Massive new study puts kids’ screen time under the microscope

It’s no secret that spending all day glued to a screen probably isn’t great for kids.

But a massive new study suggests the effects of those endless Minecraft sessions and YouTube binges may stretch further than previously thought.

Screening the evidence

Researchers from the University of Calgary synthesized 23 previous meta-analyses covering 2.8+ million children across 64 countries in a huge umbrella review.

• They found higher screen exposure was associated with lower overall academic achievement and language skills, as well as more emotional and behavioral problems.
• Social media use specifically was also associated with higher levels of internalizing problems, which include symptoms like anxiety and depression.

In some cases, screen use affected kids’ developmental outcomes as much as—or even more than—factors like wealth, parenting behavior, or even premature birth.

The results weren’t completely negative. Researchers found no significant association between screen exposure and several other outcomes, including executive functioning, prosocial behavior, or achievement specifically in reading, math, and science.

There are some caveats: The study only found associations between screen time and poor developmental outcomes in children, meaning it can’t establish that screen time caused those effects. Outside researchers also noted the overall associations were small, and that the review couldn’t reliably distinguish between different kinds of screen use, like gaming versus social media.

Looking ahead…Researchers say more work is needed to understand exactly how different types of screen use factor into the equation.