Mind Your Child’s Screen Time: A Word of Warning!

Background: Today’s children grow up immersed in digital media, which has both positive and negative effects on healthy development. The experts’ recommendations are: no screen time below 18 months, for children 2-5 years limited screen time to one hour/day, for children ≥6 years there should be limits on the time spent using media and the types of media.

Objective: The authors aimed to evaluate how much screen time the children are exposed to during the day.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, observational study in February 2019 assessing the time children spend in front of a screen. This is a pilot study. The patients were enrolled in the Pediatrics Department of “Grigore Alexandrescu” Children’s Hospital. Parents were asked to fill in a questionnaire containing screen time, type of screen, behavior related to screens.

Results: Fifty one patients were enrolled in one week. Mean age was 7 years 3 months, sex ratio M/F=1.04/1, 78.4% came from urban areas. The parents declared the children started using screens at an average age of 3 years (minimum 6 months). 9.8% of children were exposed to screens below the age of one. The devices used were smartphones, tablets, TV, laptop, gameboard in 74.5%, 41.1%, 35.2%, 27.4% and 19.6% respectively. Children used screens alone on average 3 hours/day, 5.4 days/week and alongside their parents on average 2.2 hours/day, 5.2 days/week. In half the cases, a device was used during meal time. 25.4% of parents declared they use screen time as reward and 47% felt taking the child’s device to be an effective punishment. 11.7% of children were falling asleep with the TV on.

Conclusions: Screen time for children is progressively increasing as the age of exposure decreases. The most frequently used device is by far the smartphone. The screen related behavior is “educated” in the family.