Impact of Mobile Phone Screen Exposure on Adolescents’ Cognitive Health

Monica Cristina Poujol, Ariadna Pinar-Martí, Cecilia Persavento, Anna Delgado, Monica Lopez-Vicente and Jordi Julvez ()
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Monica Cristina Poujol: Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), 08036 Barcelona, Spain
Ariadna Pinar-Martí: Clinical and Epidemiological Neuroscience (NeuroÈpia), Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), 43204 Reus, Spain
Cecilia Persavento: ISGlobal-Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona Campus MAR, Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona (PRBB), 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Anna Delgado: ISGlobal-Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona Campus MAR, Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona (PRBB), 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Monica Lopez-Vicente: ISGlobal-Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona Campus MAR, Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona (PRBB), 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Jordi Julvez: Clinical and Epidemiological Neuroscience (NeuroÈpia), Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), 43204 Reus, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-11

Abstract: There is existing evidence on how excessive screen exposure can be detrimental to cognitive health, and in recent years there has been an increase in the usage of mobile phones by adolescents. We aimed to examine the association between mobile phone screen exposure and cognitive function among a young healthy population. We carried out a cross-sectional study conducted in 632 adolescents (13.89 ± 0.52 years old). Exposure data were collected through self-reported questionnaires, and cognitive outcomes were assessed by different computer-based neuropsychological tests. Compared to students in the lowest tertile (<9 min/day) of mobile phone screen exposure (MPSE), those in the medium tertile (9–20 min/day) showed significantly higher hit reaction time standard error (HRT-SE, higher inattentiveness) = (14.9 ms, 95% CI = 0.6; 29.3), as did as those in the highest tertile (>20 min/day) = (11.1 ms, 95% CI = 2.8; 25.0). When adjusting for confounders, the association held for the medium-MPSE tertile (17.6 ms, 95% CI = 3.4; 31.7). When further adjusting for intermediate factors, an increase in inattentiveness scores was also observed in both groups, with higher HRT-SE values for participants in the medium (15.8 ms, 95% CI = 1.4; 30.3) and highest MPSE tertiles (14.97 ms, 95% CI = 0.9; 29.1). There were no significant associations with fluid intelligence or working memory scores. Overall, our study shows that healthy teenagers reporting higher screen exposure may be affected in their attention performance. However, more studies are needed to determine the causality of these associations and to better shape the screen exposure recommended guidelines for brain health during adolescence.

Keywords: mobile phone screen exposure; attention; fluid intelligence; working memory; adolescence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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