November 16, 2024

expert reaction to an unpublished conference abstract on excessive screen time being linked to early physical development, presented at the Annual European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) Meeting 2024

An unpublished conference abstract presented at the Annual European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) Meeting 2024 looks at screen time and early physical development. 

Professor Pete Etchells, Professor of Psychology and Science Communication, Bath Spa University, UK, said:

“This is an unpublished conference presentation that has not undergone the usual checks and balances of the peer review process, and as such I don’t understand why a press release has been written for it. The press release talks about the impact of screen time on childhood development, but this study has nothing to do with screen time, or children – it is a small study of limited blue light exposure to young rats. It is simply incorrect, then, to state that “excessive screen time” has been linked to early physical development. Further, the type and intensity of light exposure used here is not easily translatable to the practical reality of how children interact with screen-based technologies. I’m therefore not clear what, if anything, this study adds in terms of informing and reassuring the very real concerns that many people have about the potential positive and negative impacts of screen-based technologies.”

The abstract ‘The Effects of Blue Light Exposure on the Epiphyseal Plate and IGF1 – IGFBP3 Expression in Rats’ Kılınç Uğurlu et al. 2024 was presented at EPSE 2024. The embargo lifted at 00:01 UK time on Saturday November 16 2024.

Declared interests

Professor Pete Etchells “Pete Etchells is the author of Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time (and how to spend it better).”