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While screens are at the heart of concerns in many countries around the world, including France, a new Finnish study looked at the time spent by adolescent girls on their smartphones. And the conclusions are clear: some of the participants devote nearly six hours a day to it, with a strong appetite for games and social media, yet sources of addiction, anxiety, fatigue and loneliness.
How much time can children, adolescents and young adults spend on their smartphones without it harming their health? A report submitted by a group of experts to Emmanuel Macron on April 30 recommends in particular banning screens for children under 3 years old, mobile phones for children under 11 years old, and social networks for adolescents under 15 years old. But it is more complicated to establish a duration and frequency of use of screens, and more particularly of smartphones.
How much time does your teenager actually spend on a smartphone?
A team led by a researcher from the University of Helsinki, in Finland, wanted to objectively measure the time spent by adolescent girls on their smartphones, and in particular on social networks, and the results are likely to raise eyebrows. To reach their conclusions, the scientists included in their study no less than 1,164 adolescent girls aged 15 to 16 from 21 secondary schools based in Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. Not only were participants asked to estimate their daily smartphone usage, but they were also asked to provide information via screenshots over several days.
Note that some adolescent girls did not provide the requested screenshots, namely 508 participants, but still participated in the analyzes relating to possible dependence on smartphones and social networks, as well as the impact of this use. on their well-being. As such, the scientists used the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) to measure this potential addiction, as well as other objective and recognized scales to determine anxiety and body appreciation. Information relating to mood, fatigue, current state of health, or even loneliness was, however, subject to self-assessment.
A potential impact on mental health
Published in the newspaper Archives of Disease in Childhood, This work sets the average time spent daily on a smartphone by participants at 350 minutes, or nearly six hours, and that spent on social networks at 231 minutes, or nearly four hours. A result which is beyond, although quite close to, the time estimated by the adolescents themselves, namely a little more than five hours per day. The data presented also provides a frequency of using smartphones – for only 13% of the panel – namely between 58 and 356 times per day depending on the participants.
Beyond the frequency and duration of use, researchers looked at the impact of these uses on the well-being of adolescent girls. More than a third of them (37%) scored above the threshold for an anxiety disorder, while daily time spent on social media was associated with lower academic performance, higher addiction scores, higher anxiety levels, and worse body image.
“The implications of nearly six hours of daily smartphone use and its associations with adolescent well-being are serious. While some are calling for strengthening mental health services to combat rising anxiety among adolescents, no single service will be enough unless the root causes are addressed.“, conclude the authors of this observational study, in a statement. Note in this respect that numerous studies have established a link between screens and sleep, screens and body mass index, or even screens and mental health disorders.