title: Children's Experiences and Awareness about Impact of Digital Media on Health.
abstract: Previous research has focused on the associations between technology use and children's health, using mainly quantitative designs. This qualitative study describes technology's impact on physical and mental health from children's perspectives. The differences between children's experiences and awareness of the health-related consequences associated with digital media use were examined. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with children between the ages of 9 and 16 in nine European countries (N = 368). Results of this study indicate that children's experiences of health-related technology impacts are different from their awareness of these impacts. Children's direct experiences with media were less extreme in contrast to their awareness of health problems, which typically involved extreme examples of possible consequences, such as killing people, kidnapping, blindness, and developing learning or psychological disorders. The results are discussed in the context of the "media panic" and "third person effect" theories.
authors.affiliation: a Faculty of Social Studies, Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Families , Masaryk University.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6159-5501
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cernikova
authors.affiliation: a Faculty of Social Studies, Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Families , Masaryk University.|b Faculty of Informatics , Masaryk University.
authors.forename: David
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2767-4331
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smahel
authors.affiliation: a Faculty of Social Studies, Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Families , Masaryk University.
authors.forename: Michelle F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Wright
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000523:psychology*; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D036301:Qualitative Research; D000077705:Screen Time; D061108:Social Media