Family Road Travel

Evidence map

Kids screens travel: what the evidence base looks like

11 publications, 2 of them trials and 5 syntheses. This page describes the shape of that literature rather than summarising its conclusions.

Updated 4 min read 11 citations

Motorway service area buildings and car park beside the carriageway
Ann Cook · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
What the evidence on kids screens travel is made of Of 11 publications on this topic, the breakdown by study type: 5 meta-analysis, 2 randomised trial, 1 review, 3 other. 5213meta-analysis (5)randomised trial (2)review (1)other (3)
11 publications, by study type. Volume is not strength — the same count can be a settled question or a pile of commentary, and which one it is depends almost entirely on this breakdown. Harvested from PubMed and Crossref; publication type as recorded by the source.

What this literature is made of

The synthesis is ahead of the primary literature here — reviews and meta-analyses drawing on a modest number of underlying studies. Treat confident conclusions with the caution the sample size deserves.

The distinction that matters most is between synthesis and primary research. A meta-analysis pools trials and is the closest thing to a settled answer a field produces. A narrative review is one group's reading of the same material and can be selective without being dishonest. Counting them together, which most citation counts do, obscures exactly the thing you want to know.

When the kids screens travel literature was published Publication years for the 11 papers on this topic, grouped into bands from before 2015 through to 2023 onwards. 2023 onwards3 papers2015-20193 papersBefore 20153 papers2020-20222 papers
Still active. The most recent paper here is from 2024, so this is a field where an answer written today may not hold for long. Publication years as recorded by PubMed and Crossref.

How this page is built

Everything above is computed from the citations this site harvested from PubMed and Crossref, not written by hand. When the weekly harvest finds a new paper on this topic, these counts change and the characterisation changes with them. That is the point: a hand-written claim about how strong an evidence base is starts decaying the day it is written.

Publication type is taken as the source records it. That is imperfect — journals label inconsistently, and a paper indexed as a "review" may be a systematic one — so treat the bands as approximate. They are accurate enough to distinguish a trial literature from a commentary literature, which is the distinction that matters.

Parking bays and picnic tables at a rest area screened by trees
Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The strongest work on this topic

Ordered by study design first, then recency. The full set is listed in the references below.

  1. Mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in children and adolescents with ADHD: A systematic review of controlled longitudinal cohort studies — Dessain A, Parlatini V, Singh A et al., 2024, systematic review
  2. Physical Activity of Children and Adolescents in Croatia: A Global Matrix 4.0 Systematic Review of Its Prevalence and Associated Personal, Social, Environmental, and Policy Factors — Pedišić Ž, Strika M, Matolić T et al., 2023, systematic review
  3. Association between digital smart device use and myopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis00135-7) — Foreman J, Salim AT, Praveen A et al., 2021, meta-analysis
  4. Systematic review of the relationships between sedentary behaviour and health indicators in the early years (0-4 years) — Poitras VJ, Gray CE, Janssen X et al., 2017, systematic review
  5. Associations of children's independent mobility and active travel with physical activity, sedentary behaviour and weight status: a systematic review — Schoeppe S, Duncan MJ, Badland H et al., 2013, systematic review
  6. Healthy Children, Strong Families 2: A randomized controlled trial of a healthy lifestyle intervention for American Indian families designed using community-based approaches — Tomayko EJ, Prince RJ, Cronin KA et al., 2017, randomised controlled trial
  7. Weight status, modes of travel to school and screen time: a cross-sectional survey of children aged 10-13 years in Sydney — Wen LM, Merom D, Rissel C et al., 2010, randomised controlled trial
  8. Interventions designed to reduce sedentary behaviours in young people: a review of reviews — Biddle SJ, Petrolini I, Pearson N, 2014, review
  9. Bedtime Regularity and Sleep Sufficiency in Children With Tourette Syndrome — Swisher VS, Liu S, Ricketts EJ, 2024, journal article
  10. Sleep duration in preschool children and impact of screen time — Lan QY, Chan KC, Yu KN et al., 2020, journal article
How much research is there on kids screens travel?
11 publications are indexed here, of which 2 are trials and 5 are syntheses.
Does more research mean a stronger conclusion?
No. Composition matters more than volume — five randomised trials support a claim far better than fifty commentaries, and citation counts do not distinguish between them.
How current is this?
The most recent paper indexed here is from 2024. The set is refreshed weekly from PubMed and Crossref.
Why does this page not tell me the answer?
Because summarising a literature into a conclusion requires reading it, and doing that automatically is how confident nonsense gets published. This page tells you how much weight a conclusion could bear; the articles on this site do the interpreting.

References

Every citation below links to the original peer-reviewed record on PubMed or via DOI. Nothing here is a substitute for medical advice.

  1. Mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in children and adolescents with ADHD: A systematic review of controlled longitudinal cohort studies Dessain A, Parlatini V, Singh A, et al. · Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024 · Systematic review DOIPubMed 38065419
  2. Physical Activity of Children and Adolescents in Croatia: A Global Matrix 4.0 Systematic Review of Its Prevalence and Associated Personal, Social, Environmental, and Policy Factors Pedišić Ž, Strika M, Matolić T, et al. · Journal of physical activity & health · 2023 · Systematic review DOIPubMed 37076241
  3. Association between digital smart device use and myopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis Foreman J, Salim AT, Praveen A, et al. · The Lancet. Digital health · 2021 · Meta-analysis DOIPubMed 34625399
  4. Systematic review of the relationships between sedentary behaviour and health indicators in the early years (0-4 years) Poitras VJ, Gray CE, Janssen X, et al. · BMC public health · 2017 · Systematic review DOIPubMed 29219092Full text
  5. Associations of children's independent mobility and active travel with physical activity, sedentary behaviour and weight status: a systematic review Schoeppe S, Duncan MJ, Badland H, et al. · Journal of science and medicine in sport · 2013 · Systematic review DOIPubMed 23219100
  6. Healthy Children, Strong Families 2: A randomized controlled trial of a healthy lifestyle intervention for American Indian families designed using community-based approaches Tomayko EJ, Prince RJ, Cronin KA, et al. · Clinical trials (London, England) · 2017 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 28064525Full text
  7. Weight status, modes of travel to school and screen time: a cross-sectional survey of children aged 10-13 years in Sydney Wen LM, Merom D, Rissel C, et al. · Health promotion journal of Australia : official journal of Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals · 2010 · Randomised controlled trial DOIPubMed 20406154
  8. Interventions designed to reduce sedentary behaviours in young people: a review of reviews Biddle SJ, Petrolini I, Pearson N · British journal of sports medicine · 2014 · Review DOIPubMed 24347578
  9. Bedtime Regularity and Sleep Sufficiency in Children With Tourette Syndrome Swisher VS, Liu S, Ricketts EJ · Pediatric neurology · 2024 · Journal article DOIPubMed 38945036
  10. Sleep duration in preschool children and impact of screen time Lan QY, Chan KC, Yu KN, et al. · Sleep medicine · 2020 · Journal article DOIPubMed 33091726
  11. Well-Child Visits for Infants and Young Children Turner K · American family physician · 2018 · Journal article PubMed 30215922