What we know about how screens impact on kids
S1: I'm Andrew Bracken and this is Screen Time , featuring conversations about childhood and technology. In these conversations around screens and kids , parents often get inundated with advice and takeaways from parenting experts and others online. Today , we hear from a leading researcher on what we know about screens use as effects on kids. Doctor Jason Nagata is a pediatrician at UC San Francisco's Benioff Children's Hospital. His research , based on an ongoing long term study into brain development of children , has led to important findings related to sleep , eating habits and body image. In our conversation , we delved into his research , as well as why he thinks creating a family media plan is something parents should consider. Here's my conversation with Doctor Jason Nagata.
S2: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended for all 5 to 18 year olds that the limit was two hours a day of recreational screen time. That was up into effect until 2016. But I think what people realized was that actually , in today's screen heavy environment with multiple devices like phones , laptops , you know , iPads , tablets. Very few teenagers actually met that guideline. So many more had more than two hours of screen time. And especially with the pandemic , you know , screen time really skyrocketed. And and some of our studies , we found that average recreational screen time during the pandemic for teens was more like eight hours a day. And so it ended up being not a super helpful guideline because it just made parents feel bad and teens feel bad that they weren't meeting them. And so the current recommendation is actually not a one size fits all solution. It's to make a family media use plan , which is kind of like a plan that works best for your family , considering the devices that people have the ages of your children. And so I guess the first step in the media plan is really to just have regular discussions with your family and all the members about , you know , what makes most sense that everyone can kind of agree on and buy into. Um , and some potential things to include in the plan are screen free times , so like at bedtime or during family meals. I'm also screen free zones , so if parents want to have a little bit more oversight over what their children are looking at , you know , maybe having screen zones more in public places , like in the living room , family room or kitchen , but not using them in private spaces like bathrooms or bedrooms. And then also , I think it's important that everyone in the household really adhere to the media plan. So if parents included. So we do know that a big predictor of child screen use is actually their parents screen use. And so if we are making rules for the household , then parents need to follow also.
S1: Questions about screens. And kids go back way before the age of smartphones and social media. And you looked into some long term health outcomes from TV viewing going all the way back to the 80s.
S2: Most people sit while they're watching TV and they may be snacking or eating , and that was actually linked with higher rates of early heart attacks. So by the time these people were 60 years old , they had a higher risk of heart attacks , and this was likely through more weight gain , higher blood pressure , higher cholesterol , and even diabetes. And we did follow these young adult participants for 30 years and found higher risks of heart attacks 30 years later based on the weight gain.
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S2: So in these studies , we found that average television viewing time was about two hours per day. For current teenagers , it's really more in the range of 4 to 6 hours per day on average. So I do think that kids these days are getting exposed to more screen time than kids in the 1990s and 1980s. But I think one other interesting finding , because we were able to track over several years , people screen us. We also did find that actually screen habits that develop in adolescence and young adulthood tend to really persist through the rest of adulthood. So one of the really interesting things that we found was these young adults , whatever their screen time was , you know , in the 1980s , they tended to keep that same amount for the rest of their lives. So those who started off with higher screen time continued to have higher screen time , and those with lower screen time in general had lower screen time. So I do think that one other really important thing for our teenagers is that these habits that they're developing now are likely predictors of what their habits are going to be for the rest of adulthood.
S1: I think that that's a really interesting finding. And with that said , I mean , what do parents and adolescents trying to change those habits , I guess. Is it possible to change those habits ? Say you grew up , you know , having more screen time than you would like. What do we know about the ways that they can kind of shrink that down the line.
S2: So I do think that there are , you know , small changes that people can make to optimize their screen use. And so , you know , one of the big findings that we had is that , you know , the more time you spend on screens in general , that means that you're not spending time doing other things that could be beneficial for your health , like physical activity or sleep. Um , so particularly with sleep , um , we did find that actually two thirds of teenagers have an electronic device in their bedroom , and this was associated with less sleep and poorer quality sleep. And so I think a very easy intervention for parents and teens is to actually just have their devices outside of their bedroom overnight , if possible , if for some reason that's not possible. Uh , we did also look at teenagers habits , like whether they turned the phone off or silence notifications or just leave notifications on. Um , and I think it's pretty obvious that leaving notifications on overnight will lead to more sleep interruptions than having it off. But I do think that a lot of people do put their phone in silent mode. And we actually did find that silent mode was not as good as turning the phone completely off , because if it's not completely off , teens may still be woken up overnight by vibrations or lights , or if they happen to wake up overnight , it's very easy for them to check their phones , and then they'll see new messages , new notifications , and then they might be tempted to respond to them , and that just might make them stay awake for longer. The best advice is to have the phones outside of the bedroom overnight , if not turning them completely off rather than silent and vibrate.
S1: And I think a lot of us are familiar with , even if you have it on silent , you see that flash of light in the middle of the night , and it's just beckoning for you to pick it up and , like , engage with it , even if it is 3:00 in the morning.
S2: And so I will say that I personally , after I used to have my phone in charging as my alarm clock in my bedroom , but I actually , after doing the study , started moving it outside. And I do think that it has helped with my sleep as well.
S1: You delved into some of the research on sleep. You've also looked into what strategies work and what doesn't when it comes to screens and kids.
S2: And I do think that one of the biggest predictors of adolescent screen use actually , is their parents screen use. It's really important that we as parents serve as role models for our children. And if we're saying , you know , no texting at mealtime , then parents also need to not text at mealtime. Because if you are imposing rules on your children , but you are not practicing them themselves , then I think children are much less likely to follow suit. The next effective strategy was actually having more screen rules for bedtime use , including not having devices in the bedroom or like an hour before bedtime. Really trying to wind down screen use. And we already know that most teenagers don't get enough sleep , and sleep is so important for their growth and academic performance and development. In one area that I actually focus on is adolescent eating disorders. And one of the , you know , potential screen free times is actually during family meals. So if it's possible to have a sit down family dinner without screens , that can also be beneficial for multiple reasons. First , we know that people tend to overeat when they're distracted in front of screens. So if you're watching TV or Netflix or streaming something while you're eating dinner , you actually are more likely to overeat because you might be distracted with whatever show is in front of you , and you're not really paying attention to your hunger or appetite cues. And so people tend to overeat. They also may be exposed to advertisements for food , especially junk food , which can also then make people hungry for dessert in that context. So I do think that having a meal where you're not distracted , you know , can be really beneficial. And also , if you're sitting with your family at a meal , then you also are potentially talking with them , checking in with them. And that also allows for you to , you know , hear about any concerns they have at school or if there are media issues or cyberbullying or , you know , things that are bothering your children. Ideally , that's a time that people can share some of their , you know , challenges or or just in general how their day is going. And I do think that specifically for children who you have concerns about either eating too little or eating too much , you know , some of our young people who unfortunately do develop eating disorders do sometimes try to hide the fact that they're really restricting their diets from their families. And it's much easier to do that if you're eating in front of a screen in your own room. But at least if you're eating as a family , you can have kind of direct observation of how much your child is eating. And , you know , whether there's issues with like restricting certain types of foods or , or overeating other types. So I do think that having screen free family meals has potential benefits for multiple reasons.
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S2: They're trying to , you know , become their own adults. And so social media , I think , is really unique in that there has always been pressures , you know , through traditional television or Hollywood movies or magazines that portray , you know , an idealized female body is typically shown as thin and idealized masculine bodies typically shown as muscular. But I do think that social media has unique pressures in that previously in the 1990s , 1980s , teenagers basically lived in a read only environment. Like , you would see this content and you'd watch it on television , but most teenagers would never expect that. They would themselves have to be featured on a magazine cover or on a Hollywood movie. But now , with social media , there's actually this new pressure to produce content. So any teenager can produce content that shows their body , that allows them to gain likes , gain followers. So there's this added pressure that I think wasn't around in past generations , and then this constant exposure to other people's content , which oftentimes does feature , you know , bodies can lead to dissatisfaction because people are often posting the most attractive or , you know , sort of unattainable body ideals. There could be heavy filtering and editing , you know , that can kind of distort reality. And then there's also just unfortunately , there is still some overt exposure to eating disorder content on social media platforms.
S1: Is it primarily girls experiencing this right now.
S2: The stereotype is that eating disorders primarily or exclusively affects girls , and I think there has been a lot of attention in the media about how social media can lead to body dissatisfaction and eating disorders and girls , and certainly this is a problem. And unfortunately , there are many teenage girls who are affected by eating disorders and body dissatisfaction. You know , national surveys , we found that two thirds of teenage girls across the US are actively trying to lose weight. You know , only a small percentage of them will develop a full blown eating disorder. But just the fact that there is so much desire to lose weight , you know , at a population level , I think is , you know , is concerning. But I do think that it's relatively under-recognized that boys actually do have unique body image concerns. Sometimes boys are trying to lose weight , but actually a lot of boys are trying to gain weight and become muscular , and they may engage in disordered eating content that looks very different than what girls might be doing to lose weight. They may be overeating protein while cutting carbs and fats , taking muscle building substances , or even drugs like anabolic steroids. Based on the social media data that is available on on teenage boys , that boys actually are more likely to allow for public followings than girls. Male selfies are more likely to show their full body muscles than just their face , and boys who use Instagram more are more likely to engage in disordered eating and be dissatisfied with their muscles , and even use anabolic steroids.
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S2: There are some risks that we know related to mental health or physical health , and so we do want to mitigate some of those risks like poor sleep , social isolation or , you know , excessive eating , but they're not all bad and to some extent can't fully eliminate screens from your life. I do think that there are ways that we can really optimize use for both ourselves and our children , trying to really maximize on the benefits of communication and socialization. But if the use is starting to impair our sleep or eating habits or physical inactivity , then those are times when we might try to cut back.
S1: You can find more resources on all things Kids in Tech at our website , KPBS , anytime. What questions do you have when it comes to your kids and screens ? My email is Screen Time at KPBS. I'm Andrew Bracken. Thanks for listening.
