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Adolescents had more than a mean 8 hours of screen time in the early pandemic period, almost doubling pre-pandemic totals, researchers found.

A of 5,412 adolescents found that mean screen time rose to 7.7 hours/day from pre-pandemic estimates of 3.8 hours/day at baseline, reported Jason Nagata, MD, of University of California San Francisco, and colleagues.

Moreover, adjusted models found that mental health and greater perceived stress were significantly associated with higher screen time, while more social support and coping behaviors were significantly associated with lower screen time, they wrote in a research letter.

They noted that the stay-at-home orders, online learning, and social distancing requirements have contributed to adolescents' increased use of digital media, but that "this has not yet been explored using U.S. data."

The authors used data from the cross-sectional May 2020 COVID-19 survey from the . Most adolescents were ages 12-13, and screen time was self-reported.

Overall, the sample was 51% girls, and 61% white. Of the 7.7 mean hours of screen time, the most was spent on streaming videos, movies, or TV shows (2.42 hours/day), followed by multiple-player gaming (1.44 hours/day) and single-player gaming (1.17 hours/day).

There were differences by race and ethnicity, however, with Black adolescents recording the highest mean screen time (10.06 hours/day), and white adolescents recording the lowest (6.60 hours/day). The authors suggested these disparities could be due in part to "structural and systemic racism-driven factors," which were "amplified" during the pandemic.

However, the cohort was compared to themselves at an earlier time point, so "younger age and slightly different screen time categories could account for differences," according to Nagata's group.

"Despite the gradual reversal of quarantine restrictions, studies have suggested that screen use may remain persistently elevated," they said, adding that because the data was self-reported, and adolescents tend to "multi-task" on different screens at once, this total may be an overestimate.

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