Too much use of technology among adolescents may be disconcerting for many parents, but a new study says that the time that adolescents spend on digital technology would have little or no impact on their long term use.

A study titled, "A life course framework for understanding digital technology use in the transition to adulthood," published in Advances in Life Course Research showed that the time that kids spend on their smartphones or in front of computers will not have a significant impact on how they will use technology later on in life.

The study was done by researchers from the University of Colorado, which looked at a survey of almost 1,200 individuals, and it also involved conducting extensive interviews with 56 more individuals. They gathered data before the pandemic, and their study was the first which utilised data to determine how childhood use of technology will evolve when the user becomes an adult. The study was part of the National Science Foundation-funded 4-year project, which had the goal of understanding how the mobile internet age affects youth in America.

The age of the participants was between 18 to 30. They were interviewed about their current technology use, how they used it when they were still teenagers, and if their parents encouraged or restricted their usage.

The researchers found that parenting practices that set a time limit on their kids' screen time did not show a significant effect on how much the subjects used technology when they were already young adults.

The authors say that the results of the study may bring some comfort to parents who get so worried about their children spending more time in front of digital screens. The study also ascertained that those with friends who are still single tend to have higher use of tech compared to married ones. College students were the ones seen to have really high use of digital technology.

Joshua Goode, one of the authors of the paper, said that many of the fears that hound parents are oftentimes anecdotal. The results of their research would address the moral panic with regards to technology that is so prevalent today.

Screentime In Adolescents Screentime In Adolescents
Screentime in adolescents will not affect usage in adulthood. Photo: Pixabay