Abstract
Under the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns regarding prolonged screen time and mental health effects in children have increased. We examined the association of depression with smartphone ownership in school children at four time points: September 2019, July 2020, December 2020, and March 2021. The analysis revealed an interaction between group and time, indicating that depressive symptoms among smartphone owners were significantly more severe than in the other group. These results were clearer for fourth-year students, pointing that smartphone possession at younger ages may be a risk factor for mental health in the new lifestyle caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the lives of children and adolescents everywhere around the world, as the public health precautions meant to reduce the infection rate included isolation policies, such as closing schools, parks, sports and recreational facilities, some of which already shown to have negative effects [1].A byproduct of these lifestyle changes is the increased screen time (ST) during the pandemic, as children and adolescents were forced to use electronic devices for communicational and educational purposes [2], even before COVID-19, it was well-known that prolonged sedentary behavior was linked to negative mental health outcomes in humans of all ages [3].University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, JapanIn recent years, the main cause of the rise of ST has been the continuously increasing usage of smartphones
The results showed that referenced to Wave 0, which was not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the depression was higher in the smartphone own group compared to the not own group at Wave 2 and Wave 3
There was no difference in the percentage of depressive symptom scores that exceeded the cutoff value between smartphone owners and non-owners at Wave 0, but at Wave 3, the percentage of scores that exceeded the cutoff value was higher among owners and lower among non-owners
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the lives of children and adolescents everywhere around the world, as the public health precautions meant to reduce the infection rate included isolation policies, such as closing schools, parks, sports and recreational facilities, some of which already shown to have negative effects [1].A byproduct of these lifestyle changes is the increased screen time (ST) during the pandemic, as children and adolescents were forced to use electronic devices for communicational and educational purposes [2], even before COVID-19, it was well-known that prolonged sedentary behavior was linked to negative mental health outcomes in humans of all ages [3].University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, JapanIn recent years, the main cause of the rise of ST has been the continuously increasing usage of smartphones. Before COVID-19, adolescents used to spend around 6–8 h daily in sedentary positions (mostly ST [6]), and this behavior has presumably intensified during the pandemic [7]. A longitudinal study conducted in China between January 2020 and June 2020 showed that school closures and lockdowns may have increased problematic smartphone use and depression [8]. A study that examined the association between Internet use and psychological distress at two time points, in early November 2019 before the COVID-19 outbreak and at the end of March 2020 during the COVID-19 outbreak, reported that schoolchildren who increased their Internet-related activity by 15 or 30 min daily under the pandemic had increased levels of psychological distress [9]. There are several other studies that suggest an increase in Internet use and
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