Dhaka links five‑hour screen time to harms

icddr,b researchers said this week that school-going children in Dhaka are spending nearly five hours a day on screens on average, with heavier use linked to shorter sleep, obesity, eye problems and mental-health concerns. The findings come from a cross-sectional study of 420 children and adolescents aged 6 to 14 drawn from six schools in the Bangladeshi capital between July 2022 and June 2024. (bdnews24.com) The paper was published on May 4 in *JMIR Human Factors*. (humanfactors.jmir.org) Researchers said 83.3% of the sample exceeded two hours a day of screen exposure, the threshold the study used to define high exposure. ### How much screen time did the Dhaka researchers find? The study found that children in the sample spent 4.6 hours a day on average using smartphones, televisions, tablets, computers and gaming devices. Of the 420 participants, 350 were classified as high-exposure users because they spent more than two hours a day on screens. The six schools included three Bangla-medium and three English-medium institutions in Dhaka. The researchers used stratified random sampling and grouped children into low-exposure and high-exposure users based on whether they were below or above two hours a day. (humanfactors.jmir.org) ### Which health problems were reported alongside heavier use? The researchers reported eye problems in 35.7% of the children, and said 96% of those cases were in the high-exposure group. Local reports on the study also said the children with heavier use showed higher rates of sleep deprivation, headaches, obesity and mental-health problems. (humanfactors.jmir.org) bdnews24, citing the icddr,b statement, reported that children using screens for more than two hours a day slept an average of 7.3 hours. The same report said children in this age group generally need eight to 10 hours of sleep, and about two in five children in the study showed at least one mental-health issue such as anxiety, hyperactivity or behavioral problems. (humanfactors.jmir.org) Around 14% of the children were overweight or obese, according to the icddr,b statement carried by bdnews24. The report said higher rates were found among heavier screen users. (humanfactors.jmir.org) ### Who conducted the study, and how was it measured? Shahria Hafiz Kakon was listed as lead author on the paper, alongside Tanjir Rashid Soron, Mohammad Sharif Hossain, Biplob Hossain, Fahmida Tofail and Rashidul Haque. The study was published as “High Screen Exposure and Its Association With Physical and Mental Well-Being Among School-Going Children and Adolescents in Bangladesh: Cross-Sectional Study.” (bdnews24.com) The paper said researchers collected anthropometric measurements and used a semistructured questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Development and Well-Being Assessment scale, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, all validated in Bangla. (bdnews24.com) Those tools were used to assess sleep, physical measures and mental well-being in the sample. ### What did the researchers tell parents to watch for? Shahria Hafiz Kakon, identified by bdnews24 as a lead researcher and assistant scientist at icddr,b, said parents should pay attention to late sleeping, frequent headaches, eye discomfort, irritability, social withdrawal, reduced interest in outdoor play and declining concentration. (humanfactors.jmir.org) Those signs, he said, may indicate that screen use is affecting children’s physical and mental health. The icddr,b statement also advised the “20-20-20” rule for eye care: after every 20 minutes of screen use, children should look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. (humanfactors.jmir.org) Tahmeed Ahmed, icddr,b’s executive director, said in the statement that digital devices are now part of life but limits remain necessary for children’s well-being. ### Where can readers find the next step in the evidence? The full paper was published on May 4, 2026, in *JMIR Human Factors* under DOI 10.2196/73524. The named authors are Kakon, Soron, Hossain, Hossain, Tofail and Haque, and the journal page includes the article record and citation details. (bdnews24.com) (humanfactors.jmir.org)