Kids who go straight onto their screens after school are more miserable and feel less healthy than those who do homework or play out, a new study reveals. Those who meet up with friends, go to sports practice or perhaps have a music lesson feel much better about themselves, researchers claim.
They also found that kids didn't have to get out and exercise to be more positive than those on screens - as doing their homework or reading both had good results. The team analysed data from 61,759 school students in years 4 to 9 to see what they did between 3pm and 6pm.
It found that most students watched TV about four days of the school week and spent time on social media about three days of the week. They measured the activities against wellbeing factors such as happiness, sadness, worry, engagement, perseverance, optimism, emotion regulation, and life satisfaction.
