OBJECTIVES:

It is unknown how screen media use is associated with executive brain functions among children and adolescents. This review summarized the association screen media use with executive functions in children and adolescents using a machine-assisted supervised learning approach.

METHODS:

A systematic search was conducted on MEDLINE, Scopus, PscyINFO, CINAHL, and EconLit for studies published from January 1st 1949 through December 31st 2020. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guided search procedures. Machine-assisted search and supervised machine learning were used to classify abstracts as relevant or irrelevant for literature reviews. Python 3.7 was used to perform machine learning methods. Cross-validation was used to estimate model prediction performance.

RESULTS:

The machine-assisted search identified 561 unique studies. Human intelligence was used to label these studies to facilitate supervised learning. Among the machine learning algorithms, Naïve Bayes with TF-IDF provided the best performance on sensitivity using the undersampling technique (sensitivity = 0.96). After reviewing full-text articles by the authors, 77 original studies were considered relevant. Among these studies, 27.3% focused on problematic behaviors related to screen media use. In general, television viewing was inversely associated with executive functions. Problematic video game playing was inversely associated with decreased behavioral inhibition, whereas specific types of video games enhanced participants’ working memory and cognitive flexibility. We found that studies using rating scales were more likely to report negative associations than studies using performance tests.

CONCLUSIONS:

The association of screen media use with executive functions was nuanced by the type of device used and the nature of the interaction. Future research should seek to create standard measures of screen media engagement for different screen media activities and establish a standardized collection of measures for executive functions.