Author(s): Gurmeet Singh Sarla
The screen as a computer, mobile phone, tablet or television is a piece of present day life. Expanded screen time is related with heftiness, pernicious impacts on temperament and subjective and socio-enthusiastic advancement, prompting poor instructive execution in kids and thus ought to be diminished to 1-2 hours per day. Drawn out TV seeing brings down psychological capacities, particularly identified with momentary memory, early reading and math aptitudes and language development. Gaming animates outrage, viciousness, weight, epilepsy and social segregation in kids and teenagers. Enjoying over the top on line shopping is a type of web enslavement and has been named as Pathological purchasing and has a hidden patho-physiology of delight chasing or departure of negative feelings and intellectual instruments like impulsivity, disappointment in self-guideline, or basic leadership deficiencies. Extreme utilization of social networking sites like Facebook and texting Apps like WhatsApp has prompted compulsion causing well-being impacts as headache, low backache, obesity, burning eyes, insomnia, exhaustion, lowers self-esteem and causes depression. This review article examined the different well-being impacts of the expanding screen time in the cutting edge time and prescribes screen time to be constrained to 1-2 hours in a day and a break from the 'screen' during weekends and family travels.
The screen, regardless of whether it is a computer, smartphone, tablet or television, is an image of our cutting edge age and screen time is a significant piece of contemporary life. Studies have demonstrated that expanded screen time is related to obesity because of an expansion in energy intake, displacement of time accessible for physical activity or all the more straightforwardly through decrease in metabolic rate [1-3]. Expanded screen time is likewise connected with injurious consequences of irritability, low mood and socio-emotional development, prompting poor educational performance [4]. The American Academy of Pediatrics in 2016 suggested restricting screen time for kids in the age group of 2-5 years to 60 minutes/day of high quality programmes [5].
Active Healthy Kids Canada revealed in 2014 that kids 3 to 5 years of age spend a normal of 2 hours out of every day before screens [6]. Television still overwhelms all out screen time and seems, by all accounts, to be expanding for pre-schoolars [7]. In the USA, paces of versatile media use among 2-to 4-year-olds expanded from 39% to 80% somewhere in the range of 2011 and 2013 [8]. An ongoing UK study found that about 51% of babies 6-to 11-months-old utilize a touch screen daily [9]. A 2012 US study found that the normal kid between 8 months and 8 years old is presented to almost 4 hours of background TV on an ordinary day [10].
Children adapt strongly through face to face and personal collaboration with guardians and parental figures. Early learning is simpler, all the more enhancing and formatively progressively proficient when experienced live, intelligently, continuously, in real time, and with real individuals when contrasted with screen learning [11]. Pre-schoolers adapt best in expressive and vocabulary terms from live, direct and dynamic interactions with thinking adults [12]. However at about 2 years, quality TV-well-structured, age-suitable projects with explicit instructive objectives-can give an extra course to early language and education for children [13].
TV seeing has been seen as contrarily connected with school readiness skills [14]. Prolonged exposure to background TV has been found to adversely influence language use and acquisition, attention, intellectual advancement and executive function in kids more youthful than 5 years. It additionally lessens the sum and nature of parent-youngster connection and diverts from play [10,15]. A few investigations partner prolonged television time will bring down subjective capacities, particularly identified with momentary memory, early perusing and math aptitudes and language development [16]. Quick paced or violent content can contrarily affect executive function [17]. Late proof proposes a relationship between raised degrees of TV presentation at age 2 and self-reported exploitation, social disengagement, proactive aggression and anti social practices in childhood [18]. Unreasonable TV seeing (over 2 hours/day) has been plainly connected with early youth self-regulation difficulties [19].
Computer games are the most mainstream excitements in current social orders. Adolescents of present day society are so dependent and drench in the game so much that they totally separate from their environment. Testing with the snags and arriving at a more elevated level in the game, make the players energized and losing the game make them anxious [20]. These games are known as the second diversion after TV, rivals of these games accentuate on their negative impacts, for example, animating annoyance and viciousness, costing a great deal of cash and having negative impacts of physical and emotional well-being, which are a lot higher than the constructive outcomes of the games, for example, expanding the coordination of eyes and hands [21]. An examination by Klein and Keepers proposes that understudies who incline toward PC games to different excitements have progressively social problems [22]. Gaming invigorates outrage, viciousness, obesity, epilepsy and social confinement in kids and adolescents [23]. These games can't make any passionate and human relationship rather than kids who are engaged with playing with other children [24]. Playing more PC games cause young people to remain at home, which lead to their absence of movement and getting obese [25]. Studies indicated that PC games builds players' heart thumps to a level more than their body request [26]. Since in PC games, players comply with the characters in the game, in making the new circumstances that happen in the game, the hypothesis of participatory displaying and dynamic molding can be utilized in clarifying information on vicious practices and potential rewards they get in response [27].
Pathological buying, compulsive buying, buying addiction, and oniomania are different terminologies describing the same phenomenon in which individuals are preoccupied with shopping, suffer from recurrent buying impulses or episodes, and lose control over their buying behaviour [28]. Different emotional mechanisms such as pleasure seeking or escape of negative emotions and cognitive mechanisms like impulsivity, failure in self-regulation, or decision-making deficits appear to be involved in the development and maintenance of pathological buying [29]. Internet provides characteristics that seem to encourage Pathological Buying, such as the opportunity to buy 24 hours a day, to shop from the convenience of the private home, or to use easy payment systems that lead to inadvertent expenses [30].
Davis classified internet addiction into generalized Internet addiction (GIA) and a specific Internet addiction (SIA) [31]. GIA is related to a multidimensional overuse of the Internet with a non-specific usage of one application in particular, whereas SIA is characterized by excessive preoccupations and overuse of one specific Internet application31. All internet applications can be used in a dysfunctional/addictive manner; the applications used most frequently in a dysfunctional/addictive manner are online gaming and gambling, social network sites, cybersex, and online shopping [32].
Brand et al hypothesized that the specific predisposition (shopping excitability) and Internet use expectancies (such as buying anonymously and avoiding social interaction, reaching a greater product variety, and satisfying an urge to buy more quickly) are related to online Pathological Buying [33]. Kukar-Kinney et al proposed three different expectancies that motivate online buying in contrast to conventional brick-and-mortar store buying [34]. These expectancies were (1) buying anonymously and avoiding social interaction, (2) buying availability and reaching a greater product variety, and (3) receiving immediate positive feelings. Previous research showed that individuals with PB feel shame and regret after their buying episodes, so it is plausible that they may not want others (especially family members) to see what, how much, and how often they buy [35].
Smartphone is a revolutionary invention and it’s overuse has led to smartphone addiction leading to effects on social and health aspects of users' lives. Studies have found that WhatsApping in dependent internet users rank high in terms of the feeling of loneliness, affective disorders, low self-esteem, and impulsive behaviour [36]. Onset usually occurs in late 20 s or early 30 s age group [37].
Social networking sites: There are 1.01 billion daily active Facebook users globally as per September 2015 figures [38]. Excessive use of social media may contribute to misuse, dependence, addictive behaviours, changes in self-esteem, sleep disorders and depression [39,40]. There is potential risk for developing addictive behaviours through the development of poor self-discipline and task avoidance [41]. Young KS found that the university students’ sleep patterns were disrupted due to facebook use late at night, leading to fatigue and impaired academic performance [42]. Headache, backache, weight change, burning eyes and disturbed sleep were the most frequently reported adverse health effects by users involved in prolonged facebooking [43].
The screen in the form of computer, mobile, tablet or television is a symbol of modern age and time on screen (screen time) is a major part of contemporary life.
Increased screen time is associated with obesity, deleterious effects on mood and cognitive and socio-emotional development, leading to poor educational performance in children and hence should be reduced to 1-2 hours a day.
High exposure to background TV has been found to negatively affect language use and acquisition, attention, cognitive development and executive function in children younger than 5 years and reduces the amount and quality of parent-child interaction and distracts from play. Prolonged TV viewing lowers cognitive abilities, especially related to short-term memory, early reading and math skills and language development.
Students who prefer computer games to other entertainments have
more behavioural problems. Gaming stimulates anger, violence,
obesity, epilepsy and social isolation in children and adolescents.
Indulging in excessive on line shopping is a form of internet
addiction and has been termed as Pathological buying and has
an underlying pathophysiology of pleasure seeking or escape of
negative emotions and cognitive mechanisms like impulsivity,
failure in self-regulation, or decision-making deficits.
Excessive use of social networking sites like Facebook and instant
messaging Apps like Whats App has led to addiction causing
health effects in the form of headache, backache, weight change,
burning eyes, disturbed sleep, fatigue, changes in self-esteem
and depression.
It is recommended that screen time be limited to 1-2 hours in a
day and a break from the ‘screen’ during weekends and family
vacations is a good idea.
