How Much Time is Too Much Screen Time

The Effect of Screen Time on the Health and Social Emotional Wellbeing in Children

Methodology

Research and Project Solution in Early Childhood Studies

Ezine Odia

November 3, 2022

Table of Contents

Cover Page ………………………………………………………………………………………………1

Introduction 2

Research Design 2

Sampling Strategy 3

Research Ethics 3

Data Collection 4

Research Bias and Rigor of Study Design 5

Data Analysis 6

References 8

Appendix …..11

The Effect of Screen Time on the Health and Social Emotional Wellbeing in Children

Introduction

Increasing screen time has a physical and psychological effect on every age. However, the psychological aspects are focused more when it comes to children. The implications of internet, specifically screen time, are detrimental to their health, for which a more holistic picture is needed to help parents take preventive measures on time. This research aims to provide research methodology for exploring how the increased screen time has affected the lives of children at home and school. The study examines parents’ perspectives on how increasing screen time has impacted their children’s lives. This research is motivated by the increasing concern over the potential impacts of digital technology on children\'s mental, physical and emotional health (Lissak, 2018). Over the last decade, use of digital devices has grown exponentially, particularly among children and adolescents, with little exploration into how this shift is affecting them long-term (Straker et al., 2018). Therefore, this research sends a critical message: gaining insights from parents\' perspectives on screen lives and experiences will help inform proactive strategies to protect children\'s well-being during their developing years. The significance of the study cannot be underscored enough, as it could provide key evidence for policy makers in the longer term. Research questions formulated for this purpose includes the sub-question: has screen time affected children’s self-regulation, physical inactivity or obesity, and communication? The hypothesis for this study is that increased screen time without increased time spent outdoors or in exercise will results in diminishing self-regulation, obesity, and communication.

Research Design

A quantitative research design would be valuable for the current study since a quantitative questionnaire would for the testing of a hypothesis. The association is formulated with strong evidence from statistical analysis rather than subjective conclusions. The research design chosen for this is a simple descriptive case study design. The specific research instrument would be an online survey that would include five questions to gauge parents on their perceptions of how increasing screentime has impacted their children. The sample for this research would include parents whose children go to school. The parents of children aged 5 to 17 years are deemed suitable to be selected as survey respondents. This study will use social media as a way to solicit participation. Thus, the convenience sampling will be used. A total of 100 parents will be targeted for participation. It is expected that a response rate of 70% or near 70% would be obtained to gain validity in the results (Holtom et al., 2022). The sampling strategy is a simple random strategy as parents would be selected soley on chance and without discrimination of grades, class size, age of the child, gender, etc. (Bhardwaj, 2019).

Research Ethics

Based on the definition generated by federal regulations, minimal risk is the scale of harm or uneasiness anticipated for the research respondents. It should not be greater than that of ordinary life experiences, even if physical or psychological (FDA, 2014). Current research involves minimum risk, such as the possibility that could be participants might not want to share their information or use their names, and they have a right to not participate even though they sign consent letters. Research ethics surely apply to the current study as informed consent and voluntary participation are the two highlighted characteristics (Wright, 2017). Informed consent needs to be gained from the survey respondents before they agree to fill out the forms. For this purpose, even if the survey is online, there would be a separate box at the beginning of the form that would include a detailed description of the research, its purpose and objectives, and why the participation of the parents is valuable. Also, it would be ensured that their name and email addresses would not be shared with any third party since it is not the aim of the research but only to attain their perceptions on the research topic and its relevant questions. An example of online informed consent sent in the email is attached in the appendix. Participants can withdraw at any time, and there would be no enforcement to fill out the forms. However, establishing their association with the research and how it would benefit them might bring about or initiate a higher response rate and prevent no-response bias. This would help gain more reliable data and generalizations for the entire population of parents whose children go to school spend a huge amount of time on the screen in their everyday lives. The future aims and recommendations for parents could be based on accurate data collection with the least no-response bias to get the desired results. Moreover, conflict of interest is reduced as the absence of conflict of interest is guaranteed since the participant’s interest would be matched with that of the research. The research does want to know how increasing screen time has impacted on school-aged children and how schools and parents should encourage creativity with natural play instead of internet and gadgets.

Data Collection

To explore how screen time has impacted the lives of children, an online survey is a useful data collection method. The survey will ask about the amount of time children currently spend on devices for work or school-related activities, as well as leisure activities. Additionally, it will include questions aimed at measuring changes in academic performance among children due to their screen time exposures and also changes in behavior observed by parents directly related to screen activity. Data collected from this kind of survey could provide valuable insights regarding the effects of increased screen time on children\'s lives both at home and school (Holtom et al., 2022; Wright, 2017).

Research Bias and Rigor of Study Design

As an early educationist and parent, I feel connected with this research as I want to learn how more real-time on physical activities can promote children’s physical and psychological well-being. The less use on screen time and fewer hours associated with screen time is the awareness every educationist must possess so that career advancement and curriculum enhancement can be promoted most effectively (Canadian Paediatric Society, 2019). I find it crucial to keep it a high priority that children are given a maximum healthy environment in schools and at home. Today’s education system is not free from the use of gadgets; with the help of parents, screen time could be limited. Evidence has suggested that ‘healthy screen use’ for children 3 to 17 years could be launched for any device like smartphones, laptops, tablets, or wearable technology. Through screen time integration into education, I have, through secondary research, that independent and collaborative learning is stimulated to impact a child’s academic performance positively. The interactive learning games and apps in the classroom and at home help cognitive, emotional, and social development (Lissak, 2018). These video games also facilitate improve behavior and eliminate behavioral problems with learning games designed for this specific intention.