Mental health experts reveal exposure to screens promotes depression and symptoms of stress in teenagers. Today, the lives of children are influenced by excessive screen exposure. Is exposing your child to screens a healthy choice? Mental health experts claim screens can promote depression and stress among teenagers.
Teenagers exposed to screens earlier in life showed more signs of stress and depression. The report on teenage children revealed how teenagers experience symptoms of depression. Mental health experts advise parents to track children starting from their days of elementary school to save their child from the ill-effects of screens. Limited exposure to screens can help children enjoy better mental health in the future.
Parents with children aged between 6 to 9 years should limit the use of screens until their child reaches mid-teens. They should monitor everything from their physical activity to their eating habits daily. The mental health of children with this kind of monitoring can result in limiting signs of depression and stress to a great extent.
More exposure to screens can have a shocking impact on the mental health of your child. Teenagers who are exposed to more screen time from their early years can fall prey to stress and depression in the future. Adolescents who spend around 5 hours on screen, accompanied by 2 hours on mobile devices during their childhood years, are the most common victims of stress and depression.
Physical Activity and Mental Health
Experts also observed the effects of physical activity on children. They revealed physical activity positively affects the mental health of teenagers. Children who are exposed to physical activity like exercise programs and sports, enjoy better mental health outcomes. Boys showed better mental health outcomes compared to girls who performed physical activities.
Diet and Sleep
The diet and sleep quality also impacts the mental health of teenagers. More physical activity and less exposure to screens showed a positive impact on the mental health of teenagers.
Right Time to Introduce Screen Time to Children
It is important to monitor the screen time of the children. Many parents overdo the screen time monitoring part, but thatβs only beneficial for kids in the long run. Children with more screen time can definitely benefit from the social development perspective. However, many children end up spending too much on the screen because of a lack of control. This can hamper the childβs mental growth and even cause weight and sleep problems.
In todayβs time, monitoring the screen time of the child is essential because of so much over-exposure to the screens. Parents cannot assist their children after a point in time. They can only inculcate good habits in their child from early childhood in order to balance their lives. Mental health experts advise parents to control the kind of media that gets into their childβs hands. They recommend parents to be there for their children whenever they need them. Kids should only be introduced to screens after 18 months of age. From 18 to 24 months of age, the screen time of the child should be limited to watching educational videos. Overall, kids should watch screens for not more than 1 or 2 hours a day.