Government Report

Kunskapslägesrapport bekräftar negativa hälsoeffekter av omfattande skärmtid för barn och unga

Jun 2024 🇸🇪 Folkhälsomyndigheten (Public Health Agency of Sweden) / Socialdepartementet

On June 17, 2024, Sweden's Public Health Agency handed Social Minister Jakob Forssmed a knowledge-status report on digital media and children's health that his ministry had commissioned the year before. The compilation associates heavy screen and social-media use among children and teenagers with poorer sleep and more depressive symptoms, and links greater social-media use among 10-to-18-year-olds with body dissatisfaction. It also associates high parental phone use during interaction with young children with reduced parental responsiveness and, in some cited studies, more outward-directed behavior in preschoolers, plus links between heavy use and overweight, headaches, and spinal complaints, and notes children diagnosed with ADHD or autism show elevated rates of problematic digital-media use. Receiving the report, Forssmed called screen use one of the era's largest public-health challenges. TechKids Foundation cites this as the evidence base the Swedish government pointed to ahead of the national recommendations issued three months later.

Ages 10-18: more social-media use associated with more body dissatisfaction

The report links greater social-media engagement in this age band with poorer body image, alongside poorer sleep and more depressive symptoms tied to heavy overall screen use.

Ages 0-5: high screen exposure linked to sleep disruption and some increase in outward-directed behavior

Among young children, the compilation associates heavy exposure with disrupted sleep and, in some cited studies, more outward-directed behavior, plus reduced parental responsiveness when phone use interrupts parent-child interaction.

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CITATION

Folkhälsomyndigheten (Public Health Agency of Sweden). "Digitala medier och barns och ungas hälsa – en kunskapssammanställning." Delivered to Sweden's Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, June 17, 2024. Announced via Regeringskansliet press release, June 17, 2024. https://www.regeringen.se/pressmeddelanden/2024/06/kunskapslagesrapport-bekraftar-negativa-halsoeffekter-av-omfattande-skarmtid-for-barn-och-unga/

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