A recent column in the daily free press reminds us that six years ago Apple introduced new tools built into iOS 12 to “help customers understand and take control of the time they spend interacting with their iOS devices.” These new features called Screen Time included Activity Reports, App Limits and new Do Not Disturb and Notifications controls.
The goal was to offer users detailed information and tools that would help them better understand and control the time they spend with apps and websites, how often they pick up their iPhone or iPad during the day and how they receive notifications.
Ten years earlier Apple had introduced parental controls for iPhone and over that time the developers have worked to add features to help parents manage their children’s content. With Screen Time, these new tools are empowering users who want help managing their device time, and balancing the many things that are important.
So what happened? Did no one use it?
Consumers rejoiced that Apple offered a solution to the issues of screen use. Unfortunately Apple presented us with a useful tool, not a solution.
Today we are still struggling with the negative effects that too much screen time has on our physical, emotional and mental health. A research study recently published in The Journal of Mood & Anxiety Disorders, found that that one-third of youth (aged between 10 and 24 years) spend four or more hours a day engaging with their screens. The effects of such are great, leading to health and mental health problems, among other things. In teenagers, screen media activity (SMA) consumes up to 60% of their after-school time and nearly 97% of US youth have at least one electronic item in their bedroom.
Not An Individual Activity But A Complex and Multifaceted Problem
SMA in youth is often perceived as an individual activity. The authors point out that the relationship between SMA and mental health outcomes in youth is a complex and multifaceted issue that has garnered significant attention among researchers and the public in recent years. The complexity may be due to the diverse nature of screen activities, the rapidly evolving landscape of digital media , and the differential impacts these activities may have across individuals. What is emerging is a nuanced picture, with some evidence suggesting relatively trivial effects of SMA on well-being or life satisfaction and other results indicating stronger associations with mental health problems such as depression or anxiety. More recent research suggests there may be individual differences concerning the impact of SMA. For example, sex-related differences have emerged, with girls generally demonstrating stronger associations between screen media time and mental health indicators than boys; and there is some evidence that effects may differ depending on the broader socioeconomic and environmental context. The COVID-19 pandemic added complexity, influencing screen time habits and mental health outcomes.
An Overeview of the Complexites
To better understand and research SMA, it is more accurate to view it as occurring within a system that encompasses the individual, the immediate caregiver environment, the school, peers and other environmental factors. The authors utilize the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, which is a framework for understanding human behavior within a complex system of relationships within and across multiple levels of the environment, from more proximal (e.g., immediate family, academic settings) to more distal (e.g., sociocultural values, laws, etc.). The theory proposes five interrelated systems that influence development:
- (1) the microsystem which is the immediate environment with which an individual interacts,
- (2) the mesosystem which focuses on interactions between different elements of the microsystem,
- (3) the exosystem which involves the larger social system with which the individual does not directly interact but it still impacts their behavior,
- (4) the macrosystem comprised of the broader societal and cultural context, and
- (5) the chronosystem that is centered on the dimension of time including the timing of specific events and historical context.
Figure 1 shows the Bronfenbrenner model conceptual overview of screen media activity and mental health.
Both clinicians and researchers could benefit from reading this article. It provides an excellent birdseye view of the multifaceted interrelationships that can be an important part of screen media activity in youth today and applicable to society in general in today’s tech-obsessed world.
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