Giving children electronic devices at a young age has become the new normal. Kids have been given tablets to entertain them, and some even have smartphones at an early age. Due to the increase in popularity of such electronic devices, the World Health Organization has published screen time guidelines for young children.
Children under the age of two should have have no screen time. Those aged two to four should be limited to one hour of screen time.
Image Source: Thanasis Zovoilis
There has been extensive research done on the effects of increased screen time on toddlers. Prolonged screen time can result in serious developmental delays in children. Researchers at Tohoku University have studied the effects result of infants exposed to excessive screen time at the age of one.
The study consisted of 7,097 mother-infant pairs. When the infants were aged one year, the mothers were presented with a questionnaire that asked how many hours of screen time the infant was exposed to in a typical day. The mother-infant pairs returned when the infants had reached the ages of two and four years old. Developmental delays were assessed using the Ages & Stages Questionnaires (ASQ-3). The ASQ-3 evaluate communication, gross motor movement, fine motor movement, problem-solving, and both personal and social skills. Results showed that infants who were exposed to a higher amount of screen time at the age of one exhibited developmental delays at the age of two in all categories except gross motor function. By the age of four, developmental delays were associated only with the categories of communication and problem-solving. Previous studies have lacked a refined review of developmental delays as they had not broken down the delays into different criteria. The researchers recommended that future research should evaluate the different criteria and the developmental delay separately.
With these findings, it is certainly importance to limit the amount of screen time young children get. The next time you reach for the iPad to hand to your child, you may want to think twice.
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