Teens glued to screens, study suggests

A study of Montreal teens shows some are spending a startling amount of time in front of a screen — be it attached to a TV, computer or video game.

Tracie Barnett, researcherAnd kids from lower-income neighbourhoods in particular seem to be spending a lot of time glued to screens, suggested the study, which was presented Wednesday at a U.S. scientific conference.

"Girls that lived in these more disadvantaged neighbourhoods, they were up to four times more likely to be in these high-viewing groups," lead author Tracie Barnett said in an interview. "Whereas for boys, it was about two to three times more likely."

The bulk of the kids studied — about 60 per cent — spent an average of 20 hours a week in front of a screen, whether that was to watch TV, play a video game or navigate the internet for recreational purposes.

But about a third spend closer to 40 hours a week in front of a screen. And between seven and 10 per cent of the teenagers logged 50 or more hours a week of screen time, the researchers found. The Canadian Pediatric Society recommends kids spend no more than two hours a day watching television.

"I'm not sure that all parents are aware that kids are spending so much time (in front of screens)," Barnett said from Colorado Springs, Colo., where she presented findings from the study at the American Heart Association's Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.

"We know that obesity has increased quite dramatically, in kids especially. We also know that doing too little exercise, consuming too many calories will cause obesity. But we also know that the more time kids spend watching television and playing on the computer, the more likely they are to become overweight."

The data was drawn from the Nicotine Dependence in Teens study, which is funded by the Canadian Cancer Society and led by researchers from the University of Montreal.

A group of 1,293 Grade 7 students from 10 Montreal high schools were enrolled in the study and followed for five years until their graduation from Grade 11, the year at which Quebec students finish high school. Four times a year the students in the study were asked to fill in detailed questionnaires covering a multitude of topics, not just related to the primary question, tobacco use.

The high schools were selected to draw kids from a range of socio-economic neighbourhoods.

Barnett, who is a researcher at the Sainte-Justine Children's Hospital Research Centre, said there appeared to be a definite pattern, with teens from lower-income areas more frequently in the higher-viewing groups. She suggested she would like to do more research to figure out what is at play, with an aim to improve recreational alternatives for teenagers in low-income neighbourhoods.

Childhood obesity rising
But Mark Tremblay, director of healthy living and obesity research at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario's Research Institute, said he's not convinced kids from disadvantaged neighbourhoods spend more time in front of screens simply because of their economic status.

"I'm not a strong believer in the fact that we're just pawns to the destiny our built environment has given us," he said from Ottawa. "Because it doesn't hold true in so many studies. It doesn't hold true when you examine things internationally.

"The other thing that always seems to get lost in this is that it's not the lower-income groups where obesity is ballooning," continued Tremblay, who was not involved in this study.

"It's everywhere. Equally. Rich kids. Poor kids. Black kids. White kids. Kids from the north. Kids from the south. Kids from Asia. It doesn't matter. The bar is going up, not getting more unequal … This seems to be a population-wide phenomenon that's occurring."

He suggested spending so much time gazing at a screen isn't healthy for kids. They get too much exposure to ads for junk foods and the time spent at a screen is time not spent doing something active.

"The energy expenditure value when you're watching TV, it almost puts you into a hibernative type of state," Tremblay warned.