The Digital Revolution - How Does an Increased Screen Time Affect Sleep and Health in Children?

Sammanfattning: Introduction: As the screen time increases, it has been observed that more children arefeeling unwell. It has also been observed that screen time increases even in young children,but few studies have shown what effect this has. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate if an increased screen time affected sleeppatterns and health in children. Methods: This was an epidemiological, questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. 451students from Lysekil participated, of which 219 were from the 4th grade (10 years old) andthe rest from the 9th grade (15 years old). Of these, five children were excluded due tofrivolous answers. Questions were asked regarding their mental health, physical health, andsocial life. This project is part of a broader follow-up study, conducted in 1998, 2011 and2020 and differences between 2011 and 2020 was investigated. Results: There has been a deterioration in sleep quality from 2011 to 2020 in grades 4 and 9.Screen time has increased significantly in grade 4 but not in grade 9. Social media was morecommon among girls and gaming was more common among boys. More children werefeeling lonely in 2020 than in 2011. Conclusion: This concludes that more children had sleep problems in 2020 than in 2011. Thismay be due to the predominant use of social media among girls and gaming among boys.Further studies are needed to investigate whether the gender differences in screen activity maybe related to the gender difference in the feeling of being lonely.