Babies with more screen time delay development – 08/25/2023 – Equilibrium and Health

One-year-old babies who spend more than four hours a day in front of screens showed developmental delays in communication and problem-solving skills at ages 2 and 4. The information is from a study published in the scientific journal The Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics.

The research also found that one-year-olds exposed to screens longer than their peers showed delays in the development of fine motor, personal and social skills by the time they reached two years old. But these delays seemed to dissipate by age four.

The study did not conclude that screen exposure time caused developmental delays, but did find an association between babies exposed to longer screens and developmental delays. Experts said this can be explained by the value of face-to-face contact for young children.

why does it matter

David J. Lewkowicz is a developmental psychologist at the Yale Center for Child Studies. He said the face-to-face interaction between parent and child is crucial for conveying an important set of information to babies, including how facial expressions, words, tone of voice and physical feedback combine to convey language and meaning.

“It doesn’t happen when the child is watching something on a screen,” he said, adding that the survey results were not surprising.

The findings of the study conducted by researchers in Japan were based on questionnaires about development and screen time given to parents of nearly 8,000 young children. In general, it was found that babies exposed to more time in front of screens are children of younger first-time mothers, with lower income and level of family education, in addition to mothers who suffer from postpartum depression. According to the responses, only 4% of babies spent four or more hours a day in front of screens, 18% spent less than four hours a day, and the majority, less than two hours.

The study found a “dose-response association” between screen time and developmental delays: the longer babies spent in front of screens, the more likely they were to have developmental delays.

What comes next

The study authors noted that the research did not distinguish between educational screen time and more entertainment time. They highlighted that future studies should address this point.

Lewkowicz said parents often ask him how much screen time is best. His response: “Talk to your child as much as you can face-to-face.”

For him, it is impracticable to ask parents never to put their babies in front of screens: “No parent would listen to that. But it needs to be done in moderation. With a strong dose of social interaction in real life”.

^{Translated by Clara Allain}