{"id":2000122842,"date":"2026-08-17T11:46:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T09:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000122842"},"modified":"2026-08-17T11:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T09:06:17","slug":"childhood-screen-use-linked-to-better-cognitive-processing-researchers-urge-balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/childhood-screen-use-linked-to-better-cognitive-processing-researchers-urge-balance\/","title":{"rendered":"Childhood screen use linked to better cognitive processing, researchers urge balance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Researchers from the University of Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4 followed children for eight years and found that those who spent more time using screens tended to perform better in tests of cognitive processing during adolescence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings challenge the common belief that screen time is always harmful to children. However, researchers say the results should not be interpreted as a reason for children to spend unlimited time on phones, computers or other digital devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, they suggest that what children do during screen time may be more important than the amount of time they spend in front of a screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study was based on the PANIC study, which has followed children’s physical activity and nutrition over several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers examined 260 young people, including 124 girls and 136 boys, who had an average age of 15.8 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They looked at screen use, physical activity and sedentary behaviour from childhood into adolescence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teenagers’ learning, attention and working memory were assessed using the CogState test battery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results showed that greater screen time beginning in childhood was associated with better cognitive processing during adolescence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Petri Jalanko, a doctoral researcher at the University of Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4, said the findings suggest parents and teachers should encourage children to use digital devices for activities that involve active thinking, problem-solving, creativity and learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe should not regard screen time solely as harmful but seek balance between physical activity and screen time that promotes active thinking,\u201d Jalanko said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers also found that the relationship between physical activity and cognitive performance was more complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among girls, higher levels of light physical activity from childhood were associated with better working memory during adolescence. Among boys, participation in guided physical activities was linked to better working memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the researchers did not find a clear connection between physical activity and cognitive performance when activity was measured using devices that tracked movement and heart rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers said the differences could partly be explained by the type of activity and how it was measured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also stressed that the study does not prove that screen time directly causes better cognitive performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More research, including intervention studies, is needed to establish whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
More childhood screen time has been associated with better thinking skills in teens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new Finnish study has found an unexpected link between screen time during childhood and cognitive performance in teenagers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":2000122843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000122842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":2000122457,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-12.00.00-PM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 12.00.00 PM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":139}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":2000122457,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-12.00.00-PM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 12.00.00 PM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":139}],"featured_image":{"id":2000122843,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/4739.webp","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/webp","width":1200,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/4739.webp","width":1200,"height":720},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/4739.webp","width":1200,"height":720},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/4739.webp","width":1200,"height":720},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/4739.webp","width":1200,"height":720},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/4739.webp","width":1200,"height":720}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000122842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000122842"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000122842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000122856,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000122842\/revisions\/2000122856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000122843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000122842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000122842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000122842"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000122842"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000122842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}