United States: One of the biggest global surveys to date that examined almost 300,000 children has demonstrated a bi-directional association between the hours spent by kids in front of the screen and their emotional and social well-being.
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The study revealed that children who used devices longer, such as TVs, tablets, computers, and gaming consoles were more susceptible to developing issues such as aggression, anxiety, and low self-esteem in the future.
The relationship is also reversible: Those children who already faced difficulties in social or emotional life were more likely to spend time in front of any screen.
The study, published Monday in the academic journal Psychological Bulletin, found time spent on gaming consoles to be especially connected to an increased likelihood of developing problems.
According to Dr. Michael Noetel, one of the study’s authors and associate professor of psychology at The University of Queensland, Australia, “Rather than breaking it down by the exact game people were playing, it’s safe to make some assumptions,” ABC News reported.
“The most games that were included were console games, computer games, and mobile games,” Noetel added.
Noetel answered whether violent games, i.e., games that included shooting, caused more behavioral problems, that it did not have to be so.
“Some studies broke the games down by whether they were violent, but our interpretation was that most parents knew to limit the amount of violent content to give kids under 10,” he added.
“Instead, [the] key finding was that gaming in general — regardless of the specific type — showed much stronger links to emotional problems than other screen activities like watching TV or using educational apps,” the expert continued.