BREAKING American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
There is no significant link between childhood phone ownership and kids' well-being, according to new research out of Stanford University.
Researchers from the Stanford School of Medicine followed more than 250 children from low-income families in Northern California for five years in order to track their well-being as they transitioned to phone ownership.
In the end, they found the age at which kids received their first phones had no meaningful impact on their grades, sleep habits or depression symptoms.
The results were published in the peer-reviewed journal Child Development on Sept. 2.
"We found that whether or not the children in the study had a mobile phone, and when they had their first mobile phone, did not seem to have meaningful links to their well-being and adjustment outcomes," lead author Xiaoran Sun said in a media release.
"There doesn’t seem to be a golden rule about waiting until eighth grade or a certain age."
Children were between seven and 11 years old when the study began, and between 11 and 15 when it ended. The average age at which they received their first phones was 11.6 years, with the rate of phone ownership rising steeply between 10.7 and 12.5 years of age. During that period, half of the children enrolled in the study received their first phones. Nearly all the children had phones by 15 years old and 99 per cent of those were smartphones.
Each child and one of their parents went through an initial baseline assessment at the beginning of the study, plus annual follow-up assessments.
During each assessment, researchers took note of whether each child had received a phone that year, and whether it was a smartphone. They also took note of each child's depression symptoms, school grades, bedtime, waking time and general daytime sleepiness. After each visit, children wore accelerometers for a week to help the researchers measure sleep onset and sleep duration.
The researchers controlled for factors that could have skewed the results, including each child’s age at the start of the study, their sex and birth order, their birth country, the parents' marital status and education level, family income, how often English was spoken at home and how far each child had progressed through puberty.
They did observe some changes after kids received their first phones. Whereas the entire group’s depression indicators dropped over time, the decrease was slower when children owned phones than when they did not.
The researchers also noticed slight differences in sleep. Parents reported that kids had less sleep on school nights when they owned a phone versus when they didn’t own a phone.
Ultimately, though, Sun and her colleagues found these differences too minor to be statistically significant. They concluded that, in general, phone ownership was not linked either positively or negatively to children’s overall well-being.
"These are average trends on a population level," she said. "There can still be individual differences. It doesn’t mean you can’t take your kid’s phone away if you think it’s taking too much sleep time."
The Canadian Paediatric Society this week also released new guidance around screen time for toddlers and preschoolers. Where the organization previously recommended a firm cap of one hour per day for kids two to five years old, it no longer suggests a hard-and-fast cap for that age group.
The new guidance released Thursday morning still says kids aged two to five should only have one hour per day of "sedentary screen time," but now makes allowances for additional interactive uses, including educational programs and family movie nights.
It also still recommends zero screen time for kids younger than age two, except to video-chat with loved ones.
With files from The Canadian Press
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
A group of suspects that allegedly defrauded seniors across Ontario and other parts of Canada using a so-called emergency grandparent scam appear to have ties to 'Italian traditional organized crime,' according to an investigator involved in the OPP-led probe.
A motion to reverse a ban on the keffiyeh within Queen’s Park failed to receive unanimous consent Thursday just moments after Ontario Premier Doug Ford reiterated his view that prohibiting the garment in the House is divisive.
Most Canadians in March reported feeling angry or pessimistic towards the federal government than at any point in the last six years, according to a survey by Nanos Research.
Guitar legend Dickey Betts, who co-founded the Allman Brothers Band and wrote their biggest hit, 'Ramblin' Man,' has died. He was 80.
A Google Drive link allegedly containing 17 tracks that are purportedly from Swift's eagerly awaited "The Tortured Poets Department" album has been making the rounds on the internet in the past day and people are equal parts mad, sad and happy about it.
Sophie Kinsella, the best-selling author behind the 'Shopaholic' book series, has revealed that she is receiving treatment for brain cancer.
The Canada Border Services Agency is scrambling to find space to hold high-risk detainees that are set to be transferred from provincial jails in June.
The journey to home ownership can be exciting, but personal finance columnist Christopher Liew warns about the trappings of becoming 'house poor' -- where an overwhelming portion of your income is devoured by housing costs. Liew offers some practical strategies to maintain better financial health while owning a home.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.
While many people choose to keep their medical appointments private, four longtime friends decided to undergo vasectomies as a group in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.
A popular highway in Alberta's Banff National Park now has a 'no stopping zone' to help protect two bears.