Overview
- A JAMA Network Open paper analyzing 3,786 children from the Growing Up in Scotland cohort found no consistent association between total out-of-school screen time and psychosocial difficulties at ages 5 or 10.
- The study reported that early high screen use predicted greater difficulties at age 10 but that effect did not persist to age 15.
- At age 15, only very high electronic gaming was linked to higher difficulties while more than one hour a day of social media use was unexpectedly linked to lower odds of above-average difficulties in this cohort.
- Authors adjusted for family functioning, sex, race/ethnicity, household income and cognitive scores and warn the results are observational, so reverse causation or unmeasured factors could explain associations.
- Commentators note the cohort began in 2009 when phones and tablets were less common, so researchers and policymakers are urged to shift guidance from blanket time limits to new, up-to-date studies that track content, social context and displaced activities.