Association of Screen Time with Depression or Anxiety in Adolescence: In Pakistan

Abstract

Depression is a serious medical illness and impacted on everything that a person feels or perceive which causes persistent feeling of sadness, loneliness, anger, anxiety and depressive disorders. There is a close association exist between depression and over screening of smartphones, computer screens or various electric appliances thus increasing the risk of depressive disorders or negatively impacted psychological well-being. The incidence of depressive disorder was seen more frequently in females than in males due to increased screening time or social networking. This study aims to determine the link of screen time and depression or anxiety in the general population. To find out the association that whether increased screening time is associated with depressive symptoms in general population or not. Cross sectional study design was selected for study and 50 individuals was selected. Convenience sampling technique was used to collect samples. Their demographic information, screen time, anxiety and depression were assessed through pre-planned questionnaire. Data wasrecorded and analyzed through SPSS version 23. The results shown that the 70.37% female suffered from depression due to increased screen time and 29.63% male suffered. Increased monitoring time leads to an increased risk of depression and anxiety, though causality cannot be determined.