Parents often struggle to balance familial and digital connections, and they can face a constant battle trying to limit their child’s screen time. The importance of parental technological monitoring is only heightened by evidence such as the link between handheld screen time and speech delays in young children, the connection between mobile device addiction and depression and anxiety in college-age students, and the association between exposure to smartphone screens and lower sleep quality.
Regulating children’s screen time can often be a challenge for parents.
However, screen time for kids is not all bad. Research examining more than 120,000 adolescents found that evidence linking the relationship between screen time and well-being is weak at best, even at the highest levels of engagement. The findings, published in Psychological Science, suggest that moderate screen use has no effect on the well-being of teenagers.
What is more, a study published in Psychiatric Quarterly found only a small association between excessive screen time and levels of teenage depression and delinquency.
With the ever-increasing popularity of health apps on smartphones, depression, stress, worry, and a lack of sleep can all begin to be tackled in the same amount of time as it takes to locate a good restaurant.
Millions of people experience psychological distress and fail to pursue or receive help from mental health services. Given this disparity between need and accessibility of services, smartphone apps could help to provide affordable and engaging treatment strategies.
Video gaming and aggression
Video gaming is another area that has gained a bad reputation, with some research suggesting a link between video games and violence. However, a study published in the Journal of Communication found no such link between aggression observed in movies and video games, and real life violence.
Video game use is not associated with violence in the real world.
“Society has a limited amount of resources and attention to devote to the problem of reducing crime,” “There is a risk that identifying the wrong problem, such as media violence, may distract society from more pressing concerns such as poverty, education, and vocational disparities and mental health.”
“If these adolescents are sitting around playing games together with their friends or chatting regularly with their friends online as they play, this could be part of a perfectly normal developmental pattern. We shouldn’t assume all of them have a problem.”
Despite the potential risks to mental health, trends over the past decade show that use of technology and social media is increasing, so these problems are not likely to disappear anytime soon, with habits unlikely to change.
Furthermore, as connectivity continues to weave its way through every aspect of our work, home, and social lives, the answer may not lie in reducing our time using these channels or being able to disconnect at the flick of a switch – especially since Internet withdrawal has been linked with increased heart rate and blood pressure.
A study of 12 million Facebook users found that using the social media site is associated with living longer. However, this correlation only exists when Facebook serves to maintain and enhance our social ties in real life.
Modern life may increase the risk of some physical and mental health problems, but striking a balance between online and real-world social relationships, going forward, may help to keep our mental health in check.
No comments:
Post a Comment