Is this a “Return to Normal”? How Children’s Screen Media Use and Problematic Media Use Shifted from 2020 to 2021

• In Event: Youth Media Use Behaviors during COVID-19: Pre-Pandemic, Early Pandemic Onset, and One Year Later

Abstract

Introduction: Parents, practitioners, and researchers are concerned about children’s screen media use (SMU) and problematic media use (PMU: excessive media use leading to dysfunction in at least one life domain; Domoff et al., 2019, 2020) during the COVID-19 pandemic. While research has shown increases in both SMU and PMU from pre-pandemic (2019) to post-pandemic onset (2020) (Eales et al., 2021), it is unclear how media use has changed since the ‘return to normal’ in 2021, when children were back in school. Hence, this mixed methods study examined how children’s SMU and PMU changed 2019-2021.

Hypotheses: We hypothesized that (1) although SMU and PMU increased from 2019 to 2020, they would remain stable or decrease in 2020-2021, (2) qualitative themes from 2019 and 2020 (published in Eales et al., 2021) would remain salient in 2021, and (3) child age and negative parent perceptions of media use would be related to higher SMU and PMU.

Sample: 316 parents with at least two years of data across three years were included: 265 had data in 2021. There were 309 mothers (M2020age= 38.40, SD2020age=4.30) of children (164 girls, 151 boys, 1 nonbinary; M2020age=5.42, SD2020age = 2.38, Range2020age=1.58–13 years), most living in Minnesota, USA. Our sample was primarily White parents with White children (85.3%), with middle-/upper-tier incomes.

Methods: Parents completed online surveys during 2019, 2020, and 2021 that included child demographics, child’s daily non-school-related SMU, parent perceptions of child’s SMU (Rideout, 2017), and PMU (Domoff et al., 2019). Parents also shared their thoughts about their child’s media use during the pandemic in open-ended boxes. We used Kruskal-Wallis tests, hierarchical linear regression, and thematic and content analyses (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

Results
Quantitative: 2021 SMU (M=169 min) was higher than 2019 SMU (M=150, effect size r=.29), but significantly lower than 2020 SMU (M=198, r=-.29; Figs 1a, 1b). Similarly, 2021 PMU was significantly higher than 2019 SMU (r = -.31), but significantly lower than 2020 SMU (r = -.18; Figs 1c, 1d). Higher 2021 SMU was associated with higher 2020 SMU, a stronger parental perception that media hurts their child, and higher child age in 2020 (Table 1). Higher PMU in 2020 was associated higher 2021 PMU.

Qualitative: Most codes from 2020 were still present in 2021 (e.g., “screen use should be monitored and limited,” “families are struggling with device use”). While some families were feeling better about their children’s media use (e.g., “Childrens [sic] media has at least been very educational and insightful during hard times”), many parents were still struggling in 2021 (e.g., “a lot of the time at home they are on screens because I just don't have the energy to fight about it or enforce better limits”).

Conclusion: Overall, there was some “return to normal” for both SMU and PMU in 2021. However, qualitative findings show that while some parents feel better about their child’s media use, many parents still struggle.

Authors

• Lauren Eales, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Presenting Author

• Gail M Ferguson, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Danna Kim

• Gabrielle Allen, University of Minnesota Twin Cities

• Yu Zhang, University of Minnesota Twin Cities