Publication date: Jul 11, 2025

Compare prepandemic (2019) and postpandemic (2022) engagement in five screen-based activities (studying, working, watching videos, playing video games, and using social media/chat applications) among independent samples of Brazilian adolescents using a repeated cross-sectional design; and 2) Examine within-individual changes in these same screen-based activities over the same period using a nested longitudinal cohort design DESIGN: Repeated cross-sectional study with a nested cohort. Data were collected in 2019 and 2022, involving a total of 2,008 adolescents who participated in the repeated cross-sectional study, with 333 forming a nested cohort sample. Zero-inflated multilevel gamma regression models and multilevel linear models were used to analyze the data. In the repeated cross-sectional analysis, adolescents spent more minutes per day in 2022 versus 2019 for studying (+21. 3 min; 95%CI: 11. 0, 31. 6), watching videos (+12. 8 min; 95%CI: 1. 1, 24. 5), and playing video games (+22. 9 min; 95%CI: 12. 8, 33. 1). The longitudinal analysis revealed significant average daily increases from 2019 to 2022 in studying (+53. 8 min; 95%CI: 34. 7, 72. 9) and working (+130. 2 min; 95%CI: 110. 4, 149. 9). For these same adolescents, significant decreases were observed for watching videos (-26. 4 min; 95%CI: -48. 0, -4. 9) and playing video games (-28. 6 min; 95%CI: -46. 2, -11. 8). Social media use remained stable. ST among Brazilian adolescents was higher in 2022 compared to 2019, with increases in studying, working, watching videos, and playing video games. Longitudinal data indicated a shift from recreational ST to educational and work-related ST. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to promote balanced ST and mitigate potential negative health impacts.

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