Department of Research & Evaluation News

Young people who frequently used electronic media, such as computers, television, and social media, had less physical activity, more stress, and modest cognitive challenges. The study was published in January 2025 in Preventive Medicine.

“Our research found an association between electronic media use and a negative impact on youth,” said the study’s lead author,  Deborah Cohen, MD, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation. “The children who use more media are less physically active, and their cognition is somewhat impacted. We also saw that if those children using more media are over 10, they are more stressed.”

The study included 441 children ages 6 to 16 who were patients at a Federally Qualified Health Center in Washington, D.C., and had one or more diagnoses of ADHD, overweight or obesity, hypertriglyceridemia or hypercholesterolemia, elevated glycosylated hemoglobin, and Type 2 diabetes. Young people who were patients at the Center were from high-poverty, low-income neighborhoods.

The study was conducted between 2020 and 2024, capturing the period during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when children went to school remotely. Physical activity was limited due to fewer events and regulations requiring isolation.

The research examined diverse forms of electronic media use, including computers, tablets, TV, DVDs, and videos, as well as engaging with social media, playing interactive games, talking on the phone, and texting. The study assessed the relationship between these activities and health outcomes including physical activity levels, stress, and cognitive function among the youth. Stress, electronic media use, and cognitive function, which is the ability to focus and remember, were measured with questionnaires while exercise was measured with a monitor the children wore on belts around their waists.

Among the 441 young people in the study:

• The average amount of electronic media use was 48.6 hours per week, with children ages 6 to 9 engaging in 37.3 hours per week, and youth ages 10 to 16 engaging in 56.4 hours per week.
• Average daily moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was 16.6 minutes.
• Electronic media use time was negatively associated with MVPA and with cognitive function for all age groups.
• Electronic media time was only associated with stress for youth over age 10.
• Researchers did not see any different associations with MVPA by the type of media used.

“These findings offer critical insights that could inform future health interventions and support efforts to mitigate the negative effects of excessive electronic media use among children and adolescents,” Dr. Cohen said.

In addition to Dr. Cohen, authors on the study included Robert Zarr, MD, of Unity Health Care, Inc., Washington, D.C., and Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, Canada; and Erika Estrada, MPH, Haoyuan Zhong, MS, Bing Han, PhD, of the Department of Research & Evaluation.