The Digital Media Environment and Cardiovascular Risk in Children

Abstract

Children today are exposed to multiple forms of digital media including traditional (eg, televisions, computers) and newer mobile devices (eg, smartphones, tablets, etc). As the digital media environment evolves, it is important that health care providers and policymakers adapt to develop, implement, and evaluate strategies to ameliorate its effects on health. In this article we provide an overview of the literature on the relationship between the digital media environment and cardiovascular risk factors in childhood. Existing evidence on the relationship between digital media environment and cardiovascular risk in infants, Recent observational studies have linked exposure to the digital media environment to poorer health in children. 8,9 Over the past 5 years, multiple digital media use guidelines have been published from a number of organizations including the Canadian Paediatric Society, 10,11 the World Health Organization, 12 and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). 13 Strategic efforts are also under way by the Canadian federal government to restrict the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children, 14 and several clinical trials are under way to reduce children's digital media exposure. 15-17 On the basis of trends over the past decade, 18,19 the digital media environment will continue to integrate itself into the

A influência das mídias eletrônicas na construção dos hábitos alimentares na infância: um panorama do comportamento alimentar infantil na era digital e no contexto familiar

“…O comportamento alimentar observado entre as crianças nos dias atuais tem se tornado uma das maiores preocupações da atualidade em função das taxas alarmantes de sobrepeso e obesidade que vem se desenvolvendo entre crianças e adolescentes, ocasionando vários agravos à saúde e ao bem-estar nessa faixa etária (Magalhães et al, 2020). Como resultado desses comportamentos alimentares desregulados, as crianças atualmente estão cada dia mais expostas ao perigo de se tornarem obesas e serem acometidas por doenças cardiovasculares, e outras comorbidades relacionadas (Aglipay et al, 2020).…”

“The Child Is the Father of the Man”—Pediatric Preventive Cardiology

“…Ms Aglipay et al describe how the digital media environment poses a growing threat to cardiovascular health in youth and identify priority research areas. 16 Dr Kavey reviews multiple domains of cardiovascular prevention, providing examples of how public policy has positively influenced health behaviour at a population level. 17 There is a compelling need for forward-thinking health policy development in the current era to support optimized cardiovascular health behaviours in children and youth.…”

Familial context influences media usage in 0- to 4-year old children

“…Especially social, emotional, cognitive, verbal and motor skill development as well as nutrition and sleep are negatively affected by early digital media usage (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23). Time spent with using digital media devices can displace the time usually spent with parents or other family members (24) and result in multiple negative consequences (e.g., impaired language and executive functions, impaired caregiver-child relationship, anxiety, behavioral difficulties, cardiovascular risk) especially for infants and preschool children (25)(26)(27)(28)(29). Additionally, an increasing amount of parents are using mobile devices as distractions while with their children, resulting in a lack of parenting responsiveness and quality (30,31).…”