IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i19p12070-d923719.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of Mobile Phone Screen Exposure on Adolescents’ Cognitive Health

Author

Listed:
  • Monica Cristina Poujol

    (Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), 08036 Barcelona, Spain
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Ariadna Pinar-Martí

    (Clinical and Epidemiological Neuroscience (NeuroÈpia), Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), 43204 Reus, Spain
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Cecilia Persavento

    (ISGlobal-Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona Campus MAR, Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona (PRBB), 08003 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Anna Delgado

    (ISGlobal-Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona Campus MAR, Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona (PRBB), 08003 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Monica Lopez-Vicente

    (ISGlobal-Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona Campus MAR, Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona (PRBB), 08003 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Jordi Julvez

    (Clinical and Epidemiological Neuroscience (NeuroÈpia), Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), 43204 Reus, Spain
    ISGlobal-Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona Campus MAR, Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona (PRBB), 08003 Barcelona, Spain)

Abstract

There is existing evidence on how excessive screen exposure can be detrimental to cognitive health, and in recent years there has been an increase in the usage of mobile phones by adolescents. We aimed to examine the association between mobile phone screen exposure and cognitive function among a young healthy population. We carried out a cross-sectional study conducted in 632 adolescents (13.89 ± 0.52 years old). Exposure data were collected through self-reported questionnaires, and cognitive outcomes were assessed by different computer-based neuropsychological tests. Compared to students in the lowest tertile (<9 min/day) of mobile phone screen exposure (MPSE), those in the medium tertile (9–20 min/day) showed significantly higher hit reaction time standard error (HRT-SE, higher inattentiveness) = (14.9 ms, 95% CI = 0.6; 29.3), as did as those in the highest tertile (>20 min/day) = (11.1 ms, 95% CI = 2.8; 25.0). When adjusting for confounders, the association held for the medium-MPSE tertile (17.6 ms, 95% CI = 3.4; 31.7). When further adjusting for intermediate factors, an increase in inattentiveness scores was also observed in both groups, with higher HRT-SE values for participants in the medium (15.8 ms, 95% CI = 1.4; 30.3) and highest MPSE tertiles (14.97 ms, 95% CI = 0.9; 29.1). There were no significant associations with fluid intelligence or working memory scores. Overall, our study shows that healthy teenagers reporting higher screen exposure may be affected in their attention performance. However, more studies are needed to determine the causality of these associations and to better shape the screen exposure recommended guidelines for brain health during adolescence.

Suggested Citation

  • Monica Cristina Poujol & Ariadna Pinar-Martí & Cecilia Persavento & Anna Delgado & Monica Lopez-Vicente & Jordi Julvez, 2022. "Impact of Mobile Phone Screen Exposure on Adolescents’ Cognitive Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-11, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12070-:d:923719
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12070/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12070/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Bickham & Yulin Hswen & Michael Rich, 2015. "Media use and depression: exposure, household rules, and symptoms among young adolescents in the USA," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 60(2), pages 147-155, February.
    2. Dohoon Lee & Margot Jackson, 2017. "The Simultaneous Effects of Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Child Health on Children’s Cognitive Development," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(5), pages 1845-1871, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sara Thomée, 2018. "Mobile Phone Use and Mental Health. A Review of the Research That Takes a Psychological Perspective on Exposure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-25, November.
    2. Hoffmann, Rasmus & Kröger, Hannes & Pakpahan, Eduwin, 2018. "Pathways between socioeconomic status and health: Does health selection or social causation dominate in Europe?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 36, pages 23-36.
    3. GyeongAe Seomun & Wonjung Noh, 2021. "Differences in Student Brain Activation from Digital Learning Based on Risk of Digital Media Addiction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-9, October.
    4. Liqin Zhang & Lin Wu, 2021. "Effects of Environmental Quality Perception on Depression: Subjective Social Class as a Mediator," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-14, June.
    5. Sonia Livingstone, 2015. "What difference does ‘the digital’ make to children’s experiences of risk?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 60(2), pages 127-128, February.
    6. Shensa, Ariel & Escobar-Viera, César G. & Sidani, Jaime E. & Bowman, Nicholas D. & Marshal, Michael P. & Primack, Brian A., 2017. "Problematic social media use and depressive symptoms among U.S. young adults: A nationally-representative study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 150-157.
    7. Yekaterina Chzhen & Zlata Bruckauf & Emilia Toczydlowska & Frank J. Elgar & Concepcion Moreno-Maldonado & Gonneke W.J.M. Stevens & Dagmar Sigmundová & Geneviève Gariépy, 2018. "Multidimensional Poverty Among Adolescents in 38 Countries: Evidence from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2013/14 Study," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(3), pages 729-753, June.
    8. Chang, Ling-Yin & Chiang, Tung-liang, 2020. "Association between socioeconomic status and the trajectory of insufficient sleep: Maternal emotional support as a moderator," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    9. So Young Kim & Min-Su Kim & Bumjung Park & Jin-Hwan Kim & Hyo Geun Choi, 2018. "Lack of sleep is associated with internet use for leisure," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, January.
    10. Hope Harvey, 2020. "Cumulative Effects of Doubling Up in Childhood on Young Adult Outcomes," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(2), pages 501-528, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12070-:d:923719. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.