Addictive use of digital devices in young children: Associations with delay discounting, self-control and academic performance.

Tim Schulz Van Endert,Baogui Xin

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0253058

Tim Schulz Van Endert, Baogui Xin

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253058

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Abstract

The use of smartphones, tablets and laptops/PCs has become ingrained in adults' and increasingly in children's lives, which has sparked a debate about the risk of addiction to digital devices. Previous research has linked specific use of digital devices (e.g. online gaming, smartphone screen time) with impulsive behavior in the context of intertemporal choice among adolescents and adults. However, not much is known about children's addictive behavior towards digital devices and its relationship to personality factors and academic performance. This study investigated the associations between addictive use of digital devices, self-reported usage duration, delay discounting, self-control and academic success in children aged 10 to 13. Addictive use of digital devices was positively related to delay discounting, but self-control confounded the relationship between the two variables. Furthermore, self-control and self-reported usage duration but not the degree of addictive use predicted the most recent grade average. These findings indicate that children's problematic behavior towards digital devices compares to other maladaptive behaviors (e.g. substance abuse, pathological gambling) in terms of impulsive choice and point towards the key role self-control seems to play in lowering a potential risk of digital addiction.

Highlights

Digital devices, such as smartphones, tablets and laptops, have become an integral part in the lives of the majority of people around the world
On the Addictive use of digital devices: Associations with delay discounting, self-control and academic performance other hand, this age represents a major crossroad for the children of Berlin; within the city’s school system, students graduate from elementary school after 6th grade and progress to either high school (“Gymnasium”) or integrative secondary school (“Integrierte Sekundarschule”) depending on their academic performance
To control for possible effects of gender, age, years of ownership of digital devices and pocket money a regression analysis was performed with the control variables and the proportion of larger delayed reward (LDR) choices as independent variables and the overall Digital Addiction Scale for Children (DASC) score as the dependent variable

Summary

Introduction

Digital devices, such as smartphones, tablets and laptops, have become an integral part in the lives of the majority of people around the world. Recent surveys e.g. in the US estimate that 81% of adults own a smartphone, 74% own a laptop and 52% own a tablet [1]. The same report estimates that children’s average time spent online is 3.4 hours per day, with the main activities being watching videos (e.g. on YouTube and TikTok), using social media (e.g. Instagram and Snapchat) or gaming (e.g. Fortnite or Minecraft). These numbers have seen an unprecedented increase since the COVID-19 pandemic, which has, to a large extent, forced children to remain home, receive online schooling and interact with friends digitally. While the effects of these measures vary from country to country, a 163% increase in daily screen

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