Digital Childhood: the Impact of Using Digital Technology on Children’s Health

Nehad Ahmed Ibrahim Zahra, Ahuad Abdulrazaq Alanazi‎

Abstract

Background and Objective: Digital media can be considered as an important element of life for today's children and adolescents since they spend a lot of time using it. This increased use of digital media is associated with poor behavior and health status. Society in general and practitioners in public health in particular should promote digital media use strategies through health education. This study is aimed at evaluating the impact of using digital technology on children physical, social and behavior health. Methodology: This is a descriptive study which was conducted at the primary health care centers of Tabuk. Through purposive sampling, ‎‎300 people were included in the study. A questionnaire and a checklist were used as the tools for data collection. Results: There was a significant relationship between the attachment to technology and both physical and psychological health of the studied children. There was also a significant difference between the awareness of mothers regarding both negative and positive effects of technology and total effects of technology at the pre and post-intervention stages. Conclusion: Using technology had an impact on both physical and psychological health of children, and there was an improvement in mothers’ awareness in this regard. This reflects the key role of health education on improving the awareness of mothers about the effects of using technology on the health of their children.