Children suffering mentally and physically from too much screen time

University researchers have warned that excessive screen time and little physical activity is having a detrimental impact on the mental and physical wellbeing of children in Ireland, especially of those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Picture: File picture

Watching screens rather than engaging in physical activity is having a detrimental impact on the physical and mental wellbeing of children in disadvantaged areas with up to a quarter of boys and a third of girls overweight or obese, a new study has found.

Researchers from University College Cork, Dublin City University and Ulster University examined the relationship between gender, physical activity, screen time, body mass index and wellbeing in Irish schoolchildren experiencing social disadvantage.

They said childhood participation in physical activity improves  "markers of wellbeing", such as self-esteem and quality of life, and physical activity participation may also serve as a protective mechanism against some mental illnesses, including depression.

Selected primary schools, north and south, from areas of social and economic deprivation were identified using statistical databases. In total, information was sought from 705 children, of which 224 provided fully available objective physical activity data.

It found that in terms of weight status, 24% of boys and 32% of girls were classified as overweight or obese. Boys were more likely to spend more time each day on a computer, but boys also spent more time on moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) each day than girls.

"Boys accumulated significantly more minutes (181.45 min per day) of daily screen time than girls," it said.

"When broken down by weight status, overweight and obese weight participants accumulated 160.80 min per day screen time, compared to 157.95 min per day screen time for healthy or underweight participants; yet, no statistically significant differences were observed between overweight and obese participants."

Also "boys were found to be more likely to achieve 45 minutes of MVPA per day and 60 minutes of MVPA per day."

The study showed that eight-to-nine-year-old boys from low socioeconomic status backgrounds accumulate more overall screen time than girls and that healthy weight participants were more likely to meet the WHO 60 minute MVPA guidelines than their overweight and obese peers.

According to the authors: "This study found an inverse relationship between total screen time and self-reported wellbeing.

"That said, of the three specific screen time behaviours measured in this study, television viewing was the only variable to be significantly and negatively associated with wellbeing, independent of gender, with computer use and DVD viewing having a negative association with wellbeing for boys only."

It said "no overall relationship was found between gender, daily MVPA participation, screen time and BMI in the association with childhood levels of wellbeing in this study."

"Findings from the current study suggest that Irish boys from social disadvantage appear to be significantly more active than girls; conversely, boys do accumulate more minutes of overall screen time, when compared to girls though. 

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13575279.2021.1887815