Electronic media use and academic performance in late childhood: A longitudinal study

Associations of excessive internet use, sleep duration and physical activity with school absences: a cross-sectional, population-based study of adolescents in years 8 and 9

BACKGROUND

Internet use has increased and sleep and physical activity (PA) have decreased in recent years among adolescents. Besides sleep and PA, another determinant of future health for adolescents is education. Our aim was to evaluate the associations of excessive internet use (EIU), short sleep duration and low PA with both unexcused absences and medical absences during lower secondary school.

METHODS

The School Health Promotion study is a national survey of adolescents conducted biennially in Finland. We used data collected in 2019, when EIU was assessed for the first time. Cumulative odds ratio analysis was conducted with unexcused absences and medical absences as outcome variables. Besides EIU, sleep duration and PA, the associations of maternal education and parental relations were assessed.

RESULTS

The mean age of the 86 270 participants was 15.3 years. Girls scored higher than boys on EIU. In all, 34.7% of participants slept less than 8 hours per night during the school week, and 34.3% reported low PA (ie, less than 3 days per week with minimum 1 hour of PA per day). EIU, short sleep and low PA were associated with both unexcused absences and medical absences from school. Longer sleep during weekends showed no association with absences, but good parental relations had the strongest protective association with both unexcused and medical absences.

CONCLUSIONS

EIU, short sleep duration and low PA were associated with both unexcused and medical absences from school. This has important implications for both the promotion of general health and the support offered to students with alarming school absences.

Digital Media and Developing Brains: Concerns and Opportunities

Purpose of Review

The incorporation of digital technologies and their use in youth's everyday lives has been increasing rapidly over the past several decades with possible impacts on youth development and mental health. This narrative review aimed to consider how the use of digital technologies may be influencing brain development underlying adaptive and maladaptive screen-related behaviors.

Recent Findings

To explore and provide direction for further scientific inquiry, an international group of experts considered what is known, important gaps in knowledge, and how a research agenda might be pursued regarding relationships between screen media activity and neurodevelopment from infancy through childhood and adolescence. While an understanding of brain-behavior relationships involving screen media activity has been emerging, significant gaps exist that have important implications for the health of developing youth.

Summary

Specific considerations regarding brain-behavior relationships involving screen media activity exist for infancy, toddlerhood, and early childhood; middle childhood; and adolescence. Transdiagnostic frameworks may provide a foundation for guiding future research efforts. Translating knowledge gained into better interventions and policy to promote healthy development is important in a rapidly changing digital technology environment.

Internet and Video Games: Causes of Behavioral Disorders in Children and Teenagers

Even though video games have been present among children for many years, children are using them more continuously and in an abusive and indiscriminate way nowadays because of the "technological boom". It is affecting the behavior of children and adolescents. This is the reason why we are carrying out this systematic review. The main objective of this article is to investigate literature that directly connects the continuous and undifferentiated use of video games with the emergence of behavioral disorders in children and young people. The PRISMA statement was followed in the process of this article. We used SCOPUS, Web of Science and PubMed as databases, moreover, we searched studies with a scoping review. The results indisputably supported six out of seven of our hypotheses. We find that the excessive use of video games causes addiction to technology, aggressive behaviors, sleep disorders, and poor school performance. In addition, it hinders social relationships and the development of emotional intelligence. To conclude, it is necessary to correctly use video games in particular, and technologies in general, adapting their content to children's age, as well as the amount of time that they dedicate to use them.

Multiple imputation approaches for handling incomplete three-level data with time-varying cluster-memberships

Three-level data arising from repeated measures on individuals clustered within higher-level units are common in medical research. A complexity arises when individuals change clusters over time, resulting in a cross-classified data structure. Missing values in these studies are commonly handled via multiple imputation (MI). If the three-level, cross-classified structure is modeled in the analysis, it also needs to be accommodated in the imputation model to ensure valid results. While incomplete three-level data can be handled using various approaches within MI, the performance of these in the cross-classified data setting remains unclear. We conducted simulations under a range of scenarios to compare these approaches in the context of an acute-effects cross-classified random effects substantive model, which models the time-varying cluster membership via simple additive random effects. The simulation study was based on a case study in a longitudinal cohort of students clustered within schools. We evaluated methods that ignore the time-varying cluster memberships by taking the first or most common cluster for each individual; pragmatic extensions of single- and two-level MI approaches within the joint modeling (JM) and the fully conditional specification (FCS) frameworks, using dummy indicators (DI) and/or imputing repeated measures in wide format to account for the cross-classified structure; and a three-level FCS MI approach developed specifically for cross-classified data. Results indicated that the FCS implementations performed well in terms of bias and precision while JM approaches performed poorly. Under both frameworks approaches using the DI extension should be used with caution in the presence of sparse data.

The impact of digital media on children's intelligence while controlling for genetic differences in cognition and socioeconomic background

Digital media defines modern childhood, but its cognitive effects are unclear and hotly debated. We believe that studies with genetic data could clarify causal claims and correct for the typically unaccounted role of genetic predispositions. Here, we estimated the impact of different types of screen time (watching, socializing, or gaming) on children’s intelligence while controlling for the confounding effects of genetic differences in cognition and socioeconomic status. We analyzed 9855 children from the USA who were part of the ABCD dataset with measures of intelligence at baseline (ages 9–10) and after two years. At baseline, time watching (r = − 0.12) and socializing (r = − 0.10) were negatively correlated with intelligence, while gaming did not correlate. After two years, gaming positively impacted intelligence (standardized β =  + 0.17), but socializing had no effect. This is consistent with cognitive benefits documented in experimental studies on video gaming. Unexpectedly, watching videos also benefited intelligence (standardized β =  + 0.12), contrary to prior research on the effect of watching TV. Although, in a posthoc analysis, this was not significant if parental education (instead of SES) was controlled for. Broadly, our results are in line with research on the malleability of cognitive abilities from environmental factors, such as cognitive training and the Flynn effect.

The Role of Physical Education and Sports in Modern Society Supported by IoT—A Student Perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic in recent years and the massive presence of information technology generate one of the biggest challenges facing humanity, namely the technological challenge. In this context, educational technologies have a positive impact on the correct and effective teaching and learning of physical education and sports (PES), with a great positive impact on future sustainable higher education (HE). Thus, various innovative techniques could be of interest, such as the use of social networks and fitness sites, e-learning platforms, computer games, and telephone applications involving video analysis and age-specific images of students and the skills taught. This study aims to establish the main means used by technology, through which it can improve the teaching, learning, and practice of PES. This paper demonstrates the positive effects of technology on the PES field in modern society through a regression model, applied to data collected from 260 students from 2 Romanian PES Universities. The pedagogical and educational elements of our model also highlight the role of technology as a facilitator of knowledge, functioning as a tool that comes to the aid of specialists in the PES field.

Problem Technology Use, Academic Performance, and School Connectedness among Adolescents

Background: Little is known about the association between problem technology use in adolescents and school-related outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of problem technology use and examine its association with academic performance and school connectedness in a sample of students across Ontario, Canada. Methods: Self-reported data from a sample of 4837 students in grades 9 to 12 (mean age: 15.9 years; 49.5% females) were cross-sectionally analyzed. Ordered logistic regression models were adjusted for important covariates. Results: We found that 35.8% of students used their screen device for at least 5 h a day and about 18.6% had moderate-to-serious symptoms of problem technology use, a prevalence that was higher in females (22.4%) than males (14.9%). Heavy technology use was differentially associated with lower academic performance and lower levels of school connectedness in males and females. Having moderate-to-serious symptoms of problem technology use was associated with lower academic performance among males (AOR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.53–0.87) and females (AOR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.52–0.84). It was also associated with less school connectedness in both males (AOR = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.50–0.86) and females (AOR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.51–0.78). Conclusion: Excessive use and problem technology use are highly prevalent among secondary school students, and they are associated with lower academic performance and lower levels of school connectedness.

Prevalence of electronic device use before bed among Australian children and adolescents: a cross-sectional population level study

OBJECTIVE

To understand the prevalence of children and adolescents' electronic device use (EDU) in the hour before bed and identify sociodemographic groups that are at increased risk of problematic use.

METHOD

A contemporary population wide sample of South Australian school students aged 8-18 years (n = 70,936) was utilised to present descriptive statistics of EDU before bed across sociodemographic groups. Data was collected from the 2019 Wellbeing and Engagement Collection, an annual self-report census of students' health, wellbeing and school engagement.

RESULTS

90% of children used an electronic device in the hour before bed at least one night a week, with 51% using a device every night. Older adolescent females in grades 10-12 were most frequent users and children from the most socioeconomically disadvantaged communities were also more likely to use electronic devices in the hour before bed.

CONCLUSION

EDU before bed is highly prevalent among Australian children and adolescents and given the negative health and educational impacts, it requires immediate and widespread action from policy makers to ensure the health of Australia's next generation. Implications for public health: The scale of the problem has now been identified; next steps rely on a public health approach to address this issue. This might include awareness raising campaigns and targeted interventions towards at-risk groups.

Family Factors Associated with Hands-On Play and Screen Time During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background

Parent-child interactions are crucial for child development. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected mental health and increased parenting challenges impacting parent-child functioning.

Objective

This study examined parent factors related to more and less enriching child activities during the pandemic through Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems framework.

Methods

A convenience sample of parents (N = 708), primarily mothers (n = 610; 87.4%) aged 35.59 years old (SD = 5.59; range = 21-72), with children ages 2-8 years completed an online questionnaire between April 14-June 1, 2020. Participants mostly resided in Canada, had an income of > $100,000, and identified as White (82.4%). Parent-child activities were measured as total weekly time and combined time across activities within two categories: hands-on play and screen time. Bivariate correlations informed blockwise linear regression models.

Results

For families with childcare needs, parental anxiety was associated with higher total hands-on play, combined hands-on play, and combined screen time. Families without childcare needs indicated parenting stress was associated with lower total hands-on play and combined hands-on play, and higher supervised screen time. Family structure and indices of socioeconomic status were also predictive of activities across childcare needs and child ages.

Conclusions

To promote high-quality parent-child interactions and positive developmental outcomes during the pandemic, childcare needs and parent wellbeing should be supported, while evidence-based guidelines for child screen time should be further researched in this context.

Association of screen time, quality of sleep and dry eye in college-going women of Northern India

Purpose:

To evaluate the association of daily screen time and quality of sleep with the prevalence of dry eye among college-going women.

Methods:

This study was a cross-sectional, comparative questionnaire-based study of 547 college-going women in northern India. A 10-item Mini Sleep Questionnaire was used to check the quality of sleep, and the Standard Patient Evaluation of Eye Dryness (SPEED) scale was used to examine the prevalence of dry eye among college-going women.

Results:

Multinomial logistic regression showed a significant association between dry eye with daily screen time spent (P < 0.05) and the quality of sleep (P < 0.05) among college-going girls. Using Latent Class Analysis, two latent classes were selected based on the Bayesian Information Criteria. It was found that the majority population falls in class two and was having Severe Sleep-Wake difficulty. It was seen that the participants in class two belonged to the age bracket of 18–21 years, were from stream Humanities, education of father and mother equal to graduation, father working only, belonging to the nuclear family, having one sibling, hailing from the urban locality, spending more than 6 h daily on-screen, a majority of them using mobile phones, not using eye lubricants, and reported an increase in screen time during COVID-19.

Conclusion:

Dry eye and sleep quality are essential global health issues, and coupled with increased screen time, may pose a challenge in the present era. Preventive strategies need to be incorporated in school and college curriculums to promote physical, social, and psychological well-being and quality of life.

Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on increasing the risks of children's addiction to electronic games from a social work perspective

Children are among the social groups most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic because they have found themselves forced to stay at home, far from their schoolmates, their friends, and far from all the activities they used to do before the pandemic. so, it was their only refuge for recreation during their stay in Home is staying in front of the screens of tablets, smartphones, and computers to play electronic games for long hours, and there is no doubt that the sudden shift in the lifestyle of children during the Covid-19 pandemic had serious consequences and risks threatening their stability at all levels. In light of that, the current study aimed to determine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on increasing the social, psychological, behavioral, and health risks of children's addiction to electronic games from a social work perspective. This study falls under the type of descriptive-analytical studies that are based on describing the reality of the problem under study. The study sample included 289 children in the age group 6-17 years in the first grade to the twelfth grade at school. The researcher designed a questionnaire that reflects the four risks facing children to assess these risks. The results showed is that the value of all impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the increasing risks of children's addiction to electronic games came to a total weight of (27907), weighted relative weight of (80.47%). This indication is High, indicating that the level of impact is High for the Covid-19 pandemic on the increase in all types of risks of children's addiction to electronic games. It ranked first " Behavioral Risks " at 91.15%, It is followed by the ranked second "Social risks " at 85.5%, Then came third place " Psychological Risks" at 80.91%, and in finally in fourth place " Health Risks" at 64.28%, which necessitates the need to take a set of serious measures by educating parents to monitor the content of electronic games that their children play, especially violent games, in addition to, reduce the number of hours the child spends practicing these games, and to encourage parents to form a bridge of communication and constructive dialogue between them and their children, and that parents put controls and restrictions on their children's practice of electronic games to confront abnormal behavioral, psychological and social patterns such as aggression, violence, deception, lying, imitation, vigilance, physical stress, poor eyesight, distance from practicing religious rituals, academic delay, introversion, depression, intolerance, selfishness, sadness, isolation from society, social withdrawal and lack of forming social relationships and lack of communication with others. The researcher took care that the results of the current study are very accurate and representative of the reality of the research problem, in light of the researcher's emphasis on the commitment to observe ethical rules to ensure the confidentiality of data. finally, the current study will greatly benefit researchers interested in the field of childhood and its problems and they will rely on its results and recommendations in how to protect children from the dangers of electronic game addiction in light of the Covid-19 crisis in particular.

Use of Technology and Its Association With Academic Performance and Life Satisfaction Among Children and Adolescents

Introduction: In the last years, there has been a rise in the use of technology among children and adolescents, which has led to a greater concern about its impact on their socioemotional and cognitive development. Aims: To explore the time spent using technology, the risk perception of its use by students, and the association between frequency of technology use and life satisfaction and academic performance among children and adolescents in Chile. Additionally, we explored the mediating effect of sleep deprivation on these outcomes. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, where 2,440 students (9-12 years old) from 13 schools participated. Data was collected using an online survey answered by students during school hours. The association analyses were performed using multivariable regression models considering life satisfaction and academic performance as dependent variables. Additionally, mediating analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling. Results: Time watching television and using cellphones were similar on weekdays, and playing video games was the most frequent activity during weekends. A 42.1% of students reported playing online video games with strangers, and 12.7% had sleep deprivation. Lower self-reported academic performance was associated with cyberbullying victimization, sleep deprivation, being hacked, exposure to violent content, time spent using cell phones during weekdays and weekends, and playing video games during weekdays. Students who perceived that playing video games after 9 pm affected their sleep had a higher academic performance. There was a clear mediating effect of sleep deprivation in the relationship between time spent using a cellphone during weekdays and weekends and playing video games during weekdays and GPA. Conclusions: Time spent using technological devices was not associated with life satisfaction; however, the time spent using cell phones and playing video games was related to lower self-reported academic performance, mediated by sleep deprivation. Future research may focus on a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in the effect of technology use on sleep routines among adolescents and potential interventions to reduce its impact on academic performance.

Risk and Protective Factors for Frequent Electronic Device Use of Online Technologies

A sample of 10,460 U.S. elementary schoolchildren was analyzed to identify early predictors of frequent use of online technologies (i.e., messaging, online gaming, and social networking). Children (Mage  = 67.44 months) at greater risk displayed more externalizing problem behaviors in kindergarten (messaging OR = 1.11; online gaming OR = 1.21; social networking OR = 1.12) or were Black (messaging OR = 1.65; online gaming OR = 1.64; social networking OR = 1.68). Children from higher-income families were at lower risk (online gaming OR = 0.89; social networking OR = 0.89). Boys were more frequent users of online gaming (OR = 3.35) but less frequent users of messaging (OR = 0.62) and social networking (OR = 0.80). Protective factors included specific parenting behaviors.

Online Learning Performances of Children and Adolescents With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic

To investigate attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) core symptoms that impair executive function (EF), emotional state, learning motivation, and the family and parenting environment of children and adolescents with ADHD, both with and without severe difficulties. This will be explored within an online learning environment during the period of COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 183 ADHD children diagnosed using DSM-V criteria were selected and divided into 2 groups high difficulties during online learning (HDOL) and low difficulties during online learning (LDOL) according to the answer of Home Quarantine Investigation of the Pandemic (HQIP). The participants filled out a set of questionnaires to assess their emotional state and learning motivation, and their parents also filled out the questionnaires about ADHD core symptoms, EF, and family and parenting environment. Compared with ADHD children in the LDOL group, the children in the HDOL group had significant symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, oppositional defiant, behavioral and emotional problems according to the Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham Rating Scale (SNAP). They also had more severely impaired EF according to the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), more difficulties and disturbances in the family by the Chinese version of Family Environment Scale (FES-CV), and lower parenting efficacy and satisfaction by Parenting Sense of Competence (PSOC). With regard to the self-rating questionnaires of children and adolescents, the HDOL group reported lower learning motivation according to the Students Learning Motivation Scale (SLMS). By Screening for Child Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorders and Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children (DSRSC), those in HDOL presented more negative emotions. The HDOL group spent significantly more time on both video games and social software per day and significantly less time on multiple activities per week, when compared to those in the LDOL group. This study demonstrated that ADHD children and adolescents with HDOL had more inattention-related behaviors, more severe emotional problems and EF impairment, weaker learning motivation, and poorer family and parenting environment. Meanwhile, digital media use should be supervised and appropriate extracurricular activities should be encouraged by parents and schools.

The Relationship between Technology Use and Physical Activity among Typically-Developing Children

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between technology use and physical activity level and to measure the association between sociodemographic characteristics of the participants, technology use, and physical activity level among Saudi children. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 458 parents of typically-developing Saudi children (6–12 years). A translated validated questionnaire used for data collection consisted of three parts: Children’s Physical Activity Questionnaire (CPAQ), Questionnaire on the Impact of Technology on Children (used to investigate the impact of technology on children’s physical activity) and sociodemographic questions (e.g, children’s age and sex, age, educational level, marital status of parents and monthly income). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and Mann-Whitney U test to assess the relationship between technology use and physical activity level. A chi-squared test was used to assess the relationship between technology use and sociodemographic variables. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: Mean age of the sampled children was (8.44 ± 2.07). Data analysis revealed that high use of technology was significantly associated with low level of activity. Pearson’s correlation analysis showed a negative relationship between a high level of activity and technology use (r = −0.138, p = 0.047). Ownership of a device was significantly associated with higher technology time consumption. Regression analysis revealed that age of the child, educational level of the parents, screen time use, and owning electrical devices significantly predicted the level of practicing physical activity among children of sampled parents (p < 0.05). Conclusions: practicing inadequate physical activity among children could be influenced by educational level of parents, screen time use, and owning electrical devices. Therefore, parental involvement is required to reduce time of exposure to technology screens among children.