High Screen Exposure and Its Association With Physical and Mental Well-Being Among School-Going Children and Adolescents in Bangladesh: Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: In Bangladesh, as well as throughout the world, children's screen time has significantly increased. Children spend a lot of time on the internet and digital screens for entertainment, education, and communication, which has increased their daily screen time. However, the potential detrimental impacts of excessive screen time on children's mental, physical, and social health have drawn attention. Objective: This study aimed to explore the effect of high exposure to screens on the health and mental well-being of school-going children and adolescents in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from July 2022 to June 2024. A total of 420 school-going children and adolescents aged 6 to 14 years were enrolled from 3 English-language and 3 Bangla-language schools in Dhaka using a stratified random sampling technique. Anthropometric measurements, a semistructured questionnaire, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Development and Well-Being Assessment scale, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, all of which were validated in Bangla, were used to gather data. We considered students who were exposed to screens for less than 2 hours a day as the low-exposure group and those who were exposed for more than 2 hours a day as the high-exposure group. Results: A total of 83.3% (350/420) of the students were in the high-exposure group, and their average screen time per day was 4.6 (SD 2.3) hours. Eye problems were reported by 35.7% (150/420) of the students, and a significant difference was found between the low- and high-exposure groups. In total, 96% (144/150) of the students with eye problems were from the high-exposure group, whereas 4% (6/150) were from the low-exposure group. Headaches were reported by 80% (336/420) of the students, and they were common in the high-exposure group (279/336, 83%). Moreover, students from the high-exposure group had a short duration and poor quality of sleep (mean 7.3, SD 1.4 hours), which was statistically significant. Furthermore, obesity was more predominant in the high-exposure group (P<.001). Our study revealed that, overall, 31% (130/420) of the students had at least one mental health problem and 9.8% (41/420) had more than one mental health problem using the Development and Well-Being Assessment scale, and mental health problems were greater in the high-exposure group than the low-exposure group. Although behavioral problems such as conduct issues (119/420, 28.3%) and peer difficulties (121/420, 28.8%) were observed among the participants, no statistically significant difference was found between the 2 groups. Conclusions: A collaborative and coordinated multistage approach is essential to create effective and acceptable guidelines and policies for the optimum and positive use of digital screens for the children of Bangladesh. Further prospective studies on a larger scale can be conducted to determine the impacts of screen time on aspects of health.