Digital media: promoting healthy screen use Flashcards
Definition of screentime?
Time spent with any screen, including smart phones, tablets, television, video games, computers or wearable technology
Definition of digital media?
Content transmitted over the Internet or computer networks on all devices, unless particular ones are specified
Potential benefits of screen time/digital media on school aged children?
- Can be immersive and informative if age-appropriate and co-viewed with family, and watched with purpose and limit
- Screen media can:
- -Improve academic performance, enrich knowledge and literacy skills, help develop positive relationships with teachers and peers
- -Encourage both autonomous and collaborative learning, stimulate inquiry
- -Dynamic software/games cana increase proficiency and reduce learning gaps in math
- Cooperative or competitive video games (played with family and friends) can reflect and function as traditional play, offer opportunities for identity, cognitive and social development
- -Some video gaming has been positively associated with increased sense of well-being, prosocial behaviour, fewer conduct problems
- -Many, esp boys, regularly socialize through games
- Recreational screen time of 1 hour per day associated with lower depression risk compared to no screen time
- Digital technology can help children make and maintain friendships, and these relationships may be more diverse and gender-inclusive than offline
Risks of screen time/digital media for school aged children?
- Age-inappropriate or violent contact, having TV in bedroom, and background TV can negatively affect development and behaviour
- TV >3 hours at 5 years = predicted increasing conduct problems by age 7
- Higher rates of recreational screen in children reported with higher depressive symptoms and lower physical activity level
- Minoriity or marginalized students may have less access to quality Internet-based learning resources
- Lost learning opportunities to learn/interact with family due to solitary screen use
- Children may be overconfident about being able to protect themselves online
- Multitasking - negative impact on both concurrent learning and academic outcomes in <12 years – disrupts reaading efficiency, impairs problem-solving and may undermine children’s confidence in their own ability to do homework
- Stronger aassociation between depressive symptoms and leisure-time screen-based sedentary activities is emerging - more vulnerable to negative socio-cognitive outcomes from heavy screen use than teens
What is the most immediate risk to physical health associated with screens?
Distracted (texting or using headphones) driving, walking, jogging or biking
4 essential M’s?
- Manage
- Meaningful
- Model
- Monitor
How can parents Manage screen use?
- Make and regularly review or revise a Family Media Plan, including individualized time and content limits
- Continue to be present and engaged when screens are used and, whenever possible, co-view and talk about content with children and teens
- Discourage media multitasking, especially during homework
- Learn about parental controls and privacy settings
- Obtain their child’s or teen’s passwords and login info for devices and social media accounts, to help ensure safety online and to follow online profiles and activities if concerns arise
- Speak proactively with children and teens about acceptable and unacceptable online behaviours
How can parents encourage meaningful screen use?
- Prioritize daily routines, such as interacting face-to-face, sleep, and physical activity over screen use
- Prioritize screen activities that are educational, active, or social over those that are passive or unsocial
- Help children and teens to choose developmentally appropriate content and to recognize problematic content or behaviours
- Be a part of their children’s media lives. For example, join in during video game play and ask about experiences and encounters online
- Advocate for schools, child care centres and after-school programs to consider developing their own plan for digital literacy and screen use
How can parents model healthy screen use?
- Encourage them to review their own media habits, plan time for alternative hobbies, outdoor play and activities
- Remind parents and adolescents of the dangers of texting or using headphones while driving, walking, jogging, or biking
- Encourage daily “screen-free” times, especially for family meals and socializing
- Ask whether screens are “off” when not in use, including background TVs
- Remind parents and teens to avoid screens at least 1 hour before bedtime and discourage recreational screen use in bedrooms
What signs can parents monitor for of problematic screen use at any age?
- Complaints about being bored or unhappy without access to technology
- Oppositional behaviour in response to screen time limits
- Screen use that interferes with sleep, school or face-to-face interactions
- Screen time that interferes with offline play, physical activities or socializing face-to-face
- Negative emotions following online interactions or video games or while texting
Teens are ____ susceptible to negative effects of high screen time levels (___hrs/day) than younger children.
Less, <6h
Zero screen use or excessive screen use in adolescents are both associated with ______________.
Negative effects
_______ use (___hrs) has some cognitive and psychosocial benefits.
Moderate, 2-4hrs
What are adolescent milestones that the digital world influences?
- Social connectedness with peers
- Sense of identity
- Independence from family
- Navigating socio-cultural world
- Developing autonomy
Being constantly online can contribute to feelings of ________ and _________.
Alienation, social exclusion
Recent research showed frequent online contact appears to _______ parent-teen relationshpis.
Strengthen
Parents report the biggest sources of conflict over media are?
- The amount of time spent on screens
- Rule about when and how devices are used
Potential benefits of screen time/digital media for adolescents?
- Media use appears to improve self-concept in teens by enhancing perceived friendship quality
- Social media can be validating, when thoughts and experiences are shared with peers, or affirming, when teens get help to ‘bounce back’ from social rejection or isolation
- -Social media sites can avert stigma and be safe, supportive places to explore sexuality and self-identity
- Positive effects on well-being, defined as positive emotions, psychosocial functioning and a sense of life satisfaction with moderate (2-4hrs/day) screen use
- Positive effects of communicating online may be stronger in adolescents who have less social support or are more uncomfortable socializing face to face
Risks of screen time/digital media for adolescents?
- Family rules governing screen use are declining
- Many adolescents report spending ‘too much’ time online
- Being the receiver (or sending) of instant messages with negative content has been correlated with internalizing symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorders
- Small, but significant, association between excessive screen time (>6 hours/day) and feelings of depression in teens
- Frequent media multitasting has been linked to lower English and Math scores, weaker working memory, lower sustained attention, and greater impulsivity
- -Some research suggests that adolescents who are more prone to habitual multitasking may be the least able to learn effectively
- When video game play exceeds a certain threshold, its positive influences diminish or disapear
- ->50% daily free time playing e-games –> slight negative effects on overall well-being, conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer problems and emotional problems
- Socially anxious or depressed adolescents communicate online more often with strangers and tend to self-disclose more
- Parents perceive decreased family time and closeness in homes where many devices are used, and too much technology can erode family connectedness
Impact of digital media/screen time on physical activity?
-Already inactive adolescents spend more time using screens
-Screen time impacts healtth more than overall sedentary time
-While longer & more frequent screen and TV viewing are significantly
associated with unfavourable body composition and lower fitness measures, not necessarily causal nor consistent
Impact of digital media/screen time on weight?
- TV viewing:
- -inversely associated with fruit and vegetable consumption
- -positively associated with total energy intake, energy-dense drinks, snacks and fast food
- Screen-based sedentary behaviour linked with unhealthy dietary intake:
- -TV watching can suppress satiety signals
- -Fast food, sweetened beverage and restaurant ads contribute to this
Impact of digital media/screens on sleep?
- Screens in bedroom interfere with sleep duration and quality
- While number of bedroom TVs has declined, presence of other screens has increased
- Newer tech, TV, mobile phones displacing sleep time –> emotional arousal –> inhibits melatonin release and disrupts sleep rhythm
- ->shortened sleep duration
- -> self-reported insufficient sleep or rest
Potential benefits of screen time/digital technology on physical health?
- Some screen activities promote PA
- Digital tech to track PA, control weight, improve diet can promote healthy lifestyles
- Smartphone-based activities like geocoachinig provide motivation for PA
- Active video games can increase PA and decrease obesity measures in the short-term, especially when part of a comprehensive weight control program and played as a team
Risks of screen time/digital technology on physical health?
-Texting while driving = serious danger (common among older adolescents)
-The relationship between screen media exposure and obesity risk in children and adolescents depends on multiple (though modifiable) factors:
–sedentary behaviours
–time spent on screens
–eating while viewing
–food and beverage advertising
–shorter sleep duration
-Having media in the bedroom is associated with increasing sedentary time, obesity risk, cardiometabolic risk, lower PA rates and shorter sleep duration
-Delayed bedtime and shorter sleep duration are consistent across media type and age group, with associated negative effects on learning, memory, mood and behaviour
-Children may be more vulnerable than teens to physiological responses from central nervous system arousal and sleep disruption
-Eye problems, headaches, not eating, and fatigue – even if not excessive screen use
–Canadian ophthalmologists recently emphasized the need for regular breaks from prolonged screen use, limits based on age and need, and a screen-free hour before bedtime
Repetitive strain injury or musculoskeletal complaints – more common
Correlation between social media use and appearance anxiety, body image concerns, and disordered eating in adolescents
