Published on in Vol 12 (2025)

Preprints (earlier versions) of this paper are available at https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/59869, first published .
Problematic Digital Technology Use Measures in Children Aged 0 to 6 Years: Scoping Review

Problematic Digital Technology Use Measures in Children Aged 0 to 6 Years: Scoping Review

Problematic Digital Technology Use Measures in Children Aged 0 to 6 Years: Scoping Review

Authors of this article:

Špela Selak1 Author Orcid Image ;   Janja Horvat1 Author Orcid Image ;   Mark Žmavc1 Author Orcid Image

Review

National Institute of Public Health, Ljubjana, Slovenia

Corresponding Author:

Špela Selak, PhD

National Institute of Public Health

Trubarjeva cesta 2

Ljubjana, 1000

Slovenia

Phone: 386 1 620 36 45

Email: spela.selak@nijz.si


Background: In the interest of accurately assessing the effects of digital technology use in early childhood, researchers and experts have emphasized the need to conceptualize and measure children’s digital technology use beyond screen time. Researchers have argued that many patterns of early digital technology use could be problematic, resulting in the emerging need to list and examine their measures.

Objective: We aimed to review existing empirical literature that is using measures for problematic digital technology use in preschool children with the end goal of identifying a set of reliable and valid measures, predicting negative outcomes for children’s health, development, or well-being.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review across the Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases to identify peer-reviewed publications that were published from January 2012 to December 2023, were written in the English language, described an empirical study, and included a measure of problematic digital technology use beyond exposure (ie, screen time) in children aged 0 to 6 years.

Results: The search yielded 95 empirical studies, in which 18 composite measures of problematic use and 23 measures of specific problematic use aspects were found. Existing composite measures conceptualize problematic use as either a group of risky behaviors or as a group of symptoms of a presumed underlying disorder, with the latter being more common. Looking at their conceptual background and psychometric properties, existing composite measures fall short of reliably assessing all the crucial aspects of problematic digital technology use in early childhood. Therefore, the benefits and shortcomings of single-aspect problematic digital technology use measures are evaluated and discussed.

Conclusions: On the basis of current research, early exposure to digital technologies, device use before sleep, and solitary device use represent measures that have been consistently associated with negative outcomes for children. In addition, potential measures of problematic use include device use during meals, device use for emotional regulation, device multitasking, and technoference, warranting further research. Public health benefits of defining problematic digital technology use as a group of risky behaviors rather than a group of addiction symptoms are discussed.

JMIR Ment Health 2025;12:e59869

doi:10.2196/59869

Keywords



Background

Children are growing up in environments that have become increasingly saturated with various digital devices. According to a 2020 report on media use of children aged 0 to 8 years in the United States [Rideout V, Robb MB. The common sense census: media use by kids age zero to eight. Common Sense Media. 2020. URL: https:/​/www.​commonsensemedia.org/​sites/​default/​files/​research/​report/​2020_zero_to_eight_census_final_web.​pdf [accessed 2025-02-23] 1], 46% of those aged 2 to 4 years and 67% of those aged 5 to 8 years own a mobile device (ie, tablet or smartphone). The average daily screen time is 2.5 hours for children aged 2 to 4 years and 3.1 hours for those aged 5 to 8 years. The same data show that many children are being regularly exposed to screens even earlier; on average, they spend 49 minutes per day looking at a screen in the first 2 years of their lives. In addition, most of this screen use occurs in the absence of parents, with the likelihood of parental coviewing drastically decreasing with increasing age. The data also show that nearly three-quarters of screen time is spent watching video content, while reading, homework, and video chatting represent only 5% of children’s screen time. Furthermore, the data from the United Kingdom confirms that children in the United Kingdom are no exception since 48% of those aged 3 to 4 years and 57% of those aged 5 to 7 years owned a tablet in 2020, while 90% of those aged 3 to 4 years and 88% of those aged 5 to 7 years watched video-on-demand content [Children and parents: media use and attitudes report 2020/21. Ofcom. Apr 28, 2021. URL: https:/​/www.​ofcom.org.uk/​media-use-and-attitudes/​media-habits-children/​children-and-parents-media-use-and-attitudes-report-2021/​ [accessed 2025-02-23] 2].

Many stakeholders have expressed concerns about the potential harms associated with excessive screen use in early childhood. In 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement concerning media use in early childhood [Council on Communications and Media. Media and young minds. Pediatrics. Nov 2016;138(5):e20162591. [CrossRef] [Medline]3], recommending that children aged <18 to 24 months avoid digital media altogether. They argued that children aged <2 years require “...hand-on exploration and social interaction with trusted caregivers to develop their cognitive, language, motor, and socio-emotional skills,” while they cannot learn from traditional digital media in the same way. They stated that children aged 2 to 5 years should limit screen use to 1 hour per day of high-quality screen time, coviewed by parents to help them understand what they are seeing. The guidelines on screen use in children, published in other countries (eg, World Health Organization guidelines [Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleep. World Health Organization. URL: https:/​/apps.​who.int/​iris/​bitstream/​handle/​10665/​325147/​WHO-NMH-PND-2019.4-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y%0Ahttp:/​/www.​who.int/​iris/​handle/​10665/​311664%0Ahttps:/​/apps.​who.int/​iris/​handle/​10665/​325147 [accessed 2025-02-23] 4], Canadian guidelines [Carson V, Tremblay MS, Spence JC, Timmons BW, Janssen I. The Canadian sedentary behaviour guidelines for the early years (zero to four years of age) and screen time among children from Kingston, Ontario. Paediatr Child Health. Jan 2013;18(1):25-28. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]5], and Indian guidelines [Recommendations for screen use. Indian Psychiatric Society. URL: https:/​/indianpsychiatricsociety.​org/​wp-content/​uploads/​2020/​06/​E-Booklet-RECOMMENDATIONS-FOR-SCREEN-USE.​pdf [accessed 2025-02-23] 6]), mostly followed the daily screen time limit recommendations for each age group.

However, the screen time restriction approach has been criticized, as many researchers and experts [Screen time guidelines need to be built on evidence, not hype. The Guardian. Jan 6, 2017. URL: https:/​/www.​theguardian.com/​science/​head-quarters/​2017/​jan/​06/​screen-time-guidelines-need-to-be-built-on-evidence-not-hype [accessed 2025-02-23] 7] argue that the existing scientific evidence is not conclusive enough to suggest appropriate amounts of screen use or preferable web-based activities for children of different ages. A brief look at systematic literature reviews on the effects of screen exposure on various outcomes in those aged 0 to 6 years reveals largely correlational evidence of the effect on adiposity, obesity, or BMI [LeBlanc AG, Spence JC, Carson V, Connor Gorber S, Dillman C, Janssen I, et al. Systematic review of sedentary behaviour and health indicators in the early years (aged 0-4 years). Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. Aug 2012;37(4):753-772. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]8-Li C, Cheng G, Sha T, Cheng W, Yan Y. The relationships between screen use and health indicators among infants, toddlers, and preschoolers: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Oct 07, 2020;17(19):7324. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]10]; cognitive development [LeBlanc AG, Spence JC, Carson V, Connor Gorber S, Dillman C, Janssen I, et al. Systematic review of sedentary behaviour and health indicators in the early years (aged 0-4 years). Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. Aug 2012;37(4):753-772. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]8,Kostyrka-Allchorne K, Cooper NR, Simpson A. The relationship between television exposure and children’s cognition and behaviour: a systematic review. Dev Rev. Jun 2017;44:19-58. [CrossRef]11]; psychosocial health [LeBlanc AG, Spence JC, Carson V, Connor Gorber S, Dillman C, Janssen I, et al. Systematic review of sedentary behaviour and health indicators in the early years (aged 0-4 years). Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. Aug 2012;37(4):753-772. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]8]; and sleep duration [Li C, Cheng G, Sha T, Cheng W, Yan Y. The relationships between screen use and health indicators among infants, toddlers, and preschoolers: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Oct 07, 2020;17(19):7324. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]10]. However, to our knowledge, this evidence is yet to provide support for the suggested thresholds above which screen time is reliably detrimental to children. In a large study on 19,957 parents of children aged 2 to 5 years, authors found no empirical support for well-being benefits for children following the American Academy of Pediatrics screen time recommendations [Straker L, Zabatiero J, Danby S, Thorpe K, Edwards S. Conflicting guidelines on young children's screen time and use of digital technology create policy and practice dilemmas. J Pediatr. Nov 2018;202:300-303. [CrossRef] [Medline]12]. Researchers have argued that screen time, defined as the duration of exposure to digital devices, misses the content and context of digital technology (DT) use and is likely too broad and simplistic to be used as a stand-alone measure [Browne D, Thompson DA, Madigan S. Digital media use in children: clinical vs scientific responsibilities. JAMA Pediatr. Feb 01, 2020;174(2):111-112. [CrossRef] [Medline]13-Stiglic N, Viner RM. Effects of screentime on the health and well-being of children and adolescents: a systematic review of reviews. BMJ Open. Jan 03, 2019;9(1):e023191. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]15].

Owing to the shortcomings of screen time, the concept of problematic media use, defined as “...excessive use that interferes with the child’s functioning” [Domoff SE, Borgen AL, Radesky JS. Interactional theory of childhood problematic media use. Hum Behav Emerg Technol. Oct 2020;2(4):343-353. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]16], has gained momentum in the scientific community (eg, [Shawcroft J, Coyne SM, Linder L, Clifford BN, McDaniel BT. Attachment security and problematic media use in infancy: a longitudinal study in the United States. Infancy. 2024;29(2):137-154. [CrossRef] [Medline]17-Danet M, Miller AL, Weeks HM, Kaciroti N, Radesky JS. Children aged 3-4 years were more likely to be given mobile devices for calming purposes if they had weaker overall executive functioning. Acta Paediatr. Jul 2022;111(7):1383-1389. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]19]). The focus on impairments in functioning is crucial to differentiate normal variation from a pathological level of behavior [Domoff SE, Borgen AL, Radesky JS. Interactional theory of childhood problematic media use. Hum Behav Emerg Technol. Oct 2020;2(4):343-353. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]16]. First, while we concur with the emphasis on functioning impairments, we will instead be referring to problematic DT use (PDTU), since the term “media” can also refer to traditional means of communication (eg, newspaper and radio) or collective institutions engaged in mass communication [Media. Merriam-Webster. URL: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/media#dictionary-entry-1 [accessed 2024-11-27] 20], both of which are erroneous interpretations of the concept. Second, we emphasize that although interference with functioning can certainly happen due to “excessive use” of DT, both the content and context of children’s DT use are arguably just as problematic. Thus, we suggest defining PDTU as any pattern of DT use that interferes with the child’s functioning.

Although the importance of content and context may seem rather obvious, contemporary research practices implied otherwise; a systematic review of 622 screen use measures in children aged 0 to 6 years [Byrne R, Terranova CO, Trost SG. Measurement of screen time among young children aged 0-6 years: a systematic review. Obes Rev. Aug 2021;22(8):e13260. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21] found that only 10.8% of these measures considered content and only 7% considered coviewing (ie, a measure of context). Importantly, this preference for exposure measures does not extend to older children and adolescents; a scoping review of empirical studies published between 2014 and 2019 by Browne et al [Browne DT, May SS, Colucci L, Hurst-Della Pietra P, Christakis D, Asamoah T, et al. From screen time to the digital level of analysis: a scoping review of measures for digital media use in children and adolescents. BMJ Open. May 19, 2021;11(5):e046367. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]22] identified 162 measurement tools of DT use in children, adolescents, and young adults, most of these targeting problematic or excessive and addictive use beyond exposure. Among the 162 identified tools, only 5 were intended for preschool children, 3 of which came from gray literature. Evidently, despite many public concerns about harms associated with early DT use, most established and validated measuring tools of PDTU are intended for adolescents or adults, while instruments for young children are substantially less common. More recently, a systematic review by Rega et al [Rega V, Gioia F, Boursier V. Problematic media use among children up to the age of 10: a systematic literature review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. May 17, 2023;20(10):5854. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]23] aimed to identify PDTU measures for children aged <10 years and found 9 parent report measurement tools aimed at children aged <6 years but did not analyze their content or psychometric properties. In conclusion, the various ways in which researchers have attempted to measure problematic media use in young children have not yet been critically reviewed and synthesized. In our view, this procedure is absolutely necessary to eventually arrive at comprehensive, valid, and cost-effective measures for children’s PDTU, which itself is a prerequisite for effective screening, prevention, and treatment of at-risk children.

Objectives

On the basis of these insights, we aimed to review existing empirical studies, which included measures of PDTU in early childhood (ie, children aged 0 to 6 years) beyond screen time. Since our primary objective was to list and describe the various existing measures and operationalizations of the proposed concept (ie, PDTU) rather than answering a specific research question, we opted for a scoping review rather than a systematic review. The idea was to describe each measure or instrument in terms of its content, psychometric properties, and the negative outcomes it could lead to based on the results of each included study. Ideally, the goal was to arrive at a set of measures of PDTU for young children, which are psychometrically sound (ie, reliable and valid) and shown to be related to certain undesirable outcomes (eg, behavioral or emotional problems, deficiencies in terms of development, health, and well-being). Finally, we aimed to search beyond the developed measurement tools, seeking to identify the various single-item measures used by researchers to assess particular PDTU practices in preschool children.


Protocol and Registration

This study followed the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) protocol [Tricco AC, Lillie E, Zarin W, O'Brien KK, Colquhoun H, Levac D, et al. PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR): checklist and explanation. Ann Intern Med. Oct 02, 2018;169(7):467-473. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]24]. The final version of the protocol was agreed upon by all authors and was not preregistered.

Eligibility Criteria

The publications considered for review had to meet the following requirements: (1) peer-reviewed scientific publications; (2) published within the past 12 years (studies dating from January 1, 2012, to December 20, 2023); (3) written in the English language; (4) describing an empirical study; (5) including a measure of PDTU; and (6) conducted with the population of young children aged 0 to 6 years.

In addition, studies, which conceptualized and measured PDTU solely in terms of screen time, were excluded for reasons put forth in the Introduction section. Similarly, questions about which digital devices a child uses and to what extent (eg, minutes of use per day for each device type) were deemed overly simplistic, experiencing the same drawbacks as screen time. Finally, questions about the content the child usually engages in and to what extent (eg, minutes per day for each content type) were also not considered to be sufficient measures of PDTU. This is partly due to the vast variability of potential user experience that exists within a single content category (ie, “educational” content, video games, and cartoons). Furthermore, our concern was that due to the rapid evolution of content, any findings about the extent of the “problematic nature” of certain content types would likely soon be out of date (ie, as noted by Viner et al [Viner R, Davie M, Firth A. The health impacts of screen time: a guide for clinicians and parents. Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. 2019. URL: https://img-cdn.tinkoffjournal.ru/-/kids-psychiatry-doc1.xp3sfr..pdf [accessed 2025-02-23] 25]).

Information Sources

The search for relevant publications was conducted in the Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases. Each of these databases was last searched on December 20, 2023.

The Search Strategy

The final search strategy consisted of 4 groups of keywords, separated by the Boolean operator AND (Table 1). Each keyword group refers to a certain concept, which may be represented by any of the listed keywords, separated by the Boolean operator OR. In addition, filters for the date of publishing (ie, January 1, 2012, to December 20, 2023) and language (ie, the English language) were applied to all searches.

Table 1. The full search strategy used to obtain relevant records.
ConceptKeywords
Measurescale OR questionnaire OR tool OR inventory OR measure OR instrument
Problematicproblem* OR excessive OR patholog* OR overus* OR addict* OR compulsive OR dependen*
Digital technology use“screen us*” OR “screen exposure” OR “screen viewing” OR “screen watching” OR “screen behavio*” OR “media us*” OR “media exposure” OR “media viewing” OR “media watching” OR “media behavio*” OR “digital us*” OR “digital exposure” OR “digital play*” OR “digital behavio*” OR “device us*” OR “device exposure” OR “smartphone us*” OR “smartphone behavio*” OR “smart phone us*” OR “computer us*” OR “computer exposure” OR “computer viewing” OR “computer watching” OR “computer play*” OR “computer behavio*” OR “tablet us*” OR “tablet play*” OR “laptop us*” OR “TV us*” OR “TV exposure” OR “TV viewing” OR “TV watching” OR “TV behavio*” OR “television us*” OR “television exposure” OR “television viewing” OR “television watching” OR “internet us*” OR “internet exposure” OR “internet behavio*” OR “video game us*” OR “videogame play*” OR “game us*” OR “game exposure” OR “game play*” OR “game behavio*” OR “gaming”
Young childrenchild* OR infant* OR toddler* OR “pre-school*” OR preschool* OR kindergarten*

In each database, the final search strategy was applied only to titles and abstracts, as opposed to full texts, of published records. In the case of Google Scholar, a simplified search strategy was used due to the character limit, containing only the most common keywords for each of the 4 concepts. We developed the version of the search strategy with our backgrounds in psychology and psychometrics. Afterward, we scanned the records obtained, and the search strategy was adjusted accordingly. The adjustments mainly consisted of adding new keywords for each concept and adjusting the existing keywords (eg, shortening phrases to include alternative expressions). After multiple iterations, we derived the final search strategy, which yielded a manageable number of seemingly relevant publications in all databases.

Selection of Sources of Evidence

All publication titles from the list of unique records were screened by 1 researcher using the inclusion and exclusion criteria. If eligibility was unclear based on the title, the abstract was read. When ambiguity remained (eg, age of children not specified), the publication was included for full-text review. In case of dilemmas, other authors were consulted, and disagreements were resolved collectively.

When screening titles, we included records mentioning the use of DTs of some kind (eg, internet use, gaming, and television viewing) among children. If the target population was described as “adolescents,” “teenagers,” “school-aged children,” or “students,” the record was excluded without reading the abstract. Studies of older children, adolescents, or young adults who assessed their DT use in early childhood retroactively were excluded. If the title mentioned the term “review” or “meta-analysis,” the study was excluded from our selection. If we discovered that a certain record does not refer to a peer-reviewed paper during the screening process, it was excluded from our selection. Titles referring to using DT for educational or therapeutic purposes were excluded from the selection. No automation tools were used for screening.

During the full-text review, studies on children outside the specified age range were excluded. Studies with mixed age samples were retained if measures for the target population were present, although outcomes and risk factor correlations were not reported, as they may not necessarily apply to children aged <6 years. Records were excluded if they used questionnaires that were not fully accessible; focused solely on screen time, devices, or content type; lacked key information; or were not in the English language.

Data Charting Process

The first version of the data charting form, that is, its items and response categories for each item, was developed based on the study objective and was agreed upon by all authors. This version was pilot-tested by attempting to fill in the data for the first 20 full-text records on our list. On the basis of our findings, we made no changes to data items. However, we did adapt or add certain response categories for each item. The data charting was performed with the Excel (Microsoft Corp) software. Two researchers independently reviewed each eligible record and extracted data according to the previously established response categories in the charting form. Any inconsistencies regarding record eligibility or minor discrepancies in reported findings were identified and resolved on a case-by-case basis through discussions among the authors. While formal interrater reliability testing (eg, Cohen κ) was not conducted, we ensured consistency through regular meetings to discuss and resolve discrepancies, thereby maintaining a high level of reliability throughout the data extraction process.

Data Items

The data from each eligible record, available in full text, were extracted according to the following items:

  • Year of publishing
  • Countries where data collection took place
  • Developmental period: infants (ie, aged 0-1 year), toddlers (ie, aged 1-3 years), preschoolers (ie, aged 3-6 years), school-aged children (ie, aged 6-11 years), and adolescents (ie, aged >11 years)
  • Population: the specifics of the population, other than age, for example, general population, children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and children with dyslexia
  • Sample size
  • Study type: cross-sectional, longitudinal, quasi-experimental, and questionnaire development
  • Format of instrument: survey, diary, observation, and interview
  • Measures of PDTU: for example, use before sleep and early exposure
  • Risk factors: demographic or population groups with more risk
  • Adverse outcomes and correlates: outcomes associated with a certain aspect of children’s DT use. Only statistically significant findings are listed.
  • Psychometric properties: reliability and any indicators of validity. Positive correlations with a separate PDTU measure (or screen time) serve as an indication of validity.

Synthesis of Results

The evidence is presented in a table format, in 3 tables.

Multimedia Appendix 1

A list of 95 publications examined in this scoping review and their basic characteristics.

DOCX File , 50 KBMultimedia Appendix 1 [Lin J, Magiati I, Chiong SH, Singhal S, Riard N, Ng IH, et al. The relationship among screen use, sleep, and emotional/behavioral difficulties in preschool children with neurodevelopmental disorders. J Dev Behav Pediatr. Sep 2019;40(7):519-529. [CrossRef] [Medline]26-Arora G, Soares N, Li N, Zimmerman FJ. Screen media use in hospitalized children. Hosp Pediatr. May 2016;6(5):297-304. [CrossRef] [Medline]119] lists all papers included in the final selection and summarizes their key characteristics (eg, year of publishing, sample characteristics, and country) and the measures of PDTU that were used. Due to conceptual similarities among many single-item PDTU measures, we grouped them into categories (eg, age of first smartphone use, age of first television use, and use of DT before 1 year of age were classified as measures of early exposure).


Selection of Sources of Evidence

The process of identifying papers that meet the eligibility criteria is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) flowchart describing the process of selection of studies. N/A: not available.

Study Characteristics

For each of the 95 identified papers, certain characteristics were extracted and summarized in a table format (

Multimedia Appendix 1

A list of 95 publications examined in this scoping review and their basic characteristics.

DOCX File , 50 KBMultimedia Appendix 1). In most (n=85, 89%) studies, PDTU measures were intended for preschool children. A total of 40 (42%) studies also considered toddlers as their target group, while only 7 (7%) studies included infants. A large majority (n=86, 91%) of studies were conducted with children with no particular specifics or deficits. Most (73/95, 77%) of the conducted studies could be described as cross-sectional, while only 6 (6%) were longitudinal. In addition, 6 (6%) studies used an experimental research design and a further 10 (10%) studies described questionnaire development. The findings of all longitudinal and experimental studies were discussed separately to assess the causal relationships of PDTU measures to relevant outcomes.

Characteristics of PDTU Measures

Overview

In the 95 identified papers, a variety of aspects of PDTU were measured. Table 2 lists 23 distinct categories of PDTU measures found in the selected papers. It presents key characteristics for each measure for PDTU (eg, description and format), as well as all correlations with various risk factors and outcomes found in the papers.

Table 2. Existing measures for problematic digital technology use (PDTU) in children aged 0 to 6 years.
MeasureDescriptionPapers (N=95), n (%)FormatDevelopmental periodRisk factorsAdverse outcomes and correlatesCorrelation with other measures
Devices in the bedroomThe presence of digital devices in the room where the child sleeps13 (14)SurveyInfants, toddlers, and preschool children
  • Family income (–)a [Lin J, Magiati I, Chiong SH, Singhal S, Riard N, Ng IH, et al. The relationship among screen use, sleep, and emotional/behavioral difficulties in preschool children with neurodevelopmental disorders. J Dev Behav Pediatr. Sep 2019;40(7):519-529. [CrossRef] [Medline]26]
  • Maternal education (–) [Pons M, Bennasar-Veny M, Yañez AM. Maternal education level and excessive recreational screen time in children: a mediation analysis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Dec 01, 2020;17(23):8930. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]27]
  • Poor sleep quality (–), sleep problems, and emotional-behavioral difficulties [Lin J, Magiati I, Chiong SH, Singhal S, Riard N, Ng IH, et al. The relationship among screen use, sleep, and emotional/behavioral difficulties in preschool children with neurodevelopmental disorders. J Dev Behav Pediatr. Sep 2019;40(7):519-529. [CrossRef] [Medline]26]
  • Obesity [Mota J, Martins C, Silva-Santos S, Santos A, Vale S. TV in bedroom, outdoor playtime and obesity status among preschool girls. Sci Sports. Sep 2019;34(4):222-227. [CrossRef]28]
  • Screen time [Pons M, Bennasar-Veny M, Yañez AM. Maternal education level and excessive recreational screen time in children: a mediation analysis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Dec 01, 2020;17(23):8930. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]27]
  • Television viewing time [Kristo AS, Çinar N, Kucuknil SL, Sikalidis AK. Technological devices and their effect on preschool children's eating habits in communities of mixed socioeconomic status in Istanbul; a pilot cross-sectional study. Behav Sci (Basel). Nov 15, 2021;11(11):157. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]29]
Early exposureAge at first exposure to digital screens or screen time before being aged 1 or 2 y24 (25)SurveyInfants, toddlers, and preschool children
  • Family income [Lin J, Magiati I, Chiong SH, Singhal S, Riard N, Ng IH, et al. The relationship among screen use, sleep, and emotional/behavioral difficulties in preschool children with neurodevelopmental disorders. J Dev Behav Pediatr. Sep 2019;40(7):519-529. [CrossRef] [Medline]26]
  • Child’s age (–) [Lin J, Magiati I, Chiong SH, Singhal S, Riard N, Ng IH, et al. The relationship among screen use, sleep, and emotional/behavioral difficulties in preschool children with neurodevelopmental disorders. J Dev Behav Pediatr. Sep 2019;40(7):519-529. [CrossRef] [Medline]26,Huang L, Yang GY, Schmid KL, Chen JY, Li CG, He GH, et al. Screen exposure during early life and the increased risk of astigmatism among preschool children: findings from Longhua child cohort study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Mar 26, 2020;17(7):2216. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]30,Xiang H, Lin L, Chen W, Li C, Liu X, Li J, et al. Associations of excessive screen time and early screen exposure with health-related quality of life and behavioral problems among children attending preschools. BMC Public Health. Dec 27, 2022;22(1):2440. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]31]
  • Maternal education (–) [Supanitayanon S, Trairatvorakul P, Chonchaiya W. Screen media exposure in the first 2 years of life and preschool cognitive development: a longitudinal study. Pediatr Res. Dec 2020;88(6):894-902. [CrossRef] [Medline]32]
  • Parental education [Sarı BA, Taner HA, Kaya ZT. Screen media exposure in pre-school children in Turkey: the relation with temperament and the role of parental attitudes. Turk J Pediatr. 2021;63(5):818-831. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]33]
  • Autistic behavior [Chen JY, Strodl E, Wu CA, Huang LH, Yin XN, Wen GM, et al. Screen time and autistic-like behaviors among preschool children in China. Psychol Health Med. Jun 2021;26(5):607-620. [CrossRef] [Medline]34]
  • Autistic spectrum disorder [Eyüboğlu M, Eyüboğlu D. Screen time characteristics and early-term parental concerns of children newly diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Turk J Clin Psychiatry. 2020;23:392-401. [CrossRef]35]
  • Traumatic experience [Sarı BA, Taner HA, Kaya ZT. Screen media exposure in pre-school children in Turkey: the relation with temperament and the role of parental attitudes. Turk J Pediatr. 2021;63(5):818-831. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]33]
  • Family harmony (–) and parental anxiety or stress [Xiang H, Lin L, Chen W, Li C, Liu X, Li J, et al. Associations of excessive screen time and early screen exposure with health-related quality of life and behavioral problems among children attending preschools. BMC Public Health. Dec 27, 2022;22(1):2440. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]31]
  • Poor sleep quality (–) [Lin J, Magiati I, Chiong SH, Singhal S, Riard N, Ng IH, et al. The relationship among screen use, sleep, and emotional/behavioral difficulties in preschool children with neurodevelopmental disorders. J Dev Behav Pediatr. Sep 2019;40(7):519-529. [CrossRef] [Medline]26]
  • Sleep problems [Lin J, Magiati I, Chiong SH, Singhal S, Riard N, Ng IH, et al. The relationship among screen use, sleep, and emotional/behavioral difficulties in preschool children with neurodevelopmental disorders. J Dev Behav Pediatr. Sep 2019;40(7):519-529. [CrossRef] [Medline]26,Sarı BA, Taner HA, Kaya ZT. Screen media exposure in pre-school children in Turkey: the relation with temperament and the role of parental attitudes. Turk J Pediatr. 2021;63(5):818-831. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]33]
  • Emotional-behavioral difficulties [Lin J, Magiati I, Chiong SH, Singhal S, Riard N, Ng IH, et al. The relationship among screen use, sleep, and emotional/behavioral difficulties in preschool children with neurodevelopmental disorders. J Dev Behav Pediatr. Sep 2019;40(7):519-529. [CrossRef] [Medline]26]
  • Astigmatism risk [Huang L, Yang GY, Schmid KL, Chen JY, Li CG, He GH, et al. Screen exposure during early life and the increased risk of astigmatism among preschool children: findings from Longhua child cohort study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Mar 26, 2020;17(7):2216. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]30]
  • Cognitive developmentb (–) [Supanitayanon S, Trairatvorakul P, Chonchaiya W. Screen media exposure in the first 2 years of life and preschool cognitive development: a longitudinal study. Pediatr Res. Dec 2020;88(6):894-902. [CrossRef] [Medline]32]
  • Feeding problems and anger [Sarı BA, Taner HA, Kaya ZT. Screen media exposure in pre-school children in Turkey: the relation with temperament and the role of parental attitudes. Turk J Pediatr. 2021;63(5):818-831. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]33]
  • Myopia [Yang GY, Huang LH, Schmid KL, Li CG, Chen JY, He GH, et al. Associations between screen exposure in early life and myopia amongst Chinese preschoolers. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Feb 07, 2020;17(3):1056. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]36]
  • Social development (–) [Kim SK, Wi DS, Kim KM. Effect of media exposure on social development in children. Glob Pediatr Health. Mar 01, 2023;10:2333794X231159224. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]37]
  • Hyperactivity [Xiang H, Lin L, Chen W, Li C, Liu X, Li J, et al. Associations of excessive screen time and early screen exposure with health-related quality of life and behavioral problems among children attending preschools. BMC Public Health. Dec 27, 2022;22(1):2440. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]31,Wu JB, Yin XN, Qiu SY, Wen GM, Yang WK, Zhang JY, et al. Association between screen time and hyperactive behaviors in children under 3 years in China. Front Psychiatry. Nov 9, 2022;13:977879. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]38]
  • Psychosomatic problems and psychological health (–) [Xiang H, Lin L, Chen W, Li C, Liu X, Li J, et al. Associations of excessive screen time and early screen exposure with health-related quality of life and behavioral problems among children attending preschools. BMC Public Health. Dec 27, 2022;22(1):2440. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]31]
  • Problematic use [Abdullah NN, Mohamed S, Abu Bakar K, Satari N. The influence of sociodemographic factors on mobile device use among young children in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Children (Basel). Feb 08, 2022;9(2):228. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]39]
  • Screen time [Supanitayanon S, Trairatvorakul P, Chonchaiya W. Screen media exposure in the first 2 years of life and preschool cognitive development: a longitudinal study. Pediatr Res. Dec 2020;88(6):894-902. [CrossRef] [Medline]32,Oflu A, Tezol O, Yalcin S, Yildiz D, Caylan N, Ozdemir DF, et al. Excessive screen time is associated with emotional lability in preschool children. Arch Argent Pediatr. Apr 2021;119(2):106-113. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]40,Erat Nergiz M, Çaylan N, Yalçin SS, Oflu A, Tezol Ö, Foto Özdemir D, et al. Excessive screen time is associated with maternal rejection behaviours in pre-school children. J Paediatr Child Health. Jul 2020;56(7):1077-1082. [CrossRef] [Medline]41]
  • Gaming [Tezol Ö, Yıldız D, Yalçın SS. The psychosocial well-being of young video-gamer children: a comparison study. Turk Arch Pediatr. Jul 2022;57(4):459-466. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]42]
Use during mealsUse of digital screens during mealtime12 (13)SurveyInfants, toddlers, and preschool children
  • —c
  • Weight status [Kristo AS, Çinar N, Kucuknil SL, Sikalidis AK. Technological devices and their effect on preschool children's eating habits in communities of mixed socioeconomic status in Istanbul; a pilot cross-sectional study. Behav Sci (Basel). Nov 15, 2021;11(11):157. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]29]
  • Difficult temperament [Munzer TG, Miller AL, Peterson KE, Brophy-Herb HE, Horodynski MA, Contreras D, et al. Media exposure in low-income preschool-aged children is associated with multiple measures of self-regulatory behavior. J Dev Behav Pediatr. May 2018;39(4):303-309. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]43]
  • Motor development (–) [Felix E, Silva V, Caetano M, Ribeiro MV, Fidalgo TM, Rosa Neto F, et al. Excessive screen media use in preschoolers is associated with poor motor skills. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. Jun 2020;23(6):418-425. [CrossRef] [Medline]44]
  • Feeding difficulties and time spent eating [Teekavanich S, Rukprayoon H, Sutchritpongsa S, Rojmahamongkol P. Electronic media use and food intake in Thai toddlers. Appetite. Sep 01, 2022;176:106121. [CrossRef] [Medline]45]
  • Screen accessibility [Wang X, Wu Y, Yao C, Wu X, Ruan Y, Ye S. Correlates of preschoolers' screen time in China: parental factors. BMC Pediatr. Jul 14, 2022;22(1):417. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]46]
  • Screen time [Pons M, Bennasar-Veny M, Yañez AM. Maternal education level and excessive recreational screen time in children: a mediation analysis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Dec 01, 2020;17(23):8930. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]27]
Use before sleepFrequency of digital device use before going to bed, typically within 1 h before bedtime9 (9)Survey and diaryInfants, toddlers, and preschool children
  • Family income (–) [Staples AD, Hoyniak C, McQuillan ME, Molfese V, Bates JE. Screen use before bedtime: consequences for nighttime sleep in young children. Infant Behav Dev. Feb 2021;62:101522. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]47]
  • Household chaos [Emond JA, Tantum LK, Gilbert-Diamond D, Kim SJ, Lansigan RK, Neelon SB. Household chaos and screen media use among preschool-aged children: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. Oct 29, 2018;18(1):1210. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]48]
  • Self-regulation ability (–) [Fitzpatrick C, Almeida ML, Harvey E, Garon-Carrier G, Berrigan F, Asbridge M. An examination of bedtime media and excessive screen time by Canadian preschoolers during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Pediatr. Apr 18, 2022;22(1):212. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]49]
  • Late sleep timing, sleep problems, sleep duration (–), and sleep variability [Staples AD, Hoyniak C, McQuillan ME, Molfese V, Bates JE. Screen use before bedtime: consequences for nighttime sleep in young children. Infant Behav Dev. Feb 2021;62:101522. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]47]
  • Motor development (–) [Geng S, Wang W, Huang L, Xie J, Williams GJ, Baker C, et al. Association between screen time and suspected developmental coordination disorder in preschoolers: a national population-based study in China. Front Public Health. 2023;11:1152321. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]50]
  • Restrictive mediation (–), instructive mediation, and couse [Fitzpatrick C, Almeida ML, Harvey E, Garon-Carrier G, Berrigan F, Asbridge M. An examination of bedtime media and excessive screen time by Canadian preschoolers during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Pediatr. Apr 18, 2022;22(1):212. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]49]
Device multitaskingExposure to ≥2 digital screen media simultaneously2 (2)Survey and interviewInfants, toddlers, and preschool children
  • Maternal education (–), paternal education (–), and positive parenting (–) [Srisinghasongkram P, Trairatvorakul P, Maes M, Chonchaiya W. Effect of early screen media multitasking on behavioural problems in school-age children. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. Aug 2021;30(8):1281-1297. [CrossRef] [Medline]51]
  • Behavioral problems [Srisinghasongkram P, Trairatvorakul P, Maes M, Chonchaiya W. Effect of early screen media multitasking on behavioural problems in school-age children. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. Aug 2021;30(8):1281-1297. [CrossRef] [Medline]51]
  • Preschool cognitive ability (–) [Srisinghasongkram P, Trairatvorakul P, Maes M, Chonchaiya W. Effect of early screen media multitasking on behavioural problems in school-age children. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. Aug 2021;30(8):1281-1297. [CrossRef] [Medline]51]

Restricted useParent’s use of rules and restrictions regarding the child’s use of digital media and whether the child obeys (also called restrictive mediation)22 (23)Survey and interviewInfants, toddlers, and preschool children

  • Behavioral problems [Wu CS, Fowler C, Lam WY, Wong HT, Wong CH, Yuen Loke A. Parenting approaches and digital technology use of preschool age children in a Chinese community. Ital J Pediatr. May 07, 2014;40:44. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]52]
  • Executive functioning (–) [Yang X, Chen Z, Wang Z, Zhu L. The relations between television exposure and executive function in Chinese preschoolers: the moderated role of parental mediation behaviors. Front Psychol. Oct 17, 2017;8:1833. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]53]
  • Gaming [Yalçın SS, Çaylan N, Erat Nergiz M, Oflu A, Yıldız D, Tezol Ö, et al. Video game playing among preschoolers: prevalence and home environment in three provinces from Turkey. Int J Environ Health Res. Oct 2022;32(10):2233-2246. [CrossRef] [Medline]54]
  • Problematic use (–) [Yang H, Ng WQ, Yang Y, Yang S. Inconsistent media mediation and problematic smartphone use in preschoolers: maternal conflict resolution styles as moderators. Children (Basel). May 31, 2022;9(6):816. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]55,Coyne SM, Rogers A, Holmgren HG, Booth MA, Van Alfen M, Harris H, et al. Masters of media: a longitudinal study of parental media efficacy, media monitoring, and child problematic media use across early childhood in the United States. J Child Media. 2023;17(3):318-335. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]56]
Background exposureAmount of exposure to digital devices turned on in the background, while the child is occupied with other activities12 (13)Survey and observationInfants, toddlers, and preschool children
  • Maternal education (–) [Pons M, Bennasar-Veny M, Yañez AM. Maternal education level and excessive recreational screen time in children: a mediation analysis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Dec 01, 2020;17(23):8930. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]27]
  • Ability to delay gratification (–) and difficult temperament [Munzer TG, Miller AL, Peterson KE, Brophy-Herb HE, Horodynski MA, Contreras D, et al. Media exposure in low-income preschool-aged children is associated with multiple measures of self-regulatory behavior. J Dev Behav Pediatr. May 2018;39(4):303-309. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]43]
  • Parental television time [Pons M, Bennasar-Veny M, Yañez AM. Maternal education level and excessive recreational screen time in children: a mediation analysis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Dec 01, 2020;17(23):8930. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]27]
  • Screen time [Pons M, Bennasar-Veny M, Yañez AM. Maternal education level and excessive recreational screen time in children: a mediation analysis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Dec 01, 2020;17(23):8930. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]27,Dy AB, Dy AB, Santos SK. Measuring effects of screen time on the development of children in the Philippines: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. Jun 28, 2023;23(1):1261. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]57]
Problematic useVarious composite measures of problematic use of digital devices or technologies, including additional measures27 (28)SurveyToddlers and preschool children
  • Male individual [Abdullah NN, Mohamed S, Abu Bakar K, Satari N. The influence of sociodemographic factors on mobile device use among young children in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Children (Basel). Feb 08, 2022;9(2):228. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]39,Hutton JS, Huang G, Sahay RD, DeWitt T, Ittenbach RF. A novel, composite measure of screen-based media use in young children (ScreenQ) and associations with parenting practices and cognitive abilities. Pediatr Res. Jun 2020;87(7):1211-1218. [CrossRef] [Medline]58,Anitha FS, Narasimhan U, Janakiraman A, Janakarajan N, Tamilselvan P. Association of digital media exposure and addiction with child development and behavior: a cross-sectional study. Ind Psychiatry J. 2021;30(2):265-271. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]59]
  • Family income (–) [Hutton JS, Huang G, Sahay RD, DeWitt T, Ittenbach RF. A novel, composite measure of screen-based media use in young children (ScreenQ) and associations with parenting practices and cognitive abilities. Pediatr Res. Jun 2020;87(7):1211-1218. [CrossRef] [Medline]58,Hutton JS, Dudley J, Horowitz-Kraus T, DeWitt T, Holland SK. Associations between screen-based media use and brain white matter integrity in preschool-aged children. JAMA Pediatr. Jan 01, 2020;174(1):e193869. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]60,Park JH, Park M. Smartphone use patterns and problematic smartphone use among preschool children. PLoS One. 2021;16(3):e0244276. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]61]
  • Unmarried [Hutton JS, Huang G, Sahay RD, DeWitt T, Ittenbach RF. A novel, composite measure of screen-based media use in young children (ScreenQ) and associations with parenting practices and cognitive abilities. Pediatr Res. Jun 2020;87(7):1211-1218. [CrossRef] [Medline]58,Coyne SM, Shawcroft J, Gale M, Gentile DA, Etherington JT, Holmgren H, et al. Tantrums, toddlers and technology: temperament, media emotion regulation, and problematic media use in early childhood. Comput Human Behav. Jul 2021;120:106762. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]62]
  • Non-White individuals [Hutton JS, Huang G, Sahay RD, DeWitt T, Ittenbach RF. A novel, composite measure of screen-based media use in young children (ScreenQ) and associations with parenting practices and cognitive abilities. Pediatr Res. Jun 2020;87(7):1211-1218. [CrossRef] [Medline]58]
  • Parental age (–) [Park JH, Park M. Smartphone use patterns and problematic smartphone use among preschool children. PLoS One. 2021;16(3):e0244276. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]61,Yalçin SS, Tezol Ö, Çaylan N, Erat Nergiz M, Yildiz D, Çiçek Ş, et al. Evaluation of problematic screen exposure in pre-schoolers using a unique tool called "seven-in-seven screen exposure questionnaire": cross-sectional study. BMC Pediatr. Oct 25, 2021;21(1):472. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]63]
  • Parental education (–) [Yang H, Ng WQ, Yang Y, Yang S. Inconsistent media mediation and problematic smartphone use in preschoolers: maternal conflict resolution styles as moderators. Children (Basel). May 31, 2022;9(6):816. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]55,Hutton JS, Huang G, Sahay RD, DeWitt T, Ittenbach RF. A novel, composite measure of screen-based media use in young children (ScreenQ) and associations with parenting practices and cognitive abilities. Pediatr Res. Jun 2020;87(7):1211-1218. [CrossRef] [Medline]58,Park JH, Park M. Smartphone use patterns and problematic smartphone use among preschool children. PLoS One. 2021;16(3):e0244276. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]61,Yalçin SS, Tezol Ö, Çaylan N, Erat Nergiz M, Yildiz D, Çiçek Ş, et al. Evaluation of problematic screen exposure in pre-schoolers using a unique tool called "seven-in-seven screen exposure questionnaire": cross-sectional study. BMC Pediatr. Oct 25, 2021;21(1):472. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]63]
  • Nonworking mother [Park JH, Park M. Smartphone use patterns and problematic smartphone use among preschool children. PLoS One. 2021;16(3):e0244276. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]61,Yalçin SS, Tezol Ö, Çaylan N, Erat Nergiz M, Yildiz D, Çiçek Ş, et al. Evaluation of problematic screen exposure in pre-schoolers using a unique tool called "seven-in-seven screen exposure questionnaire": cross-sectional study. BMC Pediatr. Oct 25, 2021;21(1):472. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]63]
  • Single parent, extended family, family size, rural setting, day care use (–), and siblings [Yalçin SS, Tezol Ö, Çaylan N, Erat Nergiz M, Yildiz D, Çiçek Ş, et al. Evaluation of problematic screen exposure in pre-schoolers using a unique tool called "seven-in-seven screen exposure questionnaire": cross-sectional study. BMC Pediatr. Oct 25, 2021;21(1):472. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]63]
  • Age [Coyne SM, Rogers A, Holmgren HG, Booth MA, Van Alfen M, Harris H, et al. Masters of media: a longitudinal study of parental media efficacy, media monitoring, and child problematic media use across early childhood in the United States. J Child Media. 2023;17(3):318-335. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]56,Park JH, Park M. Smartphone use patterns and problematic smartphone use among preschool children. PLoS One. 2021;16(3):e0244276. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]61]
  • Cognitive stimulation at home (–) [Hutton JS, Huang G, Sahay RD, DeWitt T, Ittenbach RF. A novel, composite measure of screen-based media use in young children (ScreenQ) and associations with parenting practices and cognitive abilities. Pediatr Res. Jun 2020;87(7):1211-1218. [CrossRef] [Medline]58]
  • Parental efficacy (–) [Coyne SM, Rogers A, Holmgren HG, Booth MA, Van Alfen M, Harris H, et al. Masters of media: a longitudinal study of parental media efficacy, media monitoring, and child problematic media use across early childhood in the United States. J Child Media. 2023;17(3):318-335. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]56]
  • Parental screen use and parental anxiety [Li H, Luo W, He H. Association of parental screen addiction with young children's screen addiction: a chain-mediating model. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Oct 06, 2022;19(19):12788. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]64]
  • Maternal stress [Li J, Zhai Y, Xiao B, Xia X, Wang J, Zhao Y, et al. Maternal COVID-19 distress and Chinese preschool children's problematic media use: a moderated serial mediation model. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2023;16:2553-2567. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]65]
  • Expressive vocabulary (–) [Hutton JS, Huang G, Sahay RD, DeWitt T, Ittenbach RF. A novel, composite measure of screen-based media use in young children (ScreenQ) and associations with parenting practices and cognitive abilities. Pediatr Res. Jun 2020;87(7):1211-1218. [CrossRef] [Medline]58,Hutton JS, Dudley J, Horowitz-Kraus T, DeWitt T, Holland SK. Associations between screen-based media use and brain white matter integrity in preschool-aged children. JAMA Pediatr. Jan 01, 2020;174(1):e193869. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]60]
  • Phonological processing (–) [Hutton JS, Huang G, Sahay RD, DeWitt T, Ittenbach RF. A novel, composite measure of screen-based media use in young children (ScreenQ) and associations with parenting practices and cognitive abilities. Pediatr Res. Jun 2020;87(7):1211-1218. [CrossRef] [Medline]58,Hutton JS, Dudley J, Horowitz-Kraus T, DeWitt T, Holland SK. Associations between screen-based media use and brain white matter integrity in preschool-aged children. JAMA Pediatr. Jan 01, 2020;174(1):e193869. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]60]
  • Emerging literacy (–) [Hutton JS, Huang G, Sahay RD, DeWitt T, Ittenbach RF. A novel, composite measure of screen-based media use in young children (ScreenQ) and associations with parenting practices and cognitive abilities. Pediatr Res. Jun 2020;87(7):1211-1218. [CrossRef] [Medline]58,Hutton JS, Dudley J, Horowitz-Kraus T, DeWitt T, Holland SK. Associations between screen-based media use and brain white matter integrity in preschool-aged children. JAMA Pediatr. Jan 01, 2020;174(1):e193869. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]60]
  • Structural brain deficits in areas supporting language [Hutton JS, Dudley J, Horowitz-Kraus T, DeWitt T, Holland SK. Associations between screen-based media use and brain white matter integrity in preschool-aged children. JAMA Pediatr. Jan 01, 2020;174(1):e193869. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]60]
  • Negative affect and effortful control (–) [Coyne SM, Shawcroft J, Gale M, Gentile DA, Etherington JT, Holmgren H, et al. Tantrums, toddlers and technology: temperament, media emotion regulation, and problematic media use in early childhood. Comput Human Behav. Jul 2021;120:106762. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]62]
  • Delaying essential needs [Yalçin SS, Tezol Ö, Çaylan N, Erat Nergiz M, Yildiz D, Çiçek Ş, et al. Evaluation of problematic screen exposure in pre-schoolers using a unique tool called "seven-in-seven screen exposure questionnaire": cross-sectional study. BMC Pediatr. Oct 25, 2021;21(1):472. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]63]
  • Behavioral problems and emotional intelligence (–) [Cho KS, Lee JM. Influence of smartphone addiction proneness of young children on problematic behaviors and emotional intelligence: mediating self-assessment effects of parents using smartphones. Comput Hum Behav. Jan 2017;66:303-311. [CrossRef]66]
  • Physical conflict [Yang H, Ng WQ, Yang Y, Yang S. Inconsistent media mediation and problematic smartphone use in preschoolers: maternal conflict resolution styles as moderators. Children (Basel). May 31, 2022;9(6):816. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]55]
  • Parent-child relationship quality (–) [Li H, Luo W, He H. Association of parental screen addiction with young children's screen addiction: a chain-mediating model. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Oct 06, 2022;19(19):12788. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]64]
  • Early exposure [Abdullah NN, Mohamed S, Abu Bakar K, Satari N. The influence of sociodemographic factors on mobile device use among young children in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Children (Basel). Feb 08, 2022;9(2):228. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]39]
  • Instrumental use [Abdullah NN, Mohamed S, Abu Bakar K, Satari N. The influence of sociodemographic factors on mobile device use among young children in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Children (Basel). Feb 08, 2022;9(2):228. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]39]
  • Emotional regulation [Abdullah NN, Mohamed S, Abu Bakar K, Satari N. The influence of sociodemographic factors on mobile device use among young children in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Children (Basel). Feb 08, 2022;9(2):228. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]39,Coyne SM, Shawcroft J, Gale M, Gentile DA, Etherington JT, Holmgren H, et al. Tantrums, toddlers and technology: temperament, media emotion regulation, and problematic media use in early childhood. Comput Human Behav. Jul 2021;120:106762. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]62] screen time [Park JH, Park M. Smartphone use patterns and problematic smartphone use among preschool children. PLoS One. 2021;16(3):e0244276. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]61,Dwairej DA, Obeidat HM, Alfarajat EM, Dwairej LA. Translation and psychometric testing of the Arabic version of the problematic media use measure short form for children. Hum Behav Emerg Technol. May 29, 2022;2022:1-8. [CrossRef]67,Park JH. Factors associated with smartphone addiction risk in preschool children. Research Square. Preprint posted online on August 12, 2019. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef]68]
  • Television or video watching [Park JH. Factors associated with smartphone addiction risk in preschool children. Research Square. Preprint posted online on August 12, 2019. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef]68]
  • Inconsistent mediation and restrictive mediation [Yang H, Ng WQ, Yang Y, Yang S. Inconsistent media mediation and problematic smartphone use in preschoolers: maternal conflict resolution styles as moderators. Children (Basel). May 31, 2022;9(6):816. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]55]
Screen time in one sittingAmount of time on digital devices that the child spends in one sitting2 (2)SurveyToddlers and preschool children



Delaying needsDelaying daily needs during device use2 (2)SurveyToddlers and preschool children



Educational useParents providing digital devices to their children to educate them7 (7)SurveyToddlers and preschool children

  • Behavioral problems [Wu CS, Fowler C, Lam WY, Wong HT, Wong CH, Yuen Loke A. Parenting approaches and digital technology use of preschool age children in a Chinese community. Ital J Pediatr. May 07, 2014;40:44. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]52]

Use for entertainmentParents providing digital devices to their children to entertain them5 (5)SurveyToddlers and preschool children



Emotional regulationParents providing digital devices to their children to improve their mood or calm them down12 (13)SurveyToddlers and preschool children
  • Parental education (–) [Coyne SM, Shawcroft J, Gale M, Gentile DA, Etherington JT, Holmgren H, et al. Tantrums, toddlers and technology: temperament, media emotion regulation, and problematic media use in early childhood. Comput Human Behav. Jul 2021;120:106762. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]62,Bellagamba F, Presaghi F, Di Marco M, D'Abundo E, Blanchfield O, Barr R. How infant and toddlers' media use is related to sleeping habits in everyday life in Italy. Front Psychol. Mar 22, 2021;12:589664. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]69]
  • Male individuals and temperamental surgency [Radesky JS, Kaciroti N, Weeks HM, Schaller A, Miller AL. Longitudinal associations between use of mobile devices for calming and emotional reactivity and executive functioning in children aged 3 to 5 years. JAMA Pediatr. Jan 01, 2023;177(1):62-70. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]70]
  • Emotional difficulties andexecutive functioning (–) [Radesky JS, Kaciroti N, Weeks HM, Schaller A, Miller AL. Longitudinal associations between use of mobile devices for calming and emotional reactivity and executive functioning in children aged 3 to 5 years. JAMA Pediatr. Jan 01, 2023;177(1):62-70. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]70]
  • Problematic use [Abdullah NN, Mohamed S, Abu Bakar K, Satari N. The influence of sociodemographic factors on mobile device use among young children in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Children (Basel). Feb 08, 2022;9(2):228. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]39,Coyne SM, Shawcroft J, Gale M, Gentile DA, Etherington JT, Holmgren H, et al. Tantrums, toddlers and technology: temperament, media emotion regulation, and problematic media use in early childhood. Comput Human Behav. Jul 2021;120:106762. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]62]
  • Emotional response [Coyne SM, Shawcroft J, Gale M, Gentile DA, Etherington JT, Holmgren H, et al. Tantrums, toddlers and technology: temperament, media emotion regulation, and problematic media use in early childhood. Comput Human Behav. Jul 2021;120:106762. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]62]
  • Screen time [Erat Nergiz M, Çaylan N, Yalçin SS, Oflu A, Tezol Ö, Foto Özdemir D, et al. Excessive screen time is associated with maternal rejection behaviours in pre-school children. J Paediatr Child Health. Jul 2020;56(7):1077-1082. [CrossRef] [Medline]41]
Instrumental useParents providing digital devices to their children to complete chores and tasks more easily and to distract them, using devices as a “babysitter”11 (12)SurveyToddlers and preschool children
  • Age (–) [Nikken P. Parents’ instrumental use of media in childrearing: relationships with confidence in parenting, and health and conduct problems in children. J Child Fam Stud. Nov 16, 2018;28(2):531-546. [CrossRef]71]
  • Outdoor play (–) [Wiseman N, Harris N, Downes M. Preschool children's preferences for sedentary activity relates to parent's restrictive rules around active outdoor play. BMC Public Health. Jul 15, 2019;19(1):946. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]72]
  • Problematic use [Abdullah NN, Mohamed S, Abu Bakar K, Satari N. The influence of sociodemographic factors on mobile device use among young children in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Children (Basel). Feb 08, 2022;9(2):228. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]39]
Instructed useFrequency of parents helping children understand the digital content through instructions and explanations during digital device use (also called instructive mediation)7 (7)SurveyToddlers and preschool children
  • Age (–), male individuals (–), maternal education, and positive parenting [Supanitayanon S, Trairatvorakul P, Chonchaiya W. Screen media exposure in the first 2 years of life and preschool cognitive development: a longitudinal study. Pediatr Res. Dec 2020;88(6):894-902. [CrossRef] [Medline]32]
  • Cognitive development [Supanitayanon S, Trairatvorakul P, Chonchaiya W. Screen media exposure in the first 2 years of life and preschool cognitive development: a longitudinal study. Pediatr Res. Dec 2020;88(6):894-902. [CrossRef] [Medline]32]
  • Screen time and use before sleep [Fitzpatrick C, Almeida ML, Harvey E, Garon-Carrier G, Berrigan F, Asbridge M. An examination of bedtime media and excessive screen time by Canadian preschoolers during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Pediatr. Apr 18, 2022;22(1):212. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]49]
CouseThe extent to which digital devices are used together with caregivers or siblings, as opposed to solitary use, sometimes as a ratio compared to total screen time20 (21)Survey and diaryToddlers and preschool children

  • Language development delay (–) [Ozyurt G, Dinsever Elikucuk C. Relation of language features with maternal depression, family functioning, and digital technology usage in children with developmental language delay–comparison with healthy controls. Dusunen Adam. 2017;30(4):299-308. [CrossRef]73]
  • Receptive language and expressive language [Ozyurt G, Dinsever Elikucuk C. Relation of language features with maternal depression, family functioning, and digital technology usage in children with developmental language delay–comparison with healthy controls. Dusunen Adam. 2017;30(4):299-308. [CrossRef]73,Alroqi H, Serratrice L, Cameron-Faulkner T. The association between screen media quantity, content, and context and language development. J Child Lang. Sep 2023;50(5):1155-1183. [CrossRef] [Medline]74]
  • Emotional liability (–) [Oflu A, Tezol O, Yalcin S, Yildiz D, Caylan N, Ozdemir DF, et al. Excessive screen time is associated with emotional lability in preschool children. Arch Argent Pediatr. Apr 2021;119(2):106-113. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]40]
  • Social development [Kim SK, Wi DS, Kim KM. Effect of media exposure on social development in children. Glob Pediatr Health. Mar 01, 2023;10:2333794X231159224. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]37]
  • Use before sleep [Fitzpatrick C, Almeida ML, Harvey E, Garon-Carrier G, Berrigan F, Asbridge M. An examination of bedtime media and excessive screen time by Canadian preschoolers during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Pediatr. Apr 18, 2022;22(1):212. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]49]
  • Screen time (–) [Erat Nergiz M, Çaylan N, Yalçin SS, Oflu A, Tezol Ö, Foto Özdemir D, et al. Excessive screen time is associated with maternal rejection behaviours in pre-school children. J Paediatr Child Health. Jul 2020;56(7):1077-1082. [CrossRef] [Medline]41,Wang X, Wu Y, Yao C, Wu X, Ruan Y, Ye S. Correlates of preschoolers' screen time in China: parental factors. BMC Pediatr. Jul 14, 2022;22(1):417. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]46,Dy AB, Dy AB, Santos SK. Measuring effects of screen time on the development of children in the Philippines: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. Jun 28, 2023;23(1):1261. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]57]
Perceived negative effectsParents’ perceived effect of child’s device use on their hobbies, concentration, social isolation, vision, hearing, appetite, sleeping, and family time3 (3)Survey and interviewToddlers and preschool children
  • Autism [Eyüboğlu M, Eyüboğlu D. Screen time characteristics and early-term parental concerns of children newly diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Turk J Clin Psychiatry. 2020;23:392-401. [CrossRef]35]


Emotional reactivityFrequency or intensity of child’s negative emotions as a response to devices being taken away or their use being limited2 (2)Survey and observationToddlers and preschool children


  • Emotional regulation and problematic use [Coyne SM, Shawcroft J, Gale M, Gentile DA, Etherington JT, Holmgren H, et al. Tantrums, toddlers and technology: temperament, media emotion regulation, and problematic media use in early childhood. Comput Human Behav. Jul 2021;120:106762. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]62]
Self-regulationChild’s lack of ability to disengage from activities on digital devices1 (1)SurveyPreschool children



Sensory regulationUsing screen media to help with sensory regulation by taking in or blocking out sensory input1 (1)SurveyPreschool children



TechnoferenceFrequency of interruptions or interferences in parent-child interactions due to child’s or parents’ use of digital devices2 (2)SurveyPreschool children

  • Behavioral problems [Wong RS, Tung KT, Rao N, Leung C, Hui AN, Tso WW, et al. Parent technology use, parent-child interaction, child screen time, and child psychosocial problems among disadvantaged families. J Pediatr. Nov 2020;226:258-265. [CrossRef] [Medline]75,Sundqvist A, Heimann M, Koch FS. Relationship between family technoference and behavior problems in children aged 4-5 years. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. Jun 2020;23(6):371-376. [CrossRef] [Medline]76]
  • Psychosocial difficulties and frequency of parent-child interaction (–) [Wong RS, Tung KT, Rao N, Leung C, Hui AN, Tso WW, et al. Parent technology use, parent-child interaction, child screen time, and child psychosocial problems among disadvantaged families. J Pediatr. Nov 2020;226:258-265. [CrossRef] [Medline]75]
  • Prosociality (–) [Sundqvist A, Heimann M, Koch FS. Relationship between family technoference and behavior problems in children aged 4-5 years. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. Jun 2020;23(6):371-376. [CrossRef] [Medline]76]
  • Screen time [Wong RS, Tung KT, Rao N, Leung C, Hui AN, Tso WW, et al. Parent technology use, parent-child interaction, child screen time, and child psychosocial problems among disadvantaged families. J Pediatr. Nov 2020;226:258-265. [CrossRef] [Medline]75]
  • Parents’ problematic use [Wong RS, Tung KT, Rao N, Leung C, Hui AN, Tso WW, et al. Parent technology use, parent-child interaction, child screen time, and child psychosocial problems among disadvantaged families. J Pediatr. Nov 2020;226:258-265. [CrossRef] [Medline]75,Sundqvist A, Heimann M, Koch FS. Relationship between family technoference and behavior problems in children aged 4-5 years. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. Jun 2020;23(6):371-376. [CrossRef] [Medline]76]
Conflict due to useConflict between parent and child because of or related to child’s device use1 (1)SurveyPreschool children



Concerns about useFrequency of parent concerns regarding child’s digital technology use2 (2)Survey and interviewPreschool children



aThe negative sign indicates a negative correlation between a risk factor or outcome and PDTU measure.

bLongitudinal associations are italicized.

cData not available.

Of 95 studies, 29 (30%) used a composite measure of PDTU (ie, developed psychometric instruments and labeled problematic use), which contained multiple PDTU aspects within a single measurement tool. The most common among single-item measures used was early exposure (n=24, 25%), followed by restricted use (n=22, 23%) and couse (n=20, 21%).

In terms of measurement format, survey-based measures of PDTU were by far the most common. Each of the listed PDTU measures existed in survey format in at least 1 study. In total, 34% (8/23) of the PDTU measures used a nonsurvey format in at least 1 study. The data for 17% (4/23) of the measures were obtained through an interview, 9% (2/23) through a diary format, and 9% (2/23) through observation. For each PDTU measure, data were obtained on preschool children (aged 3 to 6 years) in at least 1 study. A large proportion (16/23, 78%) of measures was also applied to toddlers (aged 1 to 3 years). Less than a third (7/23, 30%) of all measures were used in studies, which included infants (aged 0 to 1 year).

Risk Factors

The most commonly reported demographic risk factor for PDTU was lower parental education (ie, either maternal or paternal). Of the 23 PDTU measures, negative associations with parental education were found for 7 (30%) measures or 70% (n=16) of all measures for which any risk factors were reported. In addition, being a male participant was found to be a risk factor for 3 (13%) measures and having autism spectrum was found to be a risk factor for 2 (9%) measures. The child’s age was a risk factor for 3 (13%) PDTU measures, although both lower and higher age were found to be risk factors, depending on the particular aspect (Table 2).

Detrimental Outcomes

PDTU measures were associated with 28 unique, undesirable outcomes. Of 23 measures, 11 (48%) were found to be associated with behavioral-emotional difficulties of children, while 7 (30%) were correlated with developmental outcomes (eg, deficiencies in language, cognition, or motor development). A total of 6 (26%) measures were associated with undesirable habits (eg, poor sleeping and eating habits or delaying needs), and another 3 (13%) measures were associated with physical outcomes (eg, obesity and vision problems).

Findings From Longitudinal Studies

A longitudinal study by Supanitayanon et al [Supanitayanon S, Trairatvorakul P, Chonchaiya W. Screen media exposure in the first 2 years of life and preschool cognitive development: a longitudinal study. Pediatr Res. Dec 2020;88(6):894-902. [CrossRef] [Medline]32] showed that delayed introduction to DTs (a measure of early exposure) and verbal interaction during media use in the first 2 years of life (ie, a measure of instructive mediation) significantly predicted a child’s cognitive development at 2, 3, and 4 years of age. A longitudinal study by Srisinghasongkram et al [Srisinghasongkram P, Trairatvorakul P, Maes M, Chonchaiya W. Effect of early screen media multitasking on behavioural problems in school-age children. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. Aug 2021;30(8):1281-1297. [CrossRef] [Medline]51] showed that screen media multitasking at 18 months (ie, device multitasking) is associated with decreased preschool cognition at 4 years and behavioral problems at 4 and 6 years. In a longitudinal study by Radesky et al [Radesky JS, Kaciroti N, Weeks HM, Schaller A, Miller AL. Longitudinal associations between use of mobile devices for calming and emotional reactivity and executive functioning in children aged 3 to 5 years. JAMA Pediatr. Jan 01, 2023;177(1):62-70. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]70], bidirectional cross-lagged correlations between using devices for calming purposes and emotional reactivity (ie, instability) were found, specifically in boys and children with higher temperamental surgency. A study by Coyne et al [Coyne SM, Rogers A, Holmgren HG, Booth MA, Van Alfen M, Harris H, et al. Masters of media: a longitudinal study of parental media efficacy, media monitoring, and child problematic media use across early childhood in the United States. J Child Media. 2023;17(3):318-335. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]56] showed a longitudinal association between 2 PDTU measures: restricted use was associated with lower problematic use. A study by Gueron-Sela et al [Gueron-Sela N, Shalev I, Gordon-Hacker A, Egotubov A, Barr R. Screen media exposure and behavioral adjustment in early childhood during and after COVID-19 home lockdown periods. Comput Human Behav. Mar 2023;140:107572. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]77] showed no longitudinal relationship among screen time, background exposure to DTs or using DTs for emotional regulation during lockdown periods, and children’s behavioral problems after lockdown.

Instrument Characteristics

Overview

Among the measures of PDTU, we identified 18 multi-item measures of problematic use, which were either fully available or had their items described in sufficient detail. The most commonly used was Problematic Media Use Measure–Short Form (PMUM-SF), used in 9% (9/95) of the studies. All other instruments were used in 1 or 2 studies at most. All the identified instruments were applied to preschool children (aged 3-6 years) in at least 1 study. Only 22% (4/18) of them were also tested on toddlers (aged 1-3 years), while no instrument was used in studies on infants (aged 0-1 year). Table 3 summarizes important characteristics (eg, theoretical background and psychometric properties) of all measurement tools targeting PDTU.

Table 3. Characteristics of existing composite measures for problematic digital technology use (N=18).
QuestionnaireDescriptionFactors or content categoriesItems, nBackgroundYearReferencesReliabilityValidityDevelopmental period
Technology addiction scaleA parent report measure of technology addiction for children aged 2 to 5 y
  • Impulsiveness (impulsiveness symptoms of using a technological device)
  • Implicit attitudes (emotional symptoms and reactions toward the use of a technological device)
9Item pool was generated based on internet addiction symptoms (in adolescence)2023[Yildirim M, Yayan EH. Development study of 2-5 age Technology Addiction Scale (TAS). Arch Psychiatr Nurs. Apr 2023;43:111-117. [CrossRef] [Medline]78]Cronbach α=0.90CFAa: CMINb (df)=2.141, GFIc=0.964, CFId=0.981, and RMSEAe=0.061Toddlers and preschool children
DSEQf for young childrenA parent report measure of screen exposure for children aged 2 to 5 y
  • Sociodemographic screen time exposure and home media environment
  • Level of physical activity
  • Media-related behaviors and parental perceptions domain
86Questionnaire was developed based on existing tools, parent interviews, and expert interviews2021[Kaur N, Gupta M, Kiran T, Malhi P, Grover S. Development and evaluation of the digital-screen exposure questionnaire (DSEQ) for young children. PLoS One. Jun 22, 2021;16(6):e0253313. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]79]Cronbach α for each subdimension were 0.82 and 0.74. κ value=0.52-1.0 and ICCg=0.62-0.99Good face and content validity as judged by 9 independent expertsToddlers and preschool children
Seven-in-Seven Screen Exposure QuestionnaireA parent report measure of problematic screen exposure
  • Screen time
  • Early exposure
  • Use during meals
  • Use before sleep
  • Content
  • Coviewing
  • Restrictive mediation
7Items were designed using the AAPh recommendations for children’s media use2021[Yalçin SS, Tezol Ö, Çaylan N, Erat Nergiz M, Yildiz D, Çiçek Ş, et al. Evaluation of problematic screen exposure in pre-schoolers using a unique tool called "seven-in-seven screen exposure questionnaire": cross-sectional study. BMC Pediatr. Oct 25, 2021;21(1):472. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]63]Cronbach α=0.49Use of touchscreens (+)i and EFAj found 3 factorsToddlers and preschool children
Electronic Media Use QuestionnaireA parent report measure of how “serious” the electronic media use of the child is
  • Electronic media time management
  • Interpersonal and health conditions caused by electronic media use
  • Life conflicts arising from electronic media use
  • Emotional experiences related to electronic media use
14Questionnaire adapted from the Video Game Use Questionnaire by changing the term “video game” to “electronic media” and reducing item numbers based on factor analysisk2023[Geng S, Xu K, Liu X. Association between electronic media use and internalizing problems: the mediating effect of parent-child conflict and moderating effect of children's age. Behav Sci (Basel). Aug 21, 2023;13(8):694. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]80]Cronbach α=0.93, Cronbach α of each subdimension were 0.73, 0.80, 0.77, and 0.82CFA: χ2=2.71, RMSEA=0.08, GFI=0.91, NFIl=0.91, IFIm=0.94, TFIn=0.92, and CFI=0.94Toddlers and preschool and school-aged children
PMUMoA parent report measure of child’s addictive use of screen media
  • Preoccupation
  • Withdrawal
  • Tolerance
  • Unsuccessful attempts by parents to control use
  • Loss of interest in previous hobbies and entertainment
  • Deceived others about use
  • Use to escape or relieve a negative mood
  • Jeopardized/lost a relationship or had compromised functioning in school due to use
  • Continued use despite psychosocial problems
27Items were generated based on criteria suggested for IGDp in the DSM-5q. Content used to generate items that correspond to the DSM-5 criteria were drawn from the literature on problematic media use in adolescents, clinical experience, and interviews with mothers of children aged 4 to 8 y.2019[Li J, Zhai Y, Xiao B, Xia X, Wang J, Zhao Y, et al. Maternal COVID-19 distress and Chinese preschool children's problematic media use: a moderated serial mediation model. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2023;16:2553-2567. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]65,Domoff SE, Harrison K, Gearhardt AN, Gentile DA, Lumeng JC, Miller AL. Development and validation of the problematic media use measure: a parent report measure of screen media "addiction" in children. Psychol Pop Media Cult. Jan 2019;8(1):2-11. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]81]Cronbach α=0.97PMUM-SFr (+), screen time (+), concerns about use (+), and instrumental use (+); PMUM predicts psychosocial functioning over and above screen time (24% of additional variance explained)Toddlers and preschool and school-aged children
PMUM-SFA parent report measure of child’s addictive use of screen media; a short version of PMUM
  • Preoccupation
  • Withdrawal
  • Tolerance
  • Unsuccessful attempts by parents to control use
  • Loss of interest in previous hobbies and entertainment
  • Deceived others about use
  • Use to escape or relieve a negative mood
  • Jeopardized/lost a relationship or had compromised functioning in school due to use
  • Continued use despite psychosocial problems
9Items were based on the DSM-5 criteria for internet gaming disorder2019[Coyne SM, Rogers A, Holmgren HG, Booth MA, Van Alfen M, Harris H, et al. Masters of media: a longitudinal study of parental media efficacy, media monitoring, and child problematic media use across early childhood in the United States. J Child Media. 2023;17(3):318-335. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]56,Anitha FS, Narasimhan U, Janakiraman A, Janakarajan N, Tamilselvan P. Association of digital media exposure and addiction with child development and behavior: a cross-sectional study. Ind Psychiatry J. 2021;30(2):265-271. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]59,Coyne SM, Shawcroft J, Gale M, Gentile DA, Etherington JT, Holmgren H, et al. Tantrums, toddlers and technology: temperament, media emotion regulation, and problematic media use in early childhood. Comput Human Behav. Jul 2021;120:106762. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]62, Li H, Luo W, He H. Association of parental screen addiction with young children's screen addiction: a chain-mediating model. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Oct 06, 2022;19(19):12788. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]64,Dwairej DA, Obeidat HM, Alfarajat EM, Dwairej LA. Translation and psychometric testing of the Arabic version of the problematic media use measure short form for children. Hum Behav Emerg Technol. May 29, 2022;2022:1-8. [CrossRef]67,Ozyurt G, Dinsever Elikucuk C. Relation of language features with maternal depression, family functioning, and digital technology usage in children with developmental language delay–comparison with healthy controls. Dusunen Adam. 2017;30(4):299-308. [CrossRef]73, Domoff SE, Harrison K, Gearhardt AN, Gentile DA, Lumeng JC, Miller AL. Development and validation of the problematic media use measure: a parent report measure of screen media "addiction" in children. Psychol Pop Media Cult. Jan 2019;8(1):2-11. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]81-Domoff SE, Borgen AL, Wilke N, Hiles Howard A. Adverse childhood experiences and problematic media use: perceptions of caregivers of high-risk youth. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Jun 22, 2021;18(13):6725. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]83]Cronbach α=0.93, 0.80, 0.94, 0.90, and 0.91PMUM (+), screen time (+), concerns about use (+), parent-child conflict over screen media use (+), emotional regulation (+), parental media efficacy (+), and parental screen addiction (+); PMUM-SF predicts psychosocial functioning over and above screen time; acceptable fit in CFA (RMSEA=0.085; CFI=0.961; SRMRs=0.024); and measurement invariance between boys and girls indicated that factor structure is the same for both groups.tToddlers, preschool and school-aged children, and adolescents
PMPUSuA parent report measure of problematic mobile phone use
  • Deprivation
  • Adverse outcomes
  • Control problems
  • Interaction avoidance
26The original version of the scale was aimed at university students. Items were generated based on interviews/open-ended questions with students. PMPUS was adapted for children through a focus group discussion with experts.2016[Abdullah NN, Mohamed S, Abu Bakar K, Satari N. The influence of sociodemographic factors on mobile device use among young children in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Children (Basel). Feb 08, 2022;9(2):228. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]39]Cronbach α=0.90 (factors from 0.90 to 0.91)Early exposure (–), Instrumental use (+), Emotion regulation (+); EFA found the listed 4 factorsPreschool children
PCIATwA parent report measure of child’s internet addiction
  • —x
20 (21)The original version of the test was aimed at adolescents. A total of 5 items were removed as they were not relevant for preschool children.2016[Wu CS, Fowler C, Lam WY, Wong HT, Wong CH, Yuen Loke A. Parenting approaches and digital technology use of preschool age children in a Chinese community. Ital J Pediatr. May 07, 2014;40:44. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]52]ICC=0.92Panel of experts confirmed content validity (CVI=0.989)Preschool children
SMALLQyA parent report measure of digital media habits of children, which can be used to monitor changes over time
  • Digital media environment at home
  • Parent digital media habits
  • Child digital media habits (ie, outside of preschool)
  • Parent perception of digital media use
  • Parent concerns
  • Parent awareness of guidelines
  • “Pon-digital (physical and playing) habits”
25Items were based on reviewed literature, focus group, and cognitive interviews2019[Chia MY, Tay LY, Chua TB. The development of an online surveillance of digital media use in early childhood questionnaire- SMALLQ™- for Singapore. Monten J Sports Sci Med. Sep 01, 2019;8(2):77-80. [CrossRef]84]Acceptable face and content validity as judged by 4 independent expertsPreschool children
ScreenQ surveyA parent report measure of adherence to AAP recommendations for media use in childhood
  • Access to screens
  • Frequency of use
  • Content viewed
  • Coviewing
15The conceptual model for the ScreenQ survey was derived from aspects of media use cited in current AAP recommendations.2020[Hutton JS, Huang G, Sahay RD, DeWitt T, Ittenbach RF. A novel, composite measure of screen-based media use in young children (ScreenQ) and associations with parenting practices and cognitive abilities. Pediatr Res. Jun 2020;87(7):1211-1218. [CrossRef] [Medline]58,Hutton JS, Dudley J, Horowitz-Kraus T, DeWitt T, Holland SK. Associations between screen-based media use and brain white matter integrity in preschool-aged children. JAMA Pediatr. Jan 01, 2020;174(1):e193869. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]60]Cronbach α=0.74Criterion-related validity referenced to external standards of child cognitive skills and home cognitive environmentPreschool children
S-scalez for childrenA parent report measure used for screening of problematic smartphone use in children
  • Self-control failure
  • Salience
  • Serious consequences
9The scale was based on the SAPSaa, which was developed based on clinical experiences, research findings, and previous diagnostic instruments.2016[Park JH, Park M. Smartphone use patterns and problematic smartphone use among preschool children. PLoS One. 2021;16(3):e0244276. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]61]Cronbach α=0.80Screen time (+), tv/video watching (+)Preschool children
Addiction measurement tools of measuring smartphone addiction of children and adolescentsA parent report measure of child’s smartphone addiction tendencies
  • Interference with daily life
  • Voluntary isolation
  • Need for compulsory control
  • Personality distortion
182011[Cho KS, Lee JM. Influence of smartphone addiction proneness of young children on problematic behaviors and emotional intelligence: mediating self-assessment effects of parents using smartphones. Comput Hum Behav. Jan 2017;66:303-311. [CrossRef]66]Cronbach α=0.66 to 0.90 for factorsCFA loading levels between 0.59 and 0.80Preschool children
PTUS-YCabA parent report measure of child’s problematic technology use
  • Continuity of use
  • Resistance to control
  • Effect on development
  • Deprivation escape
26Items were based on reviewed literature and criteria for internet addiction2022[Konca AS, Baltaci Ö, Akbulut Ö. Problematic technology use scale for young children (PTUS-YC): validity and reliability study. Int J Assess Tools Educ. 2022;9(2):267-289. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef]85]Cronbach α=0.94 (factors from 0.88 to 0.94)EFA: 4 factors with factor loadings between 0.37 and 0.83. AVE for factors from 0.41 to 0.60. CFA: 4 factor structure – RMSEA=0.076, NFI=0.871, CFI=0.906, IFI=0.907, SRMR=0.071Preschool children
SAS-SVacA parent report measure of proneness to problematic smartphone use
  • Daily life disturbance
  • Positive anticipation
  • Withdrawal
  • Cyberspace-oriented relationship
  • Overuse
  • Tolerance
10SAS (used for adolescents) was adapted to be suitable for young children2013[Yang H, Ng WQ, Yang Y, Yang S. Inconsistent media mediation and problematic smartphone use in preschoolers: maternal conflict resolution styles as moderators. Children (Basel). May 31, 2022;9(6):816. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]55]Cronbach α=0.91Inconsistent mediation (+), restricted use (–)Preschool children
QQ-MediaSEEDadA parent report on quantity and quality of digital media use for bilingual children aged 3 to 6 y
  • Demographics
  • Digital media use
  • Parental mediation
Inspired by existing tools2022[Sun H, Lim V, Low J, Kee S. The development of a parental questionnaire (QQ-MediaSEED) on bilingual children's quantity and quality of digital media use at home. Acta Psychol (Amst). Sep 2022;229:103668. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]86]Cronbach α for each subdimension were 0.83, 0.84, 0.90 and 0.84Appropriate face validity as judged by stakeholders. PCAae shows two components “restriction” and “instruction, supervision, and co-use”Preschool children
YC-CGDafA parent report measure of computer gaming disorder symptoms in young children

11Substance-related addiction criteria of ICD-10ag2017[Harrison K, Couture Bue A. Media sensory curation and family media conflict: replication and validation of short-form measures. Media Psychol. May 14, 2020;24(4):538-561. [CrossRef]82]Cronbach α=0.83Principal component analysis: One component solution, 38.2% variance explained. Acceptable PCA factor loadingsPreschool children, school-aged children
Video Game Engagement in Children QuestionnaireA parent report measure of video game engagement
  • Interest in the activity
  • Focus during play
  • Challenges in discontinuation
  • Social disengagement
19Original set of items reduced based on EFA and CFA results2023[Xu K, Geng S, Dou D, Liu X. Relations between video game engagement and social development in children: the mediating role of executive function and age-related moderation. Behav Sci (Basel). Oct 11, 2023;13(10):833. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]87,Qu F, Niu X, Huang H, Liu X. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the Chinese young children’s video-gaming questionnaire. In: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on HCI in Games: Experience Design and Game Mechanics. 2021. Presented at: HCI-Games 2021; July 24-29, 2021; Virtual Event. [CrossRef]88]Cronbach α=0.93, Cronbach α of each subdimension were 0.86, 0.82, 0.80, and 0.86EFA: 4 factors, CFA: CMIN/(df)=4.8, RMSEA=0.07, CFI=0.91, TLIah=0.90, and SRMR=0.058Preschool and school-aged children
SASC-PaiA parent report measure of a child’s smartphone addiction
  • Smartphone dependence
  • Psychological ill health
  • Physical ill health
  • Academic performance
  • Social relationship
  • Family relationship
24Domains of smartphone addiction were proposed based on previous studies detailing the diagnostic criteria for smartphone addiction2021[Domoff SE, Borgen AL, Wilke N, Hiles Howard A. Adverse childhood experiences and problematic media use: perceptions of caregivers of high-risk youth. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Jun 22, 2021;18(13):6725. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]83]Cronbach α=0.97 (0.82-0.91 for domains), test-retest reliability was 0.96 (0.68-0.85 for domains)PCA was used to establish domains. Each domain included items with>0.30 factor loadings. Content validity was examined by an expert panel of 4 psychiatrists and 4 psychologists. A focus group was identified to establish face validity.Preschool and school-aged children and adolescents

aCFA: confirmatory factor analysis.

bCMIN: minimum discrepancy of confirmatory factor analysis.

cGFI: goodness of fit index.

dCFI: comparative fit index.

eRMSEA: root mean square error of approximation.

fDSEQ: Digital Screen Exposure Questionnaire.

gICC: intraclass coefficient.

hAAP: American Academy of Pediatrics.

i(+): positive correlation.

jEFA: exploratory factor analysis.

kQuestionnaire not accessible.

lNFI: normal fit index.

mIFI: incremental fit index.

nTFI: total fit index.

oPMUM: Problematic Media Use Measure.

pIGD: internet gaming disorder.

qDSM-5: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition).

rPMUM-SF: Problematic Media Use Measure–Short Form.

sSRMR: standardized root mean square residual.

tData regarding the incremental validity, model fit, and measurement invariance of the PMUM-SF and PMUM were gathered on children aged 4 to 11 years and 4 to 14 years.

uPMPUS: Problematic Mobile Phone Use Scale.

vThe negative sign indicates negative correlation.

wPCIAT: parent-child internet addiction test.

xData not available.

ySMALLQ: Surveillance of digital media habits in early childhood questionnaire.

zS-Scale: Smartphone Overdependence Scale.

aaSAPS: Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale.

abPTUS-YC: Problematic Technology Use Scale for Young Children.

acSAS-SV: Smartphone Addiction Scale-short version.

adQQ-MediaSEED: Quantity and Quality of Media Screens in Early Education and Development.

aePCA: principal component analysis.

afYC-CGD: young children computer gaming disorder.

agICD-10: International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision.

ahTLI: Tucker-Lewis index.

aiSASC-P: Smartphone Addiction Scale-Parent version.

Content, Factors, and Background

Interestingly, of the 18 instruments, 7 (39%) primarily targeted behavioral patterns of children’s DT use and were named “media use” or “exposure” measures [Hutton JS, Huang G, Sahay RD, DeWitt T, Ittenbach RF. A novel, composite measure of screen-based media use in young children (ScreenQ) and associations with parenting practices and cognitive abilities. Pediatr Res. Jun 2020;87(7):1211-1218. [CrossRef] [Medline]58,Hutton JS, Dudley J, Horowitz-Kraus T, DeWitt T, Holland SK. Associations between screen-based media use and brain white matter integrity in preschool-aged children. JAMA Pediatr. Jan 01, 2020;174(1):e193869. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]60,Yalçin SS, Tezol Ö, Çaylan N, Erat Nergiz M, Yildiz D, Çiçek Ş, et al. Evaluation of problematic screen exposure in pre-schoolers using a unique tool called "seven-in-seven screen exposure questionnaire": cross-sectional study. BMC Pediatr. Oct 25, 2021;21(1):472. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]63,Kaur N, Gupta M, Kiran T, Malhi P, Grover S. Development and evaluation of the digital-screen exposure questionnaire (DSEQ) for young children. PLoS One. Jun 22, 2021;16(6):e0253313. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]79,Geng S, Xu K, Liu X. Association between electronic media use and internalizing problems: the mediating effect of parent-child conflict and moderating effect of children's age. Behav Sci (Basel). Aug 21, 2023;13(8):694. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]80,Chia MY, Tay LY, Chua TB. The development of an online surveillance of digital media use in early childhood questionnaire- SMALLQ™- for Singapore. Monten J Sports Sci Med. Sep 01, 2019;8(2):77-80. [CrossRef]84,Sun H, Lim V, Low J, Kee S. The development of a parental questionnaire (QQ-MediaSEED) on bilingual children's quantity and quality of digital media use at home. Acta Psychol (Amst). Sep 2022;229:103668. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]86-Qu F, Niu X, Huang H, Liu X. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the Chinese young children’s video-gaming questionnaire. In: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on HCI in Games: Experience Design and Game Mechanics. 2021. Presented at: HCI-Games 2021; July 24-29, 2021; Virtual Event. [CrossRef]88]. The other 11 (61%) instruments could be said to measure symptoms, or consequences, of a presumed underlying condition, and 7 (39%) of these were self-declared as measures of either “addiction,” “disorder,” “overdependence,” or “problematic use” [Abdullah NN, Mohamed S, Abu Bakar K, Satari N. The influence of sociodemographic factors on mobile device use among young children in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Children (Basel). Feb 08, 2022;9(2):228. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]39,Wu CS, Fowler C, Lam WY, Wong HT, Wong CH, Yuen Loke A. Parenting approaches and digital technology use of preschool age children in a Chinese community. Ital J Pediatr. May 07, 2014;40:44. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]52,Yang H, Ng WQ, Yang Y, Yang S. Inconsistent media mediation and problematic smartphone use in preschoolers: maternal conflict resolution styles as moderators. Children (Basel). May 31, 2022;9(6):816. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]55,Coyne SM, Rogers A, Holmgren HG, Booth MA, Van Alfen M, Harris H, et al. Masters of media: a longitudinal study of parental media efficacy, media monitoring, and child problematic media use across early childhood in the United States. J Child Media. 2023;17(3):318-335. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]56,Anitha FS, Narasimhan U, Janakiraman A, Janakarajan N, Tamilselvan P. Association of digital media exposure and addiction with child development and behavior: a cross-sectional study. Ind Psychiatry J. 2021;30(2):265-271. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]59,Park JH, Park M. Smartphone use patterns and problematic smartphone use among preschool children. PLoS One. 2021;16(3):e0244276. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]61,Coyne SM, Shawcroft J, Gale M, Gentile DA, Etherington JT, Holmgren H, et al. Tantrums, toddlers and technology: temperament, media emotion regulation, and problematic media use in early childhood. Comput Human Behav. Jul 2021;120:106762. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]62,Li H, Luo W, He H. Association of parental screen addiction with young children's screen addiction: a chain-mediating model. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Oct 06, 2022;19(19):12788. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]64,Cho KS, Lee JM. Influence of smartphone addiction proneness of young children on problematic behaviors and emotional intelligence: mediating self-assessment effects of parents using smartphones. Comput Hum Behav. Jan 2017;66:303-311. [CrossRef]66,Dwairej DA, Obeidat HM, Alfarajat EM, Dwairej LA. Translation and psychometric testing of the Arabic version of the problematic media use measure short form for children. Hum Behav Emerg Technol. May 29, 2022;2022:1-8. [CrossRef]67,Ozyurt G, Dinsever Elikucuk C. Relation of language features with maternal depression, family functioning, and digital technology usage in children with developmental language delay–comparison with healthy controls. Dusunen Adam. 2017;30(4):299-308. [CrossRef]73,Yildirim M, Yayan EH. Development study of 2-5 age Technology Addiction Scale (TAS). Arch Psychiatr Nurs. Apr 2023;43:111-117. [CrossRef] [Medline]78,Domoff SE, Harrison K, Gearhardt AN, Gentile DA, Lumeng JC, Miller AL. Development and validation of the problematic media use measure: a parent report measure of screen media "addiction" in children. Psychol Pop Media Cult. Jan 2019;8(1):2-11. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]81-Domoff SE, Borgen AL, Wilke N, Hiles Howard A. Adverse childhood experiences and problematic media use: perceptions of caregivers of high-risk youth. Int J Environ Res Public Health. Jun 22, 2021;18(13):6725. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]83,Konca AS, Baltaci Ö, Akbulut Ö. Problematic technology use scale for young children (PTUS-YC): validity and reliability study. Int J Assess Tools Educ. 2022;9(2):267-289. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef]85,Rajendhiran G, Ramasubramanian V, Bijulakshmi P, Mathumathi S, Kannan M. Development and validation of the smartphone addiction scale for children- parent version (SASC-P). J Clin Diagn Res. 2021;15(7):VC06-VC10. [CrossRef]89,Paulus FW, Sinzig J, Mayer H, Weber M, von Gontard A. Computer gaming disorder and ADHD in young children—a population-based study. Int J Ment Health Addict. Nov 30, 2017;16(5):1193-1207. [CrossRef]90]. Looking at the proposed factors and content categories of the instruments in Table 3, there is a great deal of variety: no 2 instruments (except Problematic Media Use Measure, which exists in a longer and shorter form) shared the same set of factors or content categories. Factors ranged from typical behavioral addiction symptoms (eg, preoccupation, tolerance, and continued use despite problems); various consequences of DT use (ie, “physical ill health,” “adverse outcomes,” and “effect on development”); behavioral patterns (ie, frequency of DT use and DT use before sleep); psychological constructs (ie, “cyberspace-oriented relationship,” “personality distortion,” and “implicit attitudes”); characteristics of the environment (ie, “digital media environment at home”); parental behaviors and attitudes (ie, parental DT use and awareness); and others. In terms of the theoretical background, 61% (11/18) of the instruments derived the item content, at least in part, from the literature on adolescents or adults.

Reliability and Validity

Of 18 instruments, 11 (66%) reported adequate reliability according to the values of reliability coefficients, which were >0.70, 4 (22%) did not report any measures of reliability, and 2 (11%) reported low reliability, on at least 1 factor. The most commonly used instrument (PMUM-SF) also contained the most information regarding its validity, such as structural validity, criterion validity, and measurement invariance. The information supporting the validity of all other instruments was partial at best.


Shortcomings of Existing PDTU Instruments

Our scoping review showed that there are many patterns of children’s interaction with DTs beyond quantity of use, which can be seen as problematic in terms of their potential for negative consequences for children. It seems that PDTU should be understood as a multifaceted construct containing much more than excessiveness of use. A crucial observation we made during our review is the distinction between conceptualizing PDTU as a group of risky behaviors (ie, various ways of using DTs), which are likely to lead to negative outcomes, or as a group of symptoms of a presumed underlying condition (ie, addiction to DT). Existing composite measures for PDTU (ie, scales and questionnaires) have represented both conceptualizations, with the symptom view being more common. However, when proposing symptoms of a new disorder, the primary information source should, in our view, be clinical observations of multiple experienced mental health professionals working with young children. Instead, items of the reviewed PDTU instruments have mostly been generated based on reviewing the literature, commonly from established behavioral addictions in adolescents or adults, or through adapting established instruments intended for older children. In some cases, clinicians were later consulted to propose any necessary changes to items.

The PMUM-SF was the most commonly used instrument in empirical research and consists of various “symptoms” of problematic use in line with other reviews [Hadi AA, Roslan SR. Tools to assess screen-related dependency in children: a narrative review of validated questionnaires. Malays J Med Health Sci. May 2022;18(3):174-178. [FREE Full text]120]. It was shown to be adequately reliable and correlated with various PDTU measures, while there is also some evidence regarding its structural validity and ability to predict relevant outcomes. However, some arguments against its validity can be made. First, its content is based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–fifth edition criteria for internet gaming disorder [American PA. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5-TR. Washington, DC. American Psychiatric Association Publishing; 2022. 121], for which there is a lack of expert consensus [Griffiths MD, van Rooij AJ, Kardefelt-Winther D, Starcevic V, Király O, Pallesen S, et al. Working towards an international consensus on criteria for assessing internet gaming disorder: a critical commentary on Petry et al. (2014). Addiction. Jan 16, 2016;111(1):167-175. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]122]; in fact, several of them (eg, tolerance, withdrawal, and deceiving others) were later discarded from the International Classification of Diseases–11th edition definition of gaming disorder [ICD-11 for mortality and morbidity statistics. World Health Organization. 2024. URL: https://icd.who.int/browse/2024-01/mms/en [accessed 2025-02-23] 123]. Second, the concept of PDTU extends beyond the realm of gaming and is, therefore, likely to manifest differently. Third, the criteria for internet gaming disorder were proposed for the adult or adolescent population and should not be expected to function well for the population of preschool children. Finally, Problematic Media Use Measure was originally validated on a sample of children aged 4 to 11 years, or even up to 14 years, for which significant diversity of PDTU can be expected. Unsurprisingly, some of its factors seem inappropriate for preschool children (eg, “jeopardized or lost a relationship or had compromised functioning in school due to use” and “continued use despite psychosocial problems”). Looking at the other 17 reviewed measures, both comprehensiveness and justifications for their proposed content or factor structure, as well as the presented evidence regarding the instruments’ validity, leave much to be desired. In our view, current evidence does not yet point toward a single comprehensive, reliable, and valid measurement tool for any of the 2 PDTU conceptualizations we observed in infants, toddlers, or preschool children.

Risky Behaviors Versus Addiction Symptoms

Remaining consistent with our proposed definition of PDTU as any pattern of DT use that interferes with children’s functioning, we argue for defining PDTU through a collection of risky behaviors. This approach offers several benefits. First, focusing research efforts on developing, measuring, testing, and refining the PDTU concept in this way would yield valuable insights into the most significant ways children use DTs to their detriment. From a public health perspective, this focus has great potential to aid prevention efforts aimed at reducing the incidence of PDTU in children and the harm it causes. With high-quality evidence about the risks associated with specific DT practices, the effectiveness of awareness campaigns among parents and the screening of children for risky behaviors could be greatly improved. In contrast, adopting the addiction view of PDTU would do little to identify preventable DT practices causing harm, while screening for “addiction” symptoms would likely identify children with significant impairments in functioning, which is a notably delayed point from a prevention standpoint.

Summary of Reviewed Single-Item Measures

Overview

Besides existing instruments, this review uncovered many potential single-item measures of PDTU. Notably, patterns of DT use are rarely directly observed in empirical research; instead, most (89/95, 94%) identified measures exclusively consisted of parents or caretakers recollecting their children’s behavior over a certain period. Similar findings have previously been reported [Beynon A, Hendry D, Lund Rasmussen C, Rohl AL, Eynon R, Thomas G, et al. Measurement method options to investigate digital screen technology use by children and adolescents: a narrative review. Children (Basel). Jun 21, 2024;11(7):754. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]124]. Parent reports can be biased, as 1 study showed that parental reporting of coviewing, screen time limits, and active mediation were all significantly higher than the reports of their school-aged children for the same measures [Gentile DA, Nathanson AI, Rasmussen EE, Reimer RA, Walsh DA. Do you see what I see? Parent and child reports of parental monitoring of media. Fam Relat. Jun 2012;61(3):470-487. [CrossRef]125]. Still, parental reporting is considered accurate for screening and assessment of young children, especially for observable behaviors [Diamond KE, Squires J. The role of parental report in the screening and assessment of young children. J Early Interv. Apr 01, 1993;17(2):107-115. [CrossRef]126] and is the most practical solution for children aged 0 to 6 years. In the subsequent sections, we provide some insights regarding key PDTU measures, which should be considered by both professionals and researchers when attempting to comprehensively assess children’s PDTU.

Early Exposure

Measures of early exposure to DTs have been operationalized as either age of first DT use or the amount of use before a certain age (eg, screen time before the age of 1 year or 2 years). Our review examined multiple (8/95, 8%) studies where associations between early exposure and the likelihood of undesirable outcomes (eg, poor cognitive development and eyesight issues) were found, which included 2 longitudinal studies. Within the literature not included in this review, sleep problems and obesity were also highlighted as outcomes of early exposure [Wolf C, Wolf S, Weiss M, Nino G. Children's environmental health in the digital era: understanding early screen exposure as a preventable risk factor for obesity and sleep disorders. Children (Basel). Feb 23, 2018;5(2):31. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]127]. Interestingly, higher family income and parental education were associated with earlier first exposure to DTs, contrary to the findings of Kılıç et al [Kılıç AO, Sari E, Yucel H, Oğuz MM, Polat E, Acoglu EA, et al. Exposure to and use of mobile devices in children aged 1-60 months. Eur J Pediatr. Feb 2019;178(2):221-227. [CrossRef] [Medline]128]. Considered together, these findings suggest that early exposure is one of the more evidence-based PDTU measures currently available and should be considered in any assessment of children’s PDTU.

Device Use Before Sleep and Devices in the Bedroom

Device use before sleep referred to the frequency of DT use before going to bed, typically within 1 hour of bedtime. Devices in the bedroom are operationalized as the number of usable digital devices present in the room where the child sleeps. Although the latter is a less-direct measure of children’s DT use, it was included in our review due to the reasoning that the presence of digital devices in the bedroom leads to a higher likelihood of unsupervised DT use or a higher likelihood of DT use before bed. In our reviewed studies, both measures were found to be associated with multiple measures of sleep quality. This finding was consistent with research showing the effect of these same PDTU measures on sleep quality in preadolescents and adolescents [Bruni O, Sette S, Fontanesi L, Baiocco R, Laghi F, Baumgartner E. Technology use and sleep quality in preadolescence and adolescence. J Clin Sleep Med. Dec 15, 2015;11(12):1433-1441. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]129,Lund L, Sølvhøj IN, Danielsen D, Andersen S. Electronic media use and sleep in children and adolescents in western countries: a systematic review. BMC Public Health. Sep 30, 2021;21(1):1598. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]130]. Particularly, due to the likelihood of their effect on sleep, we suggest including at least 1 of these 2 measures in the process of children’s PDTU assessment.

Couse or Solitary Use and Instructed Use

Cousing DTs, or rather, a lack of cousing, was one of the more common PDTU measures and refers to the extent to which DTs are used together with caregivers or siblings, sometimes as the ratio of total screen time. Cousing was positively associated with multiple measures of language development and with social development. The positive association between cousing and learning has also been found in previous studies [Taylor G, Sala G, Kolak J, Gerhardstein P, Lingwood J. Does adult-child co-use during digital media use improve children's learning aged 0–6 years? A systematic review with meta-analysis. Educ Res Rev. Aug 2024;44:100614. [CrossRef]131]. Cousing was negatively associated with a child’s emotional liability, indicating the potential benefits of cousing DTs on the one hand and the risk of children’s solitary use on the other hand. A related PDTU measure was instructed use, that is, the frequency of parents helping children understand and navigate through digital content with the help of instructions and explanations, which can be considered a cousing measure as well. Instructed use in the first 2 years of life was associated with cognitive development at the age of 2, 3, and 4 years in a longitudinal study [Supanitayanon S, Trairatvorakul P, Chonchaiya W. Screen media exposure in the first 2 years of life and preschool cognitive development: a longitudinal study. Pediatr Res. Dec 2020;88(6):894-902. [CrossRef] [Medline]32] but not with any other outcomes. On the basis of these findings, we suggest including some measure of cousing DTs into the process of assessing children’s PDTU, whether in the form of general couse or instructed use. Alternatively, the amount of unsupervised, solitary DT use may also be worth exploring as an operationalization of the same concept.

Device Use During Meals

Of 95 studies, 10 (11%) measured the frequency of DT use during mealtime. Only 1 (1%) study reported a positive correlation with weight, and another reported a correlation with feeding difficulties and time spent eating. The 2 other correlates (ie, difficult temperament and poor motor development) were less likely to be direct consequences of device use during meals. While these findings on preschool children were hardly conclusive, an experimental study on children aged 9 to 12 years [Temple JL, Giacomelli AM, Kent KM, Roemmich JN, Epstein LH. Television watching increases motivated responding for food and energy intake in children. Am J Clin Nutr. Feb 2007;85(2):355-361. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]132] showed that children watching television while eating spent more time eating and consumed more calories than children in the control group, indicating device use during meals disrupts habituation and often leads to higher energy intake. This finding was also supported by a cross-sectional study [Jusienė R, Urbonas V, Laurinaitytė I, Rakickienė L, Breidokienė R, Kuzminskaitė M, et al. Screen use during meals among young children: exploration of associated variables. Medicina (Kaunas). Oct 14, 2019;55(10):688. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]133]. Thus, researchers and professionals assessing PDTU may want to consider including a measure of device use during meals in the PDTU assessment process.

Technoference

Technoference is a relatively new concept and refers to the frequency of interruptions in parent-child interaction due to DT use. Despite being studied in only 2% (2/95) of the papers, technoference in a parent-child relationship showed significant associations with behavioral problems, psychosocial difficulties, and lower prosociality of the child. These findings are consistent with previous studies [McDaniel BT, Radesky JS. Technoference: parent distraction with technology and associations with child behavior problems. Child Dev. Jan 2018;89(1):100-109. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]134,McDaniel BT, Radesky JS. Technoference: longitudinal associations between parent technology use, parenting stress, and child behavior problems. Pediatr Res. Aug 2018;84(2):210-218. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]135]. Importantly, 1 (1%) paper [Sundqvist A, Heimann M, Koch FS. Relationship between family technoference and behavior problems in children aged 4-5 years. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. Jun 2020;23(6):371-376. [CrossRef] [Medline]76] distinguished between technoference due to a child’s DT use and technoference due to a parent’s DT use. In our review, only the former was considered a measure of children’s PDTU. These initial findings suggest that technoference may present an important aspect of PDTU and should be studied further.

Restricted Use

One of the most commonly studied single-item measures, restricted use, often called restrictive mediation, refers to parents’ use of rules and restrictions regarding their child’s DT use. Contrary to our expectations, more restricted use was associated with 2 negative rather than positive outcomes. On the other hand, restricted use was associated with less-problematic use in 2% (2/95) of the studies, one of which was longitudinal. Furthermore, some other studies suggested positive consequences of restrictive mediation [Lee SJ. Parental restrictive mediation of children’s internet use: effective for what and for whom? New Media Soc. Jul 13, 2012;15(4):466-481. [CrossRef]136]. We propose that these inconsistent correlations may be due to cases where parents manage to limit children’s DT use more spontaneously or due to parents being more likely to resort to explicit rules and restrictions once their children’s behavior becomes problematic. While setting explicit rules and restrictions regarding children’s DT use is generally considered good advice to parents, the absence of such explicit rules and restrictions may not work well as a measure of PDTU. Finally, this finding suggests that less-direct measures of PDTU, such as restrictive mediation, which primarily measures parent behavior, may be inadvisable.

Purpose of DT Use

Quite commonly, researchers asked parents and caregivers regarding the purpose for which devices were given to children (eg, for education, entertainment, regulation of a child’s emotions, or practical purposes). Using DTs for emotional regulation yielded significant longitudinal relations with a child’s emotional stability in 1 study, which was also found in studies on adolescents [Amendola S, Spensieri V, Guidetti V, Cerutti R. The relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and dysfunctional technology use among adolescents. J Psychopathol. 2019;25(1):10-17.137]. Because using substances or behaviors to improve one’s mood is also among the criteria for many addictions, this PDTU measure should certainly be considered and explored further. Educational use, use for entertainment, and instrumental use did not turn out to be effective predictors of negative outcomes for children, as only one such outcome was found across these 4 PDTU measures. As mentioned earlier, we propose that this is due to them being less-direct measures of children’s PDTU, through which children’s PDTU might be deduced. A potential issue with purpose-of-use measures is that despite providing insight into how children use DTs at the start of the session, the pattern of their interaction with DTs may change soon after, regardless of parents’ initial intentions.

Background Exposure

Only 1 (14%) out of 7 studies, which included a measure of background exposure (ie, the amount of child’s passive exposure to DTs, turned on in the background), reported associations with negative outcomes. One potential issue with this measure may be that, since children likely switch between active and passive exposure quite commonly, it is probably difficult for parents to keep track of, recollect, and accurately assess background exposure.

Consequences of Device Use

PDTU measures that described mostly short-term consequences of DT use, such as emotional reactivity, perceived effects of device use, conflict due to device use, and concerns about a child’s device use, did not yield any correlations with undesirable outcomes. While this is almost certainly due to the limited number of studies testing such associations, a potential issue of these variables as measures of PDTU is that the likelihood of various consequences always depends on factors beyond patterns of DT use, such as child temperament, parents’ personality traits and attitudes, and family dynamics.

Other Measures

For other PDTU measures, listed in Table 2, fewer or no findings regarding their associations with negative outcomes, other PDTU measures, or demographic factors were found. Since this may have been due to the lack of empirical work using these measures, more research is suggested to conclude their usefulness and predictive potential.

Practical Implications

The findings of this review provide valuable insights into the concept of PDTU and how it should be measured and can thus serve a wide range of stakeholders, such as researchers, public mental health professionals, clinicians, educational professionals, policy makers, and others. The highlighted shortcomings of existing PDTU measures indicate the need for comprehensive, evidence-based, and standardized tools to assess early PDTU. The lack of such a tool challenges comparisons across studies and limits the development of evidence-based interventions, which has also been emphasized by other researchers [Rega V, Gioia F, Boursier V. Problematic media use among children up to the age of 10: a systematic literature review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. May 17, 2023;20(10):5854. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]23,Hadi AA, Roslan SR. Tools to assess screen-related dependency in children: a narrative review of validated questionnaires. Malays J Med Health Sci. May 2022;18(3):174-178. [FREE Full text]120]. Therefore, the results of our study can serve researchers as a basis for the development of age-appropriate measurement tools, that is, tools targeting preschool children specifically, instead of adapting measurement tools intended for adolescents or adults. Moreover, the key criteria that these tools should follow are to measure PDTU as a group of risky behaviors rather than addiction symptoms since the former provides more benefits regarding identifying and mitigating harm. Furthermore, these findings can serve as a foundation for designing informed longitudinal studies to identify causal relationships among DT use behaviors and related long-term outcomes and to better monitor PDTU in the most susceptible populations, that is, infants, toddlers, and preschool children.

Furthermore, the results of this study can serve researchers and clinicians collaborating to develop assessment tools that ensure that symptoms and behaviors reflect clinical realities. The findings can enhance screening practices and inform clinicians on how to effectively include PDTU screening in routine developmental assessments to support early identification of potentially risky behaviors (eg, bedtime use, solitary use, or the use of DT for emotional regulation). Early identification and intervention can mitigate potential negative outcomes, such as developmental delays and mental health problems. In terms of policy and public health implications, the findings of the review can inform policy makers to support and promote the establishment, implementation, and advocacy of guidelines on DT use and the development and establishment of policies promoting healthy digital habits, especially for at-risk children and families. Meanwhile, public mental health specialists can use these results to design and implement targeted public health interventions, such as awareness campaigns and programs aimed at educating families about the potential risks associated with specific DT use practices.

Limitations

A key limitation of the findings resulting from our scoping review is the relative absence of firm evidence regarding the effects of any patterns of PDTU and certain undesirable outcomes. On the one hand, experimental and longitudinal research in this area is scarce, which means the conclusions are mainly based on correlational data from cross-sectional studies. On the other hand, even cross-sectional studies including PDTU measures beyond exposure are far from numerous for this population. Due to this, despite our recognition of the need to differentiate between findings and recommendations for infants, toddlers, and preschool children, we are currently unable to provide separate conclusions for each of these subgroups. In addition, due to our decision to only study measures of PDTU in children and due to most of these measures not including direct observation of behavior, a somewhat arbitrary decision had to be made regarding how indirectly a certain measure should target children’s behavior to still be considered a measure of PDTU. We expect that only a considerable amount of high-quality psychometric analyses will eventually reveal ways in which PDTU can be measured and how it cannot be. Furthermore, our scoping review did not include a search of gray literature, as we expected that useful findings regarding the negative outcomes of PDTU measures are much more likely to come from peer-reviewed scientific papers, although some measures may have been missed on this account. Finally, as the primary purpose of our scoping review was the identification and description of various PDTU measures, we did not conduct any risk of bias analysis. Still, some of our conclusions partly depend on the extent of evidence regarding each measure, and thus, evaluating the risk of bias in each source of evidence would have been an added benefit.

Conclusions

In times when digital devices are increasingly accessible and used by children from infancy onward, researchers have begun to realize that screen time is likely not the optimal or sufficient way to assess the risk of troubling outcomes due to early device use. Our scoping review showed that many different measures of PDTU in early childhood exist, focusing on much more than mere exposure. While the extent of correlational evidence suggests that many patterns of DT use may be problematic, the number of displayed longitudinal effects on adverse outcomes is still insufficient to establish firm conclusions about their detrimental effects. Nevertheless, based on the findings of reviewed empirical studies, we recommend including the following measures in any assessment of children’s PDTU: early exposure to digital devices, device use before sleep or devices in the bedroom, and cousing devices or its counterpart, solitary device use. Moreover, device use during meals, device use for emotional regulation, device multitasking, and technoference may be promising PDTU measures but would benefit from more research to confirm their predictive potential. Research regarding the effects of other PDTU measures beyond exposure is still relatively modest.

This review shows that a lot of work remains to be done to establish the key problematic patterns of DT use in early childhood and how these patterns should be measured. Using reliable, valid, and comprehensive measures in this area is a prerequisite to fully assess and gain insight into the short- and long-term impact of DTs on children’s overall well-being. We urge researchers to use more quasi-experimental and longitudinal research designs, testing the effects of particular patterns of PDTU on children’s health and well-being while keeping the ethical concerns of these studies in mind.

Acknowledgments

No funding was received to conduct this study. The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Maša Černilec from the National Institute of Public Health for her extensive support throughout the review process. Her insightful feedback and thorough contributions greatly enhanced the quality and clarity of this paper.

Authors' Contributions

ŠS and MŽ contributed to the study conception and design. The search strategy was prepared by ŠS and MŽ. MŽ, JH, and ŠS contributed to the selection of sources of evidence, data charting process, and synthesis of the results. The first draft of the manuscript was written by MŽ and ŠS, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final paper.

Conflicts of Interest

None declared.

Multimedia Appendix 1

A list of 95 publications examined in this scoping review and their basic characteristics.

DOCX File , 50 KB

Multimedia Appendix 2

PRISMA-ScR checklist.

PDF File (Adobe PDF File), 101 KB

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DT: digital technology
PDTU: problematic digital technology use
PMUM-SF: Problematic Media Use Measure–Short Form
PRISMA-ScR: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews


Edited by J Torous; submitted 24.04.24; peer-reviewed by DA Thompson, S Sheth - MD; comments to author 05.09.24; revised version received 20.12.24; accepted 07.01.25; published 18.03.25.

Copyright

©Špela Selak, Janja Horvat, Mark Žmavc. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (https://mental.jmir.org), 18.03.2025.

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