Children play mobile phones for more than 1 hour, affecting mental health

A US study shows that children who use electronic devices such as smartphones, computers, and televisions for more than one hour each day can hurt their mental health. The longer the time, the greater the impact.

Researchers at the University of Georgia and the University of California, San Diego, conducted a survey asking more than 44,000 parents aged 2 to 17 to fill out a questionnaire that included the screen time of the child’s daily use of computers, mobile phones, electronic devices, and orher mental health status. The results showed that the children of the survey spent 3.2 hours a day watching TV, computers or mobile phones. The older the child, the longer the screen time.

After analyzing the questionnaire, the researchers found that one hour of screen time per day is the key to affecting children’s mental health. Less than an hour, no matter whether they are exposed to these electronic devices, there is almost no difference in mental health. Once more than an hour, the longer the time, the worse the sense of well-being, the higher the risk of anxiety or depression, the worse the self-control and emotional stability, and the curiosity is also decreasing.

This phenomenon can be reflected in two-year-old children, and is more obvious in older children. For example, in children between the ages of two and five, children who watch the screen for too long are 46% more likely to be emotionally excited than those who see less screen time, and twice as likely to lose their temper. Adolescents who watch screens for more than 7 hours a day have twice the risk of depression or anxiety than their peers who watch screens for less than an hour.

In an article published in the latest issue of the Preventive Medicine Report, the researchers wrote that it is necessary to set time limits for children and adolescents to use electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones every day to help children’s mental health.