Too much screen time bad for kids' behavior

The University of Bristol's Centre for Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences in the UK has found that more than two hours of screen time for youngsters is related to higher psychological difficulty scores.

The researchers measured psychological well-being via a questionnaire that rated each child's emotional, peer, conduct, and hyperactivity issues. The kids had to respond to statements such as 'I am often unhappy, down-hearted or tearful' or 'I generally play alone or keep to myself' with one of three answers: true, somewhat true, or not true. So the results rely, at least in part, on the kids' abilities to accurately self-report. Perhaps most surprising is that these numbers were consistent regardless of physical activity levels. Lead author Angie Page says it is time to reconsider the belief that we can balance out screen time with other activities. "Whilst low levels of screen viewing may not be problematic, we cannot rely on physical activity to compensate for long hours of screen viewing," said Page. "Watching TV or playing computer games for more than two hours a day is related to greater psychological difficulties irrespective of how active children are." In other words, according to the results of these questionnaires, the kid who spends hours every day playing soccer and constructing tree forts and skipping over sidewalk cracks runs the same risk of behavioral problems as the kid who is couch-bound, so long as they're both dedicating more than two hours a day to watching a screen of some type.