Children's Information Technology (IT) Use and Their Physical, Cognitive, Social and Psychological Well-Being

Abstract

This research examines the relationships between 3 types of Information Technology (IT) use – Internet use, cell phone use and videogame playing, on children’s body weight, academic performance, (grades in school and standardized test scores), social selfconcept and self-esteem. Hierarchical regression analyses was used to test 5 hypotheses about relationships between IT use and physical, cognitive, social and psychological outcomes, controlling for age, sex, race and household income. Findings indicated that IT use, including videogame playing was unrelated to body weight when socio-demographic characteristics are controlled. Videogame playing was positively related to visual spatial skills and internet use was positively related to reading skills. Cell phone use was moderately related to social self-competence. Future research should focus on positive outcomes of IT use using crosssectional and longitudinal designs.