Digital media exposure and cognitive functioning in European children and adolescents of the I.Family studyShow others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: Scientific Reports, E-ISSN 2045-2322, Vol. 13, no 1, article id 18855
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The digital environment can pose health risks through exposure to unhealthy content. Yet, little is known about its relation to children’s cognitive functioning. This study investigates the association between digital media (DM) exposure and children’s cognitive functioning. This cross-sectional study is based on examinations of children aged 8–18 years (N = 8673) of the I.Family cohort (2013–2014). Exposure to television, computer, smartphone and internet was self-reported (hours/day). Media multitasking (MMT) was defined as simultaneous use of computers with other digital or non-screen-based activities. Standard instruments were used to assess cognitive inflexibility (score: 0–39), decision-making ability (− 100 to + 100) and impulsivity (12–48). Adjusted regression coefficients and 99.9%CIs were calculated by generalized linear mixed-effects models. In total, 3261 participants provided data for impulsivity, 3441 for cognitive inflexibility and 4046 for decision-making. Exposure to smartphones and media multitasking were positively associated with impulsivity (βsmartphone = 0.74; 99.9%CI = 0.42–1.07; βMMT = 0.73; 99.9%CI = 0.35–1.12) and cognitive inflexibility (βsmartphone = 0.32; 99.9%CI = -0.02–0.66; βMMT = 0.39; 99.9%CI = 0.01–0.77) while being inversely associated with decision-making ability. Extensive smartphone/internet exposure combined with low computer/medium TV exposure was associated with higher impulsivity and cognitive inflexibility scores, especially in girls. DM exposure is adversely associated with cognitive functioning in children and adolescents. Children require protection against the likely adverse impact of digital environment.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature, 2023. Vol. 13, no 1, article id 18855
National Category
Neurosciences Pediatrics Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
Research subject
Research on Citizen Centered Health, University of Skövde (Reacch US)
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:his:diva-23362DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-45944-0ISI: 001105087400068PubMedID: 37914849Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85175728648OAI: oai:DiVA.org:his-23362DiVA, id: diva2:1812419
Funder
EU, FP7, Seventh Framework Programme, 266044
Note
CC BY 4.0 DEED
© 2023, The Author(s)
Correspondence Address: A. Hebestreit; Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS, Bremen, Germany; email: sec-epi@leibniz-bips.de
I. Family consortium: Elida Sina, Christoph Buck, Wolfgang Ahrens, Juul M. J. Coumans, Gabriele Eiben, Annarita Formisano, Lauren Lissner, Artur Mazur, Nathalie Michels, Dénes Molnar, Luis A. Moreno, Valeria Pala, Hermann Pohlabeln, Lucia Reisch, Michael Tornaritis, Toomas Veidebaum & Antje Hebestreit
Author correction in: Scientific Reports, Volume 13, December 2023, Article number: 22595. doi:s41598-023-49411-8
The original version of this Article contained an error in the I. Family consortium, where authors Christoph Buck, Wolfgang Ahrens, Juul M. J. Coumans, Luis A. Moreno, Hermann Pohlabeln, Michael Tornaritis, Toomas Veidebaum and Antje Hebestreit were omitted as Consortium Members.
The research was done in the framework of the I.Family study (http://www.ifamilystudy.eu). We are thankful for the participation of European children and adolescents and their parents in our study as well as the support received from school boards, headmasters, and communities.
Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. This research was funded by the European Community within the Seventh RTD Framework Programme Contract No. 266044. The funding sources had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
2023-11-162023-11-162024-04-15Bibliographically approved