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Digital Screen Time and Pediatric Sleep: Evidence from a Preregistered Cohort Study

Andrew K Przybylski1

  • 1University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.

The Journal of Pediatrics
|November 7, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Digital screen time has minimal impact on children's sleep duration and consistency. Adhering to American Academy of Pediatrics screen time guidelines, however, is linked to improved pediatric sleep outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Sleep Medicine
  • Digital Media and Child Development
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Excessive digital screen time is a growing concern for pediatric sleep.
  • Understanding the relationship between screen time and sleep is crucial for child development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the extent to which digital device usage predicts variability in pediatric sleep.
  • To analyze the effects of screen time on children's sleep duration and consistency.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of data from the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health (n=50,212).
  • Preregistered analysis plan adjusting for child, caregiver, household, and community covariates.
  • Estimation of digital screen use effects on pediatric sleep outcomes.

Main Results:

  • Each hour of digital screen use was associated with 3-8 fewer minutes of nightly sleep.
  • Children adhering to American Academy of Pediatrics screen time limits experienced 20-26 more minutes of nightly sleep.
  • Digital screen time accounted for less than 1.9% of the variability in pediatric sleep outcomes.

Conclusions:

  • Digital screen time, in isolation, has a modest practical effect on pediatric sleep.
  • Contextual factors surrounding screen time are more influential on pediatric sleep than screen time itself.
  • Findings inform the digital displacement hypothesis and policy-making regarding screen time.
Abstract

Keywords:
digital displacement hypothesisdigital screenspediatric sleep

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