Abstract
This small-scale study investigated whether average daily screen time influences short-term memory performance in adolescents aged 16-17 years old. Ten participants from the same school year group completed an anonymous questionnaire reporting their typical daily screen use and previous night’s sleep duration, followed by a controlled memory-recall task. Participants viewed a sequence of 15 unrelated common words, each presented for one second, before completing a one-minute filler activity designed to prevent immediate testing. They were then given 1 minute to recall and write down as many words as possible, with scores recorded out of 15. All testing took place under standardised conditions in a quiet classroom, using identical instructions, timing procedures, and stimuli for every participant. Analysis of the data showed a very weak positive relationship between screen time and recall ability (Spearman’s rank = +0.11), indicating that higher screen use was not related with better or worse short-term memory performance. Although limited by small sample size and uncontrolled individual factors, the investigation demonstrates how simple cognitive tasks and self-reported lifestyle measures can be used to explore potential links between other factors in daily life and memory function.
Introduction
Screen time is an important behavioural measure that reflects how often and for how long individuals engage with digital devices such as smartphones, computers, televisions, and tablets(1). Two commonly studied outcomes are working memory, the ability to temporarily hold and manipulate information, and long-term memory recall, the retrieval of stored information after a period of delay. Both aspects of memory can be influenced by internal factors such as age, cognitive capacity, and sleep quality, as well as external factors including device type and time of use. One variable of interest is the overall amount of screen time, as it has been linked to attention, sleep disruption, and learning processes that directly affect memory performance. This review examines secondary data on how different amounts of screen time may influence memory recall.
Screen Time and Working Memory
Working memory is an essential mental process that enables people to briefly hold and work with information, helping them carry out tasks like problem-solving(2). Several studies suggest that high levels of screen time, especially when involving multitasking or rapid content switching, may impair working memory performance by overloading attentional resources (3). Working memory temporarily holds the information we need for thinking and problem-solving, but we usually focus on only the part that is relevant to the task at hand. Researchers have found that adolescents who engaged in frequent media multitasking showed reduced working memory capacity(4), accounting for around 15% of performance variance. However, not all findings are consistent(5), with some studies reporting no significant association once sleep quality and physical activity were controlled.(6)
Screen Time and Long-Term Memory Recall
Long-term memory recall involves retrieving certain information that has been stored after a considerable delay, and it can be affected by activities like sleep where you can consolidate the information. Screens emit blue light, which signals to the brain that it is still daylight, suppressing melatonin production(7)—the hormone that promotes sleepiness. This delays the natural sleep-wake cycle and makes it harder to feel sleepy at bedtime.Excessive screen use, particularly at night, has been associated with poorer memory recall, likely due to the disruptive effects of light and stimulation on the quality of your sleep(8). Certain sources state that people who used more screen time before bed recalled less words. On the other hand, other studies have stated that certain types of screen exposure, such as interactive educational tools may actually encourage memory recall(9). This could suggest that the type, timing and purpose of screen time may be more important than the duration alone.(10)
Gaps in Literature
Although many studies indicate a relationship between excessive screen time and reduced memory performance, these findings aren’t universal.Many investigations rely on screen use reported by people(11)themselves and researchers aren’t aware if certain variables have been controlled, which can cause inaccurate results and could be hard to differentiate between studying, gaming, or passive scrolling. Evidence is especially lacking in younger populations(12), where developing brains may be more sensitive to certain stimuli, similarly adults beyond early adulthood. Clearer research should be needed to determine thresholds of screen use, the role of timing and the differing effects of passive vs interactive use of screens. Also my test will be done on all males which hasn’t been tested providing another gap in literature.
Method Summary
Ten participants from the same school year group take part in a short experiment investigating the effect of screen time on short-term memory. Each participant first completes a short anonymous questionnaire about their average daily screen time and how many hours they had slept the previous night. To test memory, participants are shown a list of 15 common, unrelated words, each displayed for one second. After seeing all 15 words, they will complete a one-minute unrelated filler task (counting backwards from 50 or simple math problems) to create a short delay before recall. At the end of the one-minute gap, participants are given 1 minute to jot down as many of the words as they could recall with the order of the words irrelevant. Their score is the number of words correctly recalled (out of 15). All testing takes place in a quiet classroom, and each participant uses the same instructions, timing, and word list to keep conditions consistent.
Data Collection
Data Analysis
A Spearman’s rank coefficient of +0.11 suggests that there is virtually no relationship between screen time and short-term memory scores. The value is positive, indicating that memory scores tended to increase slightly as screen time increased, yet the relationship is so weak as to provide no meaningful value. What that means is that knowing how much screen time a participant had offered no insight into how well they would perform in the memory task. The weakness of the correlation also implies that the ordering of participants by screen time did not match the ordering of participants by memory performance in any consistent way. Small differences in screen time were not matched with proportional differences in recall scores, and the rankings likely fluctuated irregularly from one individual to another. It follows that this comparison of the two variables is highly unstable and susceptible to other influences like sleep for example. Altogether, a Spearman’s rank of +0.11 indicates that screen time was not a strong contributor to the differences in short-term memory within this sample of people that were tested . Therefore, this very weak correlation supports the idea that levels of screen time, by itself, did not play a significant role in the results of this investigation for the amount of words recalled. It is possible that the relationship between screen time and short-term memory was affected by differences in sleep duration among participants. High screen use, particularly before bedtime, is known to reduce sleep quality due to blue light exposure and delayed melatonin release as mentioned before. Participants who slept less may have shown reduced concentration and recall ability, however those who slept adequately may have maintained stronger memory performance despite a high screen time. This may explain the high standard deviation observed in the high screen time use group and the weak correlation that was found. Therefore, sleep is a likely confounding variable that may have affected the validity of the results.
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