Children’s Media Use and Its Relation to Attention, Hyperactivity, and Impulsivity

A widely debated question is whether there is an association between children's media use and the development of ADHD. This chapter identifies the most important hypotheses for this association and reviews the main results of the empirical studies that addressed this association. The available evidence suggests that there is a small association between media use and the presence of ADHD symptoms (i.e., attention problems, hyperactivity, and impulsivity). More specifically, an increase in violent media use is significantly associated with an increase in attention problems and impulsivity. The effect of fast-paced media use on ADHD is not yet clearly understood, as the empirical evidence is still too scant to allow meaningful conclusions. Altogether, the findings underline the crucial need for future research to systematically investigate individual differences in the association between children's media use and ADHD as well as underlying mechanisms that may explain the association.