An umbrella review of the benefits and risks associated with youths’ interactions with electronic screens
Journal article
Sanders, Taren Grant, Noetel, Michael, Parker, Philip David, del Pozo Cruz, Borja, Biddle, Stuart, Ronto, Rimante, Hulteen, Ryan, Parker, Rhiannon B., Thomas, George, De Cocker, Katrien, Salmon, Jo, Hesketh, Kylie, Weeks, Nicole, Arnott, Hugh, Devine, Emma K., Pires Vasconcellos, Roberta, Pagano, Rebecca Stella, Sherson, Jamie, Conigrave, James and Lonsdale, Christopher Sean. (2023). An umbrella review of the benefits and risks associated with youths’ interactions with electronic screens. Nature Human Behaviour. pp. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01712-8
Authors | Sanders, Taren Grant, Noetel, Michael, Parker, Philip David, del Pozo Cruz, Borja, Biddle, Stuart, Ronto, Rimante, Hulteen, Ryan, Parker, Rhiannon B., Thomas, George, De Cocker, Katrien, Salmon, Jo, Hesketh, Kylie, Weeks, Nicole, Arnott, Hugh, Devine, Emma K., Pires Vasconcellos, Roberta, Pagano, Rebecca Stella, Sherson, Jamie, Conigrave, James and Lonsdale, Christopher Sean |
---|---|
Abstract | The influence of electronic screens on the health of children and adolescents and their education is not well understood. In this prospectively registered umbrella review (PROSPERO identifier CRD42017076051), we harmonized effects from 102 meta-analyses (2,451 primary studies; 1,937,501 participants) of screen time and outcomes. In total, 43 effects from 32 meta-analyses met our criteria for statistical certainty. Meta-analyses of associations between screen use and outcomes showed small-to-moderate effects (range: r = –0.14 to 0.33). In education, results were mixed; for example, screen use was negatively associated with literacy (r = –0.14, 95% confidence interval (CI) = –0.20 to –0.09, P ≤ 0.001, k = 38, N = 18,318), but this effect was positive when parents watched with their children (r = 0.15, 95% CI = 0.02 to 0.28, P = 0.028, k = 12, N = 6,083). In health, we found evidence for several small negative associations; for example, social media was associated with depression (r = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.05 to 0.19, P ≤ 0.001, k = 12, N = 93,740). Limitations of our review include the limited number of studies for each outcome, medium-to-high risk of bias in 95 out of 102 included meta-analyses and high heterogeneity (17 out of 22 in education and 20 out of 21 in health with I2 > 50%). We recommend that caregivers and policymakers carefully weigh the evidence for potential harms and benefits of specific types of screen use. |
Keywords | Risk factors; Social sciences; Education; Health Sciences; Medicine |
Year | 01 Jan 2023 |
Journal | Nature Human Behaviour |
Journal citation | pp. 1-21 |
Publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
ISSN | 2397-3374 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01712-8 |
Web address (URL) | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01712-8 |
Open access | Published as non-open access |
Research or scholarly | Research |
Page range | 1-21 |
Author's accepted manuscript | License File Access Level Open |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 13 Nov 2023 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 01 Sep 2023 |
Deposited | 06 Feb 2024 |
Additional information | Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law. |
Place of publication | United Kingdom |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/901v9/an-umbrella-review-of-the-benefits-and-risks-associated-with-youths-interactions-with-electronic-screens
Download files
Author's accepted manuscript
AM_Sanders_2023_An_umbrella_review_of_the_benefits.pdf | |
License: CC BY 4.0 | |
File access level: Open |
249
total views195
total downloads1
views this month3
downloads this month