Watching the watchers: assessing the nature and extent of children’s screen time using wearable cameras

AIM: Children's screen use has increased rapidly in recent years, yet little is known about this use in real-time due to reliance on self-report or proxy data sources. Screens provide benefits such as educational content and social connection, but also pose health risks including obesity, depression, poor sleep and poor cognitive performance. In this cross-sectional observational study, we aimed to determine the nature and extent of children's after-school screen time using wearable cameras. METHOD: Children aged 11-13 years took part in the New Zealand Kids'Cam project in 2014/2015. Each child wore a camera that passively captured images of their surroundings every 7 seconds. Images from 108 children were manually coded. RESULTS: Children spent over a third of their time on screens, including over half their time after 8pm. Television accounted for the highest proportion of screen time (42.4%), followed by computers (32.0%), mobile devices (13.0%) and tablets (12.6%). Approximately 10% of children's screen time involved multiple screen use. CONCLUSION: Guidelines are needed to promote healthy screen time behaviour among children. Further research is also needed to monitor the impact of screens on children's wellbeing, including any socio-demographic differences, and to identify innovations to protect children from harm in the online space.