Ammon News - A University of Bristol research study found children who spend more than two hours daily watching TV or on a computer suffer pyschologically more than children of the same age who don’t have as much screen time. Lead study author, Dr Angie Page said, “Not all screen viewing is bad, and at low levels physical activity may well compensate, but the two-hour limit is a good, sensible guideline for parents.

Children’s screen time was measured, along with their mental health via a set of twenty questions each child answered. The questions pertained to their behavior issues, emotional difficulties, social interaction, inattentiveness and hyperactivity.

Regular physical exercise did not offset the negative impact of too much screen time. The children who had more than two hours of screen time and exercised regularly did have better scores for emotional and peer situations, but worse scores for hyperactivity. The study did not test different types of screen, such as a smaller screen that appears on an iPhone. The study focused on larger computers like desktops.

Children who have two hours of TV and two hours of computer time each day, for a total of four hours, have double the risk of psychological difficulties. No negative impacts were observed by the study for children engaging in other sedentary activities such as reading and doing homework. This observation suggests it is the content and the delivery of that content that may be overstimulating and unhealthy in large doses. It also may be that children who are troubled gravitate towards isolating themselves socially and interacting with media as an escape. In such situations, it could be that the excessive screen time is both an indication of psychologically difficulty and potentially contribute to a negative impact.

Dr. Alan Mendelsohn, a pediatrics professor said, “For parents, the key take-away is that TV and computer use may interfere with children’s emotional well-being


* BBC NEWS