Following screen time guidelines connected to better well-being in youth: StatCan

Mental health expert Calissa Ngozi reacts to the recent study that shows the benefits of children following screen time guidelines.

A new study from Statistics Canada is offering insight into what happens when youth exceed the recommended guidelines of daily screen time.

Young people who followed screen time guidelines from the Canadian Paediatric Society were more likely to meet daily physical activity recommendations and have better mental health, less stressful days, better general health, less body image issues, and better grades than those who didn‘t, according to a study published Thursday.

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The study examined a cohort of youths’ screen time patterns in 2019 when they were between the ages of 12 and 17, and then later in 2023 when they were between 16 and 21. The data is from the Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth. StatCan notes that the study “measures associations rather than cause-and-effect relationships.”

“Results indicate that nearly six in 10 youth (58 per cent) who met screen time guidelines in both 2019 and 2023 reported excellent or very good mental health, compared with 38 per cent of youth who exceeded guidelines,” StatCan said.

Seventy-six per cent of those who followed the guidelines also reported excellent or very good general health, compared to 63 per cent of youth who exceeded screen time recommendations.

StatCan used the Canadian Paediatric Society’s screen time recommendations of no more than two hours for children aged five to 17-years-old, and no more than three hours for those 18 and older.

More than one in three (37 per cent) of Canadian youth in the study reported exceeding screen time recommendations. Males were more likely to exceed the guidelines (40 per cent) than females (34 per cent).

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Youth who met screen time guidelines were more likely to meet recommended physical activity guidelines (20 per cent) than those who did not (12 per cent).

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StatCan also found that 37 per cent of youth who met the guidelines were more likely to report most of their days being not at all stressful, compared to 25 per cent of youth who did not follow screen time recommendations.

Children who followed screen time recommendations had fewer body image issues, with 75 per cent reporting never or rarely having body image issues in the past 12 months in 2023. This is compared to 69 per cent of those who did not follow screen time recommendations in both 2019 and 2023.

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Grades were better in youth who followed screen time guidelines, with 94 per cent achieving average grades of 70 per cent or higher, while that number dropping to 88 per cent for those who didn’t follow the guidelines.

Nearly all youth studied (95 per cent) who met screen time guidelines told StatCan they were “at least somewhat happy and interested in life,” while 84 per cent of youth who did not follow recommendations felt the same.

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