article in the online issue of Pediatrics says.
Researchers from England looked at how much time 1,000 10- and 11-year-old children spent on recreational media, such as computers and television, as well as how much time they spent being sedentary or engaged in moderate to vigorous activity.
The children also filled out a widely-used behavioral screening questionnaire, which the researchers used to assess their psychological health. Kids who spent more time watching TV and using the computer were more likely to have higher scores -- which indicates emotional difficulties -- regardless of how physically active they were.
Activity itself, in some cases, was an indicator of psychological troubles. The sedentary kids had better overall scores. Active kids fared better in some areas -- they had fewer emotional problems and issue with their peers -- but did worse in areas related to conduct and were more likely to be hyperactive.
The bottom line, according to the article, is that even if a child has a seemingly well-rounded lifestyle, too much screen time still has negative emotional effects.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
10-11-2010 @ 8:18PM
Lisa said...Maybe because the kids already have emotional difficulties they are spending more time inside on the computer or tv. It might not be those activities are causing the problems at all. This says active kids have more issues with conduct. So, you just can't win!
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10-11-2010 @ 10:31PM
Sally Hiatt said...Every arcticle has you people putting those stuped comments at the bottom about your boyfriends and girlfriends. We really dont appreciate your "commercials". Your supposed to stick to the issue, but your using it as your personal bulletin board.
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10-11-2010 @ 11:48PM
Dick said...You can report them until you're blue in the face but they do nothing about it. And they are almost always the first 3 or 4 postings. But don't say any bad words or call a lugnut a lugnut or send them a note that knocks one of their editors about doing a lousy job, they are real good at threatening to shut down your service without telling you why.
10-11-2010 @ 10:59PM
Lisa said...OMG...Every kid is different. All my 15 year old son does is play video games. He is happy, well adjusted, has lots of friends, is a straight A student and has never EVER gotten into trouble. Should I make him cut down on his play time??? I say, "Don't fix what isn't broken."
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10-12-2010 @ 12:00AM
Roz said...The well adjusted, straight A, multi-friended, appropriately active 15 y/o, is, I would venture, an exception. If he's studying enough for A's, having a good social life, and participating in sports, or whatever physical activity involves him, I doubt he's really spending a great deal of time in front of a screen.
One of my sons, 17 y/o, has an IQ of 155. Oh, he's got many friends, is likeable, funny, drives safely, plays in 3 bands, is a good big brother, writes and composes music for multiple instruments--and has since he was 4--but he never gets his homework done because he's planted for way too long in front of the computer screen playing stupid addictive games, so in 10th and 11th grade his grades were abysmal and he's had to repeat 3 classes for crying out loud. (And I just can't seem to figure out, or enforce, limits. I even had him washing windows this weekend, LOL, but afterward, there he was back in front of the monitor totally immersed in Starcraft.)
Gaming IS dangerous. Google WoW. There are a plethora of sites dealing with WoW addiction recovery.
I, a mother of 7, strongly caution everyone to pay heed to this article and be very, very careful regarding time limits in front of a screen. My 2 youngest are now limited to no more than 2 hours on either Saturday or Sunday playing games, or watching TV, including History, Animal Planet, and Discovery channels. That's it. Period.
In the evenings, we, as a family, watch educational programs together for an hour.
10-12-2010 @ 2:15AM
Holly said...These studies are all such bs. Reminds me of how in the '50s and '60s we were all going to go blind for sitting too close to the television screen. We're all in our 60s now and I don't know of any of my childhood friends who have gone blind. Also, we all watched a lot of TV and none of us ever had to see a shrink for emotional issues. Our grown children range from their mid-20's to early 40's. They've watched TV, when younger, played video games and their kids are online with their computers now. None of our kids or grandkids have emotional issues or have ever had problems relating to others. According to this ridiculous study on pyschological health, all of us should be basket cases. Common sense should tell any parent if their kid has an emotional issue. If a kid spends all day parked in front of the TV, video game or computer, doesn't have friends or engage in any other activities, has bad grades, etc. then it doesn't take a genius to know the kid has a problem which the media immersion didn't cause but is a symptom of. In my house, TV was off limits until homework was done, an exception was made for my youngest son since he did his homework faster with the TV on and always got good grades on his assignments. These alarmist type of studies have been around a long time and parents should take them with a grain of salt.
10-12-2010 @ 8:44AM
Sean said...This article is complete nonsense. I played video games as much as any other child growing up. But I also played outside, and I turned out fine. I still play video games today and consider it a fun hobby of mine. It’s no different than watching movies. It’s entertainment and it’s fun. Let kids have fun, they’re driven too hard in schools nowadays anyway.
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10-12-2010 @ 1:57AM
aaron collins said...As an avid wow player and raider I am aware of the addicting side of the game. As a parent of 2 young girls 3 and 1 it's easy to just put on a show they like and go play. That's where I as a parent must be mature about it and realize that my kids come first.
And for Roz....
"One of my sons, 17 y/o, has an IQ of 155. Oh, he's got many friends, is likeable, funny, drives safely, plays in 3 bands, is a good big brother, writes and composes music for multiple instruments--and has since he was 4--but he never gets his homework done because he's planted for way too long in front of the computer screen playing stupid addictive games, so in 10th and 11th grade his grades were abysmal and he's had to repeat 3 classes for crying out loud. (And I just can't seem to figure out, or enforce, limits. I even had him washing windows this weekend, LOL, but afterward, there he was back in front of the monitor totally immersed in Starcraft.)"
Blizzard Entertainment (Parent Company of Starcraft and WoW) has parental controls that you can set up for about of game time played per sitting, day, week. Hopefully you were smart and had the account activated in your name rather than your son's. Just go to www. us.battle.net/account/parental-controls/index.html. Yes these setting are for wow but you can get the contact info to them directly from this page. Just hope that he doesnt get hooked on Starcraft II!!
In my opinion parenting does not mean plop em in front of a tv or pc and have at it. Activity and interaction help make a child more well rounded. Oh and did you all notice the 2nd to last paragraph that said "The sedentary kids had better overall scores. Active kids fared better in some areas -- they had fewer emotional problems and issue with their peers -- but did worse in areas related to conduct and were more likely to be hyperactive."
ACVITITY CAUSES ADD????
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10-12-2010 @ 2:18AM
Steven R. Russell said...It's always been known to my father that TV affects the mental capacity of a child on into adulthood.
My father is a Retired missionary pilot to Panama, and as children, we never had a TV, because our father said he wanted us to learn to do something more constructive with our time.
Our father was not strict, but he had a healthy sense of proper balanced discipline.
Today, at age 54, I have no TV, although I've had a few TVs in years gone by. I don't need one, I can't afford one, and I wouldn't watch one if I had one.
I am a Christian private pilot with 2 Honorable Discharges from the Air Force, and have read through the Bible some 25 times as of July, 2009, and have continued in daily devotionals since then, and reviewing the assigned passages in my daily devotional, for "Through the Bible in a Year".
Time will tell the story, but I know where I'm headed.
I have direction and purpose in life.
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11-01-2010 @ 4:39PM
Aleen Stein said...Interactive screentime isn't the same as passive. There is no evidence that interactive playing, as long as there is no violence involved, is worst for a child than time with other educational games.
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