Relationship between screen time and academic performance in adolescents

 Youth is a sensitive time, and the habits acquired during this period last a lifetime. Today's generation wastes their time with smartphones and other electronic media, which prevents them from focusing on academic and other healthy activities. The aim of the present study was to investigate the problem of screen time and academic performance.

This was a community-based descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among 301 adolescents aged 10 to 18 years between January 2020 and December 2021. A pilot-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used to elicit responses using the interview method, focusing on basic demographic information and screen time. This pilot study was conducted on healthy adolescents attending the pediatric clinic of the Department of Pediatrics at GMH in Rewa, and the same questionnaires were then used in the sampled schools in Rewa County (M.P.)

In the present study, 106 children (35%) belonged to the early adolescent age group, 174 (58%) to the middle adolescent age group, and 21(7%) to the late adolescent age group. The average percentage of the participants’ grades was 74.6%. It was found that the average percentage of grades obtained decreased with increasing screen time. Sixty-three (20.9%) children with screen time of > 3 hours per day achieved an average grade of 62.1%, while those who did not use screen media achieved an average grade of 88.4%. This is statistically significant with a p-value of < 0.001.

 Adolescents spending 3 hours per day in front of a computer screen may decrease their academic performance