ArticleBMC pediatrics2020
The detrimental impacts of smart technology device overuse among school students in Kuwait: a cross-sectional survey.
Article in BMC pediatrics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Does sedentary behaviour cause spinal pain in children and adolescents? A systematic review with meta-analysis.British journal of sports medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Parental Awareness and Practices Regarding Electronic Devices' Effects on Children's Sleep: A Cross-Sectional Study.Public health challenges · 2026Article
- Digital device usage and its association with health among Mongolian adolescents.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Sedentary Behavior and Low Back Pain in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Headache prevalence and impact among school-aged children in a Japanese town: the AMI-GRAINES study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Cardiovascular Disease Risk in the Obese Population in Kuwait: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Cureus · 2024Review
- CVS-Q teen: an adapted, reliable and validated tool to assess computer vision syndrome in adolescents.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Defining text neck: a scoping review.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2023Article
- Children's Internet use and physical and psychosocial development.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Parents' Attitudes Toward School Students' Overuse of Smartphones and Its Detrimental Health Impacts: Qualitative Study.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundChildren and adolescents are becoming the most prolific users of smart technology (ST) devices due to the numerous advantages presented by these devices. However, the overuse of ST devices can have detrimental impacts on health. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the pattern of ST device use among school students in Kuwait and the possible associated health problems.
methodsThis cross-sectional survey used a pretested questionnaire to collect data from students of different educational levels within the governmental sector: primary, secondary and high school. Chi-square tests were applied to find associations or significant differences between the categorical variables, in which p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
resultsThis study included 3015 students, of whom 53.6% were female. The sample had an equal distribution of primary (33.8%), secondary (32.4%) and high school students (33.8%). Almost all of the participants (99.7%) owned a ST device, chiefly smartphones (87.7%). Most of the students used ST devices for > 4 total hours per day on average, which is categorised as "overuse". Among those overusing ST devices, the symptoms most commonly experienced included headaches (35.0%), sleep disturbances (36.6%) and neck/shoulder pain (37.7%). Students who used ST devices for < 1 h per session experienced eye-related problems. Moreover, students who played sports on a regular basis were more likely to spend less time per session on ST devices. The prolonged use of ST devices was associated with higher reporting of seizures, eye squints and transient vision loss.
conclusionThe overuse of ST devices per day and per session by school-aged children has the potential to have a detrimental impact on their health, as has been noticed among students in Kuwait. Healthcare professionals, school authorities and parents could use these results to plan strategies to change ST device use behaviours among schoolchildren.
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Registered trials
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