The pandemic has pushed children to screens. In the US, they spend 8 hours on tablets. daily

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the time children in the United States spend on televisions, smartphones, and tablets has doubled. They dedicate nearly eight hours a day to this purpose, and that doesn’t include school hours, according to researchers from the University of California-San Francisco (USF).

“Researchers focused entirely on recreational activities, including video games, social networking, texting, surfing the Internet, and watching movies and TV shows. Adolescents,” according to the latest research published in JAMA Pediatric.

According to the study’s author, Dr. Jason Nagata The more time teenagers spend in front of screens, the more stressed they are, they have more fears and they have problems with their eyesight. At the same time, their coping skills declined.

“While social media and video chats may support building non-social connections, we found that this was not the goal of most adolescents during the outbreak,” said Nagata.

Study findings suggest that over the past two years, lockdowns, online learning, and social distancing have led to a reliance on digital media in nearly all aspects of teenage lives.

The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, is the first to include data from across America. It was performed on 5,412 children between the ages of 10 and 14 years.

The study showed that, on average, teens stared at screens for recreational purposes for 7.7 hours. per day, which is more than the pre-pandemic estimate of 3.8 hours. Watching or streaming movies or TV shows, and using video games also contribute to this increase. This trend has not changed with the gradual reduction of restrictions related to the coronavirus.

“We found that African-American teens and low-income children spend the most time in front of their screens. This may be due to insufficient financial resources for other activities or lack of access to safe outdoor spaces,” concludes Nagata.

Andrei Dobroolsky from New York