Researchers say it’s time to reconsider the belief that we can balance out screen time with other activities.

by Rune H. Rasmussen

New research out of the University of Bristol's Centre for Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences suggests that children who spend more than two hours of screen time a day run a higher risk of behaviour problems.

Participants were 1000 children aged 10 to 11 years, who self-reported average daily television hours and computer use, and completed a questionnaire that rated each child's emotional, peer, conduct, and hyperactivity issues.

Long hours of screen time might lead to psychological difficulties
The results show that more than two hours of screen time a day is related to higher psychological difficulty scores. Most surprising, these results are consistent regardless of physical activity levels. This indicates that a child who spends hours every day on sporting activities runs the same risk of developing behavioural problems as an inactive child, so long as both of them spend more than two hours a day in front of a TV or computer screen.

Lead author Angie Page says:
"Whilst low levels of screen viewing may not be problematic, we cannot rely on physical activity to compensate for long hours of screen viewing. Watching TV or playing computer games for more than two hours a day is related to greater psychological difficulties irrespective of how active children are."

The study, which comes out of the Personal and Environmental Associations with Children's Health (PEACH) project, is available in the journal Pediatrics.

Note that the study, in part, relies on the children’s ability to accurately self-report.

Source:

CNET
Too much screen time bad for kids' behavior