The Impact of Electronic Devices on Children's Behaviour.

Abstract

Aim: One of the main advances today is the development of electronic devices and their applications. They eased human life, but adversely impacted their psych and social relationships. Children, the sensitive part of human development, become involved in these quandaries. So, this study aimed to determine the effects of these devices on childhood behaviours in Mosul/Iraq.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was applied on parents' of 1102 children whose ages range 1-15 years. They were chosen conveniently from public places in Mosul over a period of 6 months since December 2023. A self-administered questionnaires were filled by those parents taking their opinions about the benefits and drawbacks of electronic devices on their children. The latter were divided into three comparable groups according to the duration of use. The collected data were analysed by SPSS using the Goodness of Fit test for exploring the significance of comparison.

Results: Mean age of studied children was 9.3 years, half of them (50.9%) used devices for three or more years, and another half (49.3%) had three or more hours of daily use. Parents said that their children's language and educational commitments were promoted by electronic devices, but unfortunately, they significantly suffered from anger, stubbornness, aggressiveness and sleep disturbances, especially after prolonged use (p < 0.001) for each variable.

Conclusion: Although digital devices enhanced the learning abilities of children, they impacted their psych and real communication adversely. So, to protect them, children should have limited time and types of applications used in order to positively promote their wellbeing.