Excessive smartphone use can lead to addiction and other disorders in teens, such as anxiety, stress and insomnia (Getty Images)

Cell phones already seem to be part of the anatomy of teenagers. The image of a young person without the device in hand and without looking at the screen in everyday situations such as a family dinner, a conversation between friends or waiting in line, already represents a utopia. But, What happens when using mobile devices becomes a compulsive behavior? What consequences can it generate?

A study by Argentine experts, which included a large sample of adolescents aged 12 to 18 from large and small cities in Argentina, explored the direct and indirect burden imposed by screen use on daytime sleepiness and school performance.

“One of the conclusions is that the screen time effects about these (academic) results depended on the type of activity in front of the screen that participants realized and demonstrated that time spent playing video games affects sleep and increases daytime sleepiness, independent of the effects of the former on the latter,” the researchers warn.

In the book, whose main author is Dr. Daniel Perez ChadaPresident of the Fundación Argentina del Sueño, indicates that the use of mobile devices was associated with poorer academic performance, no effect on other results. Consistent with their findings, a recent meta-analysis that included 58 studies with a total of 480,479 participants showed that academic performance was significantly associated with watch TV or play video games but not with the total daily time spent in front of the screens.

It's a tool that brings people together, communicates and keeps them updated, but depending on how these mobile devices are used, it can have a negative impact on students (Getty Images)
It’s a tool that brings people together, communicates and keeps them updated, but depending on how these mobile devices are used, it can have a negative impact on students (Getty Images)

“Our results suggest that the effects of screen time on sleep duration and school performance are related to characteristics of each activity carried out in front of screens The use of mobile devices to view online content, social networks or games, was associated with lower academic performance,” they detailed.

According to specialists, “the impact of the use of screens on the learning It is accentuated by the finding of alterations in the brain structure of children and adolescents who spend more and more time in front of screens”. “While it is tempting to conclude that removing the screen will directly translate to improved academic performance, more studies are needed to verify the effectiveness of this intervention,” they warned.

Screen use at bedtime has been shown to negatively affect sleep, increase daytime sleepiness, and reduce school performance. There blue light emitted by the screens suppresses the production of melatonin, causing circadian disruption and altering the onset and continuity of sleep.

There Sleep disorder is, in turn, the main cause of daytime sleepiness, which greatly increases the risk of school failure. “Interestingly, an intervention to reduce screen use before bedtime was recently found to be associated with earlier falling asleep, increased total sleep time, and improved daytime alertness. “, noted the experts. .

Sleep disturbances are the leading cause of daytime sleepiness, which greatly increases the risk of school failure (Getty Images)
Sleep disturbances are the leading cause of daytime sleepiness, which greatly increases the risk of school failure (Getty Images)

The bone the strengths of the position include the large sample sizein which screen use, sleep patterns, daytime sleepiness, and school performance were assessed simultaneously, along with rigorous modeling of the interrelationship between these variables.

However, it also has some boundaries. They are transversal character there there lack of intervention Targeting to reduce specific screen time prevents assessment of causality between screen time, sleepiness, and school performance.

Our results are based on self-reported use of screens. Participants may not remember these exposures accurately or be unwilling to divulge them accurately. In fact, some participants said they used the screen for more than 12 hours a day, probably an exaggeration, so they were excluded from the data analysis,” they acknowledged. Further, they stated that “reporting errors could have increased the variability of the data, thereby masking some relationships, but bias is unlikely.”

Watching one of your friends' WhatsApp, a classmate's tweet or checking the latest posts on Instagram are common practices before turning a blind eye every night among young people (REUTERS)
Watching one of your friends’ WhatsApp, a classmate’s tweet or checking the latest posts on Instagram are common practices before turning a blind eye every night among young people (REUTERS)

It should be noted that in the study, of which Sergio Arias Bioch, Daniel Schönfeld, David Gozal and Santiago Perez-Lloret are also authors, a small but significant difference was observed in school performance between participants with or without missing data, which suggests the possibility of a selection bias.

teenagers playing video games for longer periods, they had shorter sleep duration and a higher likelihood of reporting daytime sleepiness, while those who used mobile devices more intensively had a higher risk of reduced school performance.

Besides, the shorter sleep duration was associated with daytime sleepiness, which, in turn, had a negative effect on academic achievement. “Our findings highlight the importance of maintaining adequate sleep hygiene and limiting the use of screens to preserve learning in adolescents. Future studies should be designed taking into account the results described here,” they concluded.

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