Peer-reviewed article
Emerging Digital Generations? Impacts of Child Digital Use on Mental and Socioemotional Well-Being across Two Cohorts in Ireland, 2007–2018
Melissa Bohnert, Pablo Gracia ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study compared how digital technology use affected Irish children's well-being across two groups: 9-year-olds in 2007–08 and 9-year-olds in 2017–18. Digital engagement patterns changed significantly, with newer cohorts using more social media and devices while older cohorts watched more TV. Children spending more than 3 hours daily on screen activities showed worse socioemotional outcomes, with stronger negative effects in the recent cohort. The relationship between screen time and well-being was consistent across different gender and socioeconomic groups.
Key points
- In 2017/18, children were more active in digital devices and social media compared to the 2007/08 cohort, which spent more time watching TV
- More than 3 daily hours on TV/digital activities was associated with significant declines in child socioemotional well-being in both cohorts, with stronger effects in 2017/18
- Media engagement specifically (but not all forms of digital engagement) was linked to moderate declines in socioemotional well-being in both time periods
- Gender and socioeconomic background influenced patterns of media and digital engagement, but did not moderate the negative effects on well-being
Limitations
The study is correlational and cannot establish causation; it measures only socioemotional well-being and does not capture other dimensions of child well-being. The cross-sectional design within each cohort prevents understanding of individual-level changes over time.
Abstract
Abstract Despite the growing body of literature on how digital technologies impact child well-being, previous research has provided little evidence on recent digital trends. This paper examines the patterns and effects of digital use on child socioemotional well-being across two cohorts of children grown up ten years apart during the ‘digital age’: the 1998 cohort (interviewed in 2007/08) and the 2008 cohort (interviewed in 2017/18). Multivariate linear regression models were conducted for these two cohorts from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study, a multi-cohort longitudinal study with rich comparable data on a large sample of 9-year olds ( N = 13,203). Results show that (i) in 2017/18 children were more active in digital devices and social media, while in 2007/2008 children spent more time watching TV and adopted less diversified forms of media engagement; (ii) spending more than 3 daily hours on TV/digital activities was associated with significant declines in child socioemotional well-being, while such effects were stronger in 2017/18 than in 2007/08; (iii) media engagement (but not other forms of digital engagement) was associated with moderate declines in socioemotional well-being, both in 2007/08 and in 2017/18; (iv) while children’s media and digital engagement differed by the child gender and socioeconomic background, none of these variables moderated the effects of digital use on children’s socioemotional well-being, neither in 2007/08 nor in 2017/18. Overall, the study reveals persistence, but also some important changes, in recent trends on children’s digital use and its impact on socioemotional well-being in Ireland.