As associações entre tempo de tela e saúde mental no ciclo vital

Abstract

Introduction: Everyday life is increasingly permeated by technology. The evolution of media platforms, in addition to optimizing information, plays an important role in bringing people together, especially in contexts of social isolation, such as that experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic. Parents, teachers, researchers and policy makers report concern about possible unfavorable effects of excessive screen use, especially on people's mental health. As individuals may respond differently to exposure to screens at each stage of development, this study aims to investigate the associations between screen time and the mental health of individuals at different stages of the life cycle. Children, teenagers, adults and the elderly will be assessed regarding the potential effects of exposure to screens. Method: The investigation was carried out through four systematic literature reviews. A PICO question was established, in accordance with the PRISMA Protocol, and the review was registered in PROSPERO and risk of bias was assessed using standardized instruments. The Scopus, Pubmed and PsycInfo databases were chosen to search for the topic and the descriptors were chosen according to the age group and according to the meaning in MESH. As the use of screens has changed over the years, we chose to only include studies from the last 10 years. Samples with ages relevant to each phase of the life cycle, without a previous diagnosis of mental health problems, which used scales to assess the different aspects of mental health and which presented direct associations between screen time and mental health outcomes were selected. The lifelong perspective was a guide for comparability and analysis of results. Results: Among the mental health outcomes, depression and anxiety were those that appeared in all four phases of the life cycle investigated. Responses to the influence of screen time on mental health were different at each stage of the life cycle. The use of screens highlighted particular factors with adolescents presenting more self-harm related to the use of screens; adults more stress, elderly people more psychological suffering and children showed more behavioral problems. The content of screens has been shown to have an important impact on mental health, not just time tracking. Conclusion: The “screen time” indicator may not be the most appropriate for investigations of the effects of exposure to screen devices on mental health outcomes. Future research should consider the idea that we find ourselves irremediably involved in screens and that it remains to discover ways to live in a healthy way with this new reality.