Square eyes: Half of Kiwis addicted to devices, many blame Covid pandemic

here's a new addiction in New Zealand - more than a third of Kiwis say they are hooked on their screens and many are blaming Covid for it.

As the country enters its second week of lockdown, New Zealanders have been averaging five hours of screen time a day on top of using devices for work and school since the Covid pandemic started last year, a new NortonLifeLock study has found.

Read the full article on NZ Herald.

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Limiting social media use decreases depression, anxiety, and fear of missing out in youth with emotional distress: A randomized controlled trial.

Although many youth may not be harmed by heavy SMU, distressed youth may be particularly vulnerable. The aim of this study was to experimentally examine the effects of reducing SMU on smartphones on symptoms of depression, anxiety, fear of missing out (FoMO), and sleep in youth with emotional distress. Compared to the control group, the intervention group showed significantly greater reductions in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and FoMO, and greater increases in sleep.

Science

A brief internet-delivered intervention for the reduction of gaming-related harm: A feasibility study

This pre-post study recruited 50 adult gamers from New Zealand to test the feasibility of a brief internet-delivered intervention. Completers (n = 35) reported a significant increase in well-being and reduction in severity, intensity, and time spent gaming, which reduced from an average of 29 to 11 hours per week.

News

Calls for government to lift social media age limit to 16

A group of online safety advocates have banded together to call on the government to lift the social media age limit to 16 years old in New Zealand.

Screen Sense