The study comes as psychiatrists warn that Australian kids are becoming depressed and anxious and need to be spending more time out doors enjoying "green time".
Associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at University of Queensland and Lead Author Asaduzzaman Khan says boys are almost twice more likely to achieve the recommended amount of outdoor exercise than girls.
only 14 percent of girls spent the recommended hour a day outside exercising as opposed to 24 percent of boys.
“We found there were some benefits during the first hour of daily screen use, but detrimental effects … on mental wellbeing kick in after 75 minutes in girls and 105 minutes in boys,’’ he said.
“The (health) detriment starts after two hours of screen time for girls, and four hours for boys.
The study has shown that children should spend no more than two hours looking at a screen including for school work, while aiming to spend at least one hour outside exercising per day.
Dr Khan also said that too much time on a screen could cause "decreased physical and cognitive abilities" as well as "...depression, obesity, poor quality of life" and "unhealthy diet,".
The study was based on children aged 11, 13 and 15.
The Covid-19 situation has resulted in more screen time for kids which Dr Khan says has made the situation "much worse".
Children who do spend too much time on screens have now been dubbed "screenagers" and are believed to be suffering from physical and mental ailments such as short sightedness, clumsiness and autism.
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