Screen Addiction and Mental Health Challenges among Ghanaian Basic School Children: A Management and Educational Policy Perspective

Abstract

The rapid proliferation of digital screens, smartphones, tablets, television sets, and computer devices has significantly altered the behavioural landscape of childhood globally. In Ghana, accelerating mobile internet penetration and the COVID-19-era normalization of screen-based learning have placed basic school children at heightened risk of screen addiction, with emerging evidence linking excessive screen exposure to a range of mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression, attention deficits, sleep disturbances, and social withdrawal. This narrative literature review synthesizes global and African evidence on screen addiction and its mental health consequences among children of basic school age (5–15 years), with specific attention to the Ghanaian educational and public health context, and examines prevailing management and educational policy frameworks. A narrative review methodology was employed. Literature was sourced from PubMed, Google Scholar, JSTOR, African Journals Online (AJOL), and grey literature including WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF, and Ghana Education Service policy documents. Studies published between 2010 and 2024 were included, with emphasis on sub-Saharan African and low-to-middle income country contexts. Evidence consistently links excessive screen time among children to anxiety, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-like symptoms, sleep disruption, reduced empathy, and poor academic performance. In Ghana, rudimentary screen governance in basic schools, inadequate mental health services, and limited parental digital literacy compound the problem. Existing policy frameworks, including the National Child and Adolescent Health Policy and the Ghana ICT4AD Policy, are largely silent on screen addiction and child digital mental health. Screen addiction among Ghanaian basic school children represents an emergent public health and educational governance challenge. An integrated, multi-stakeholder Digital Wellness and Child Mental Health Policy Framework is urgently needed, embedding digital literacy, screen-time governance, school-based mental health services, and parental engagement within Ghana's basic education management architecture.