Association of children's electronic media use with physical activity, cognitive function, and stress

Objective

Electronic media is constantly evolving and has become an integral part of people's lives, especially among youth. This cross-sectional observational study assessed the association between electronic media use, health behaviors and outcomes, specifically, physical activity, stress and cognitive function among youth from an under-resourced community.

Methods

Participants ages six-sixteen were recruited from a Federally Qualified Health Center to participate in a study to promote park prescriptions with data collection between 2020 and 2024. At baseline, both intervention and control participants were asked to wear an accelerometer for one week and complete surveys about their electronic media time, stress, and cognitive function. We estimated the associations between electronic media use and health outcomes using cross-sectional multiple regressions.

Results

Among the 441 participants, the average amount of electronic media use was 48.6 h per week (95 % CI: 46.0, 51.1), with children ages 6–9 engaging in 37.3 h per week (95 % CI: 34.5, 40.2) and youth ages 10–16 engaging in 56.4 h per week of electronic media time (95 % CI: 52.9, 59.9). Average daily MVPA was 16.6 min (95 % CI: 15.4, 17.8). Electronic media use time was negatively associated with MVPA and with cognitive function for all age groups. Electronic media time was only associated with stress for youth over age 10.

Conclusion

The associations among electronic media, MVPA, cognitive function and stress were statistically significant, but relatively modest. Future research should examine whether reducing time on electronic media will have a positive impact on physical activity and mental health outcomes.

Clinical trials registry number: #NCT04114734.