Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h), Publisher
Growing up in the early ‘60s, there were only a handful of live TV options. We enjoyed seven channels: three national and four regional. As kids, television was not our focus, but something to do when we were stuck in the house.
Our preference was always to play outside with the neighborhood kids. Saturday-morning cartoons kept us occupied until we were allowed to knock on our friends’ doors without waking their parents. We rode our bikes everywhere, utilizing the grade-school playground and the vacant field near the movie theater for most of our activities. In the summer, our parents let us stay out until the streetlights came on.
Needless to say, times have changed. Three recent studies speak to these changes:
Less Screen Time = Improved Children’s Psychological Health: The first study examined how reducing screen time by children and adolescents can improve mental health. The randomized clinical trial found “evidence for a causal link between a short-term reduction in screen media use during leisure and improvements in children’s and adolescents’ psychological symptoms.”1
More Screen Time = Outbursts = More Screen Time: The second study examined the use of tablets in early childhood. The authors make an interesting discovery:
“(C)hild tablet use at age 3.5 years was associated with more expressions of anger and frustration by the age of 4.5 years. Child proneness to anger/frustration at age 4.5 years was then associated with more use of tablets by age 5.5 years.”2
Parental Inattention = Adolescent Anxiety, Hyperactivity & Inattention: The third study looked at how parental digital technology use can impact their relationship with their adolescent children. The study found that “higher levels of anxiety symptoms were associated with higher levels of perceived parental technoference later in development. Higher levels of perceived parental technoference were associated with higher levels of inattention and hyperactivity symptoms later in development.”3
The term technoference describes the persistent interruptions in our interpersonal communication and relationships caused by our constant need to pay attention to our tech devices, rather than the people/children we are with. There is almost a 100% likelihood that your parent patients are dealing with this issue poorly. They don’t know what they don’t know, so tablet/screen placation is the path of least resistance as they navigate their all-too-busy lives.
If your parent patients seek medical/psychiatric advice for their children, it will most likely result in prescriptions, the vast majority of which will be highly unnecessary.
Please familiarize yourself and your team with these three studies. You may even want to print out the abstracts and place them in your reception area. This is your opportunity to make parents aware of what’s happening and suggest a more powerful solution: non-screen quality time with their children.
References
- Schmidt-Persson J, et al. Screen media use and mental health of children and adolescents: a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open, 2024;7(7):e2419881.
- Fitzpatrick C, et al. Early-childhood tablet use and outbursts of anger. JAMA Pediatr, 2024 Oct 1;178(10):1035-1040.
- Deneault A, et al. Perceived parental distraction by technology and mental health among emerging adolescents. JAMA Netw Open, 2024;7(8):e2428261.
