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Screen time and mental health: No easy solutions
Author(s) -
Williams Claire
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the brown university child and adolescent behavior letter
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7575
pISSN - 1058-1073
DOI - 10.1002/cbl.30439
Subject(s) - screen time , mental health , psychology , social media , cognition , emotional health , field (mathematics) , focus (optics) , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , computer science , physical activity , physics , mathematics , optics , world wide web , pure mathematics , physical medicine and rehabilitation
Within the mental health field, we spend a lot of time talking with parents and patients about screens and digital media. We bond with patients over their favorite movies, we see the effects of bullying over social media, and we work with parents and patients to create limits around technology use when it seems to be interfering with well‐being and functioning. It is a common focus of our treatment of adolescents; however, there are no clear recommendations for “screen‐time” limits in adolescents and children over 5, other than “less is more.” Although there are clearer guidelines for younger children, we do not often talk to parents about why the guidelines were developed. There have been many studies with a wide range of results, making opinions about how to counsel families varied; however, the progression of the evidence shows more and more correlation between increased screen time and poorer social, emotional, and cognitive outcomes, as well as physical changes to the brain.