New Baby Arriving This Year? Parents-to-Be Should Consider How Their Child Will Be Raised in the Era of Tech
By Jean Rogers
New parents have a lot to think about. For months, they start preparing how they plan to feed, clothe, bathe, and care for a new person — a new, vulnerable, confusing, and self-centered person, their baby. Joyful anticipation is mixed with many age-old concerns. Will my baby see well, hear well, eat well? Will he or she walk on time, talk on time, grow at the right pace? What expectant parents may not be considering — but should — is the impact of popular digital technology, which can surround a newborn and deprive them of activities and interactions essential to their healthy development.
Nearly 4 million babies will be welcomed in 2020 to a world where technology is everywhere — with the effects of screen time still largely unknown. Before a new child is born, it is difficult to imagine just how they will be affected. That’s why the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and the Children’s Screen Time Action Network (Action Network) are partnering to help prospective and new parents discuss how they will handle screen time early. On the one hand, it can seem like an invisible topic. On the other, parents read articles and receive opinions from well-meaning family and friends on the risks and benefits. Understandably, they become confused about how to sort it all out.
“It isn’t premature — at the very earliest stages of parenthood — for parents to consider how they’ll want their child interacting with popular technology devices such as smartphones and tablets, nor how much they’ll want to utilize these devices themselves around their child,” offers Theresa H. Rodgers, MA, CCC-SLP, 2020 ASHA President. “Many children today access devices before taking their first step or speaking their first word. And, overwhelmingly, parents report their own tech use interferes with daily opportunities for talking, playing, and interacting with their child without distraction — activities that are critical to a child’s development.”
Before the baby arrives, parents experience the Image-Making Stage of their own human development. As parenting researcher, Ellen Galinsky, explains in her book, The Six Stages of Parenthood, “Parents-to-be prepare for the change by forming images of the future.” They might imagine cooing with a baby while they bathe her, dressing him in cute outfits, or introducing the baby to relatives for the first time. Rarely in this imaging exercise do expectant parents imagine how their own technology use, and the screens in seemingly every public place, will impact their attachment to their baby or the child’s critical cognitive growth in the first year of life.
“Prospective parents often research and deliberate how they’ll approach various key aspects of child rearing before their little one is born — feeding, sleeping, and child-care arrangements among them,” says Mark Bertin, MD, developmental pediatrician and author of How Children Thrive. “Now that screens are so central to childhood, a family’s approach to tech use is one of those handful of key issues parents need to consider before or shortly after birth. Unless parents make active choices that define healthy technology use for their family, it may impact their child’s communication and social development, and far more.”
Connecting with friends and family who live far away may be one example of a healthy, active screen choice. Isolation and exhaustion can be unexpected outcomes of the new normal with a newborn. Having an electronic connection can help avoid postpartum depression and relationship strain. “Technology offers many benefits to new parents — it connects them to family and friends, information, and services; can track feeding, sleeping, and other important data; and helps document all those precious early moments,” says ASHA’s Rodgers. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, video chats with grandparents or with parents serving in the military or on business travel is a beneficial technology use for small children as well.
Audiologists and speech-language pathologists sounded the alarm in 2016 on a coming communication “time bomb” in the forms of impaired speech and language development as well as hearing loss if tech usage habits didn’t change. Recent research published in JAMA Pediatrics and by the National Institutes of Health, as well as warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO), supports these concerns. Among the findings: children with higher screen exposure had poorer expressive language and did worse on language and thinking tests. In the realm of hearing loss, WHO estimates 1.1 billion young people worldwide are at risk of hearing loss due to exposure to loud recreational noise from two sources — noisy technology devices and noisy leisure environments, such as clubs and stadiums.
Parents receive confusing messages about children and tech. On the one hand, the tech industry uses buzz phrases like “digital natives” and “21st Century Learning.” Understandably, parents then become anxious that their children will be behind the curve if they don’t have the latest educational app or mobile device. What they don’t realize is that key developmental milestones are at stake when technology displaces tactile experiences and serve-and-return responses from loving adults.
As a preview to our coming resources, ASHA and the Action Network offer these recommendations for prospective and new parents:
✔ Prioritize the Basics. In the first years of life, the best way to promote brain and communication development is through daily talking, reading, and interacting (see Communicating With Baby: Tips and Milestones From Birth to Age 5). Babies don’t need apps or devices. Think about how you will prioritize these exchanges, from day one. Consider starting a daily read aloud habit with your newborn! Surprise bonus? You get to relax and enjoy the books and your baby!
✔ Talk to Your Partner. Some parents may find that their partner has a different view about technology use. Have this conversation as you would other important parenting topics. At what age should we introduce technology? Are there times when we will ban or limit tech use (e.g., mealtime, bedtime, dedicated playtime)? How do you view different types of screens and technology (e.g., television vs. smartphones/tablets vs. voice assistants)?
✔ Consider Baby’s Use — and Your Own. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screens for children under 18 months old. Although children’s screen time gets the most public dialogue, it is not the only consideration. Potentially even more important is how parents will use technology while around their child. Are there habits you’d like to change once your baby is born? Your child will depend on eye contact and loving responses from you to feel safe and secure.
✔ Educate Yourself. Look for guidelines, information, and advice from trusted sources such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (find its screen time guidelines here). Consider not only enforcing technology limitations but also educating yourself on developmental milestones. Check out the live webinars and free resources at the Action Network for practical, easy-to-use tools. (Action Network membership is free and can provide community, as well as information.) Seek help early if you have concerns about your child’s development, including their communication skills. (Find an audiologist or speech-language pathologist here.)
✔ Conduct a Tech Audit. Having a baby can be a strong motivator for reassessing the home environment — from babyproofing to reorganizing to renovating/relocating. It’s also a great time to consider whether the technology in your house aligns with your values around technology and children. Consider, for instance, the presence of voice assistants or screens in particular rooms, such as baby’s bedroom.
✔ Create a Family Technology Plan. Although traditionally a recommendation for parents of older children (elementary and beyond), a Family Media Use Plan that outlines agreed-upon values, expectations, and rules/parameters can also be a tool for parents and caregivers of babies and toddlers to get on the same page. As children get older, the media time calculator from the American Academy of Pediatrics can help families achieve balance.
For more information, visit https://communicationandtech.org/ and https://screentimenetwork.org/.
Jean Rogers is director of the Children’s Screen Time Action Network (https://screentimenetwork.org/).
