Background: Recently, a growing concern impacting the academic performance of children is the increasing amount of screen time. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the duration of screen time and academic achievement among primary school children in Rajasthan, India.

Methods: This cross-sectional observational study involved 134 primary school students in Rajasthan, India, from October 2023 to December 2023 Information on screen time was gathered from parents, while teachers provided data on school performance using a pre-designed questionnaire. Statistical analysis of the collected data was conducted using appropriate methods with SPSS 25 software.

Results: Out of the 268 children surveyed, 144 (53.7%) were boys and 124 (46.3%) were girls. The age distribution was as follows: 104 children (38.8%) were between 6 and 7 years old, 97 children (35.1%) were between 8 and 9 years old, and 70 children (26.1%) were between 10 and 11 years old. A significant portion of the children (56.7%) reported an average daily screen time of over 120 minutes. This was followed by 29.1% of children who reported 61 to 120 minutes of daily screen time, and 14.2% who reported 60 minutes or less.

In terms of academic performance, 46 children (17.2%) were classified as having poor academic performance, 142 children (52.9%) were classified as average, and 80 children (29.9%) were classified as good. These observations statistically found a significant correlation between screen time duration and composite academic performance, including performance in specific subjects such as mathematics, science, and language (p-value < 0.05).

Conclusions: This study found a significant correlation between screen time duration and school performance among primary school children in Jaipur, Rajasthan. However, further research is necessary to investigate the impact of screen time on different aspects of learning and its long-term effects on cognition and educational attainment.