By “screen time” the article seems to assume the only thing they’re doing on their screens is social media. I had to check as if it was really just screens for more than 4hrs, that’s an interesting stat I hadn’t heard, but could make some sense. However, that’s not it. So doing things like content creation (drawing, writing, photography) reading or learning, aren’t counted in this study.
That’s a big point that also usually isn’t really distinguished in all these studies, especially the ones about children and screen time.
I feel there are differences between just watching cartoons and playing some involving game.
Also, just walking by a TV that’s on is also screen time, or not? Is the TV running in the background at home screen time when you only look at it 5 minutes here and there?
I’d be happy if those studies would clearly state, 4 hours social media per day is bad. Or 4 hours watching TV with at least 30 minutes long sessions is bad. Stuff like that.
Exactly
Also, the key word in these type of studies is “linked”, which means that’s only a correlation, with no proof of causality.
The way it’s written, it makes you think that the screen time causes anxiety and depression, but there are other studies that suggest the causality goes in the other direction, kids that suffer from depression tend to spend more time in social media.
And that seems to be the general consensus on the term screen time. Most of the time they only assume social media on a mobile phone specifically, leaving out TVs, game consoles or even desktop PCs or Laptops. And by they I mean journalists, content creators themselves and of course scientists who release studies. It’s very ironic because all of those groups accumulated screen time to release their findings.
Ah so it’s the screen, not the content, understood.
Always found the concept of “screen time” stupid.
After a weekend of hours and hours playing some co-op game with friends I don’t feel bad. That’s what 5h of doomscrolling does to you.
In everyone, I would assume.
My phone for today says 3 hours and i haven’t watched any TV. So me I guess. Yesterday said 3.5 but I watched part of a baseball game so it probably totaled 4.5. I think most days I’d be under four hours of total screen time. I’d be under everyday for sure if we excepted reading. Moonreader+ has 2 of my three hours. The rest is feed reader and jerboa.
Correlation or causation.
I feel like shit and don’t have friends so I spend more time alone on my phone?
Or I spend more time alone on my phone so I feel like shit and have no friends?
4 more gigstons of CO2 in the atmosphere linked to more anxiety in people who might actually see 2100.
