Global Pediatrics (Dec 2023)
Screen time in children and youth during the pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Abstract
Objective: To examine screen time (ST) before and during the pandemic and changes between the two time points in children and youth aged 0 to 21 years, and to identify moderating factors (mean age, male%, report type, geography, and study design). Study design: A literature search of five databases was conducted. Studies written in English, reported ST in minutes or hours before and/or during the pandemic, and were published between January 2020-June 2022 were included. 109 studies were selected from the first screening of 4845 studies, and 91 studies that reported either ST during the pandemic (N = 91) or both ST before and during the pandemic (N = 51) were included in the final analyses. Random-effects meta-analyses were used to derive the mean STs across the studies. Results: The pre-pandemic ST mean was 2.67 ± 0.21 h/d, which was increased to 4.38 ± 0.20 h during the pandemic. Older children (p = 0.006) and boys (p = 0.005) spent more time on screens before the pandemic, but sex differences were no longer evident during the pandemic. In children under 5 years, the pre-pandemic ST mean was 1.91 h/d, which increased to 2.65 h/d during the pandemic, with 0.89 h/d changes. Conclusions: Children and youth's ST exceeded pediatric guidelines before the pandemic, even in children under 5 years, but the current study found significant increases in ST during the pandemic across all ages. This study suggests that ST increases need to be understood in terms of contextual perspectives. Further, identifying vulnerable groups is important to establish practical guidelines and interventions.
