Screen time tied to poor wellbeing among kids

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Spending too much time in front of a television, computer or other devices with screens may signal problems in a child’s family and personal wellbeing, according to a new study. Based on data for more than 3600 children in eight European countries, researchers found that family functioning and emotional wellbeing were especially linked to changes in the amount of time kids spent in front of screens. “We really need to do a little bit more digging in this area before we can answer some of the basic questions,” Trina Hinkley told Reuters Health. Specifically, screen time has been linked to differences among children in weight and sleep quality (see Reuters Health stories of March 17, 2014 here: http://reut.rs/1ifw3F2 and March 12, 2014 here: http://reut.rs/1ifw5wz.) Late last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) also urged parents to keep tabs on their children’s media use and limit screen time to no more than one to two hours of high quality programming (see Reuters Health story of October 28, 2014 here: http://reut.rs/1f0lfYE.) For the new study, researchers from the Identification and Prevention of Dietary- and Lifestyle-Induced Health Effects in Children and Infants Consortium analyzed data on kids who were between two and six years of age when they entered the study between September 2007 and June 2008.