Editorial: Did Goldilocks Have It Right? How Do We Define Too Little, Too Much, or Just Right? 2020

Erin L Belfort
Maine Medical Center, Portland. Electronic address: ebelfort@mmc.org.

Clinicians, teachers, and parents alike have long lamented screen time and its developmental and psychological implications, particularly as access to digital devices, games, and online platforms has become ubiquitous. In 2018, 95% of US teens reported having access to a smartphone, and 45% reported being online "almost constantly."1 Parental and expert concerns include displacement of important activities such as sleep and exercise, Internet or video game addiction, negative social experiences such as cyberbullying, and worry that excessive use may cause or worsen mental health symptoms such as depression.23 Research on the subject is challenging, as associations between device use and psychological functioning are likely multifactorial and nonlinear and therefore difficult to elucidate from small samples or samples that are lacking in rich covariate data. In addition, the rapid pace of technological change makes studying and reporting on these phenomena challenging as studies may be out of date before they are even published.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000083623 Psychosocial Functioning Level of and variations in social and emotional activity or behaviors. Functioning, Psychosocial
D000293 Adolescent A person 13 to 18 years of age. Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths
D001007 Anxiety Feelings or emotions of dread, apprehension, and impending disaster but not disabling as with ANXIETY DISORDERS. Angst,Anxiousness,Hypervigilance,Nervousness,Social Anxiety,Anxieties, Social,Anxiety, Social,Social Anxieties
D015331 Cohort Studies Studies in which subsets of a defined population are identified. These groups may or may not be exposed to factors hypothesized to influence the probability of the occurrence of a particular disease or other outcome. Cohorts are defined populations which, as a whole, are followed in an attempt to determine distinguishing subgroup characteristics. Birth Cohort Studies,Birth Cohort Study,Closed Cohort Studies,Cohort Analysis,Concurrent Studies,Historical Cohort Studies,Incidence Studies,Analysis, Cohort,Cohort Studies, Closed,Cohort Studies, Historical,Studies, Closed Cohort,Studies, Concurrent,Studies, Historical Cohort,Analyses, Cohort,Closed Cohort Study,Cohort Analyses,Cohort Studies, Birth,Cohort Study,Cohort Study, Birth,Cohort Study, Closed,Cohort Study, Historical,Concurrent Study,Historical Cohort Study,Incidence Study,Studies, Birth Cohort,Studies, Cohort,Studies, Incidence,Study, Birth Cohort,Study, Closed Cohort,Study, Cohort,Study, Concurrent,Study, Historical Cohort,Study, Incidence
D016739 Behavior, Addictive The observable, measurable, and often pathological activity of an organism that portrays its inability to overcome a habit resulting in an insatiable craving for a substance or for performing certain acts. The addictive behavior includes the emotional and physical overdependence on the object of habit in increasing amount or frequency. Addictive Behavior,Addictive Behaviors,Behaviors, Addictive
D018910 Video Games A form of interactive entertainment in which the player controls electronically generated images that appear on a video display screen. This includes video games played in the home on special machines or home computers, and those played in arcades. Computer Games,Computer Game,Game, Computer,Game, Video,Games, Computer,Games, Video,Video Game

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