How Screen Time Affects Child Development: A New Study
A new study from Japan has found that screen time at age 1 was associated with higher risks of developmental delays in communication, fine motor, problem-solving and personal and social skills by age 2. The risks remained for communication and problem-solving skills by age 4.
The study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, involved 7097 children who were assessed using a standardized screening tool at 6, 12, 18, 24 and 48 months of age. The parents also reported the average daily screen time of their children at each time point.
“We found that screen time at age 1 was associated with a higher risk of developmental delay at age 2, and the risk remained at age 4,” said Dr. Masako Taki, lead author of the study and a researcher at the National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Japan.
The study did not explain the cause of the delays, but suggested that the type and quality of screen content may make a difference. “For example, educational programs or interactive games may have different effects than watching videos or advertisements,” Taki said.
The findings are consistent with previous research that has linked excessive screen time with negative outcomes for young children, such as obesity, sleep problems, attention issues and behavioral problems.
“It’s a really important study because it has a very large sample size of children who’ve been followed for several years,” said Dr. Jason Nagata, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, who wasn’t involved in the study.
“The study fills an important gap because it identifies specific developmental delays (in skills) such as communication and problem-solving associated with screen time,” said Nagata, noting there haven’t been many prior studies that studied this issue with several years of follow-up data.
Experts recommend limiting non-educational screen time for young children and choosing high-quality, interactive and educational content.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends considering the quality of screen time rather than just quantity, but the organization does have resources for determining guidelines and limits for your family — such as its family media plan you can tailor to your own family’s needs and advice for helping your kids build healthy habits.
“We need to just slow down and … be as careful and mindful as we can about keeping kids anchored in the real world, which is really how we evolved as humans,” Dr. John Hutton, associate professor of general and community pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, said, “There’s going to be plenty of time for screen time later once we get a better sense of who the kids are and what they need.”
Relevant articles:
- Screen time linked with developmental delays, study finds, CNN, August 21, 2023
- More screen time may be linked to delayed development in babies: New study, ABC News, August 22, 2023
- New data shows screen time could have negative impact on children’s development, Yahoo News, August 22, 2023
- Screen time linked to developmental delays in toddlerhood, study finds, MSN, August 21, 2023
Originally published at https://trendydigests.com on August 23, 2023.
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