The use of screens among children and adolescents skyrockets: 70% dedicate more than three hours a day to it, specifically 215.5 minutes on average; since during the week they reach 186.9 and on weekends they rise to 287.1. The latest PASOS study, carried out by the Pau Gasol Foundation, highlights how screen abuse among minors has skyrocketed: they spend up to two months a year in front of them.
The work has measured the use and abuse of mobile phones, tablets, computers and television in a group of more than 6,000 minors. Santiago F. Gómez, doctor and executive director of the Gasol Foundation, mentions how the abuse of screens has an impact on education, "especially since the covid pandemic, which was a turning point." In Spain, 86% of adolescents go to educational centers where mobile phones are prohibited, compared to the OECD average of 45%.
What has increased the most is the use of mobile devices: phones and tablets. They spend an average of more than 3 and a half hours a day (215 minutes a day), which exceeds the maximum average time (120). "That's two months a year," added Paula Berruezo, technical coordinator of the Gasol Foundation. By sex, they abuse more, but "there is an increase in them," adds Berruezo. Adolescents are the ones who spend the most time on them.
From the third year of primary school onwards, there are already more than 120 minutes a day and more than 300 in the 4th year of ESO. "In the accumulated annual period it would be the same as the vacation period," emphasizes Gómez.
By average income and family environment, it is observed that less fortunate minors abuse them more: there is more than 50 minutes a day difference from one extreme, without studies, to university students. "Although we see a certain epidemiological ceiling effect," warns Gómez.
Leaving the screens aside and limiting their use to the recommended 120 minutes would save 2,559,482 kWh/day, "which is equivalent to 1.5 times the annual electricity consumption of Andorra," Gómez gives as an example.
"Health behaviors in childhood mark us throughout life and our environment, too." With these words Pau Gasol focuses on the purpose of the study, which seeks to know how our Spanish minors live "to see how to act in each case."
From the Ministry of Health, Mónica García argues that these studies, "taking obesity as the tip of the iceberg", serve to understand how our children live: 55% of children with obesity will be adolescents with this disease; 80% of adolescents with obesity will be obese as adults.
"We want to focus on the importance of social determinants," García emphasizes, and maintains that "this cannot only be an individual responsibility, but also that of society," because "from the screens, minors are bombarded by advertisements for unhealthy food," adds the minister.
Through the ESTUDES study, the focus is also placed, as the health official maintains, on the use and abuse of screens: 19% of minors between 14 and 18 years old report problematic use of social networks, 84% play video games and 5.2% show an addiction disorder.
In line with this, Gómez comments that "in future editions we will investigate what is behind the excess of minutes in front of screens, because we know that there are addictive behaviors."
"Screens set the pace of our lives" and are "the mirror of our society," Gasol stressed during the presentation of the data.
What are the recommendations for use?
Screens are part of our current society. And that is why, from international and national organizations and institutions, recommendations are established for the use of screens during childhood and adolescence. These guidelines vary depending on age and organism, and, in general, they advise against its use in the first years of life. From this age onwards, they recommend limiting exposure time and offer guidelines on its use.
Specifically, the World Health Organization (WHO) advises against sedentary time dedicated to screens in children under 2 years of age and, between 2 and 4 years of age, recommends a maximum of one hour a day, highlighting that the less time, the better. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends not using screens until the age of 2, except for family video calls; limit its use to a maximum of one hour a day up to 6 years of age; and, from this age onwards, it does not establish a specific figure.
The recommendations from Canada, Australia, France and Germany also present differences depending on age and type of use. The Canadian Pediatric Society and the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Aging recommend, for children aged 2 to 5 years, limiting sedentary and recreational use time to approximately one hour per day or less.
