Just 90 minutes of screen time a day is enough to affect children’s reading and writing ability, and even increase the risk of behavioral problems, a study has revealed.
Researchers at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand tracked more than 6,000 young people aged two to eight to investigate the consequences of analyzing screens for more than an hour a day.
This is the maximum amount recommended by health chiefs, yet most children in the UK spend more than two hours a day glued to devices.
In fact, one in five already owns a smartphone by the age of two, according to online regulator decom, the Telegraph reported.
The peer-reviewed research, published in the journal Developmental psychologyThey collected data through interviews with parents and behavioral assessments of children when they were two, four, four and a half, and eight years old.
Parents were asked how much time their children spent doing ‘unproductive’ activities using screens, such as watching TV, and the amount of time spent using devices for homework.
The researchers found that children aged four and a half and a half, who spent more than 1.5 hours in front of a screen, suffered educationally, regardless of the nature of the activity.
Just 90 minutes of screen time a day is enough to give children weaker language skills and behavioral problems, researchers found
These children had below average vocabulary, communication, writing, arithmetic, and letter fluency.
Additionally, they were more likely to play alone and less liked by other children.
The more screen time they have, with children spending more than 2.5 hours a day even more likely to experience language and behavioral problems.
On the other hand, children with less than an hour a day of screen time had higher levels of education, such as better language skills, and were more sociable.
The study’s authors suggested that the impact of too much screen time was significant enough to mean that the child was more likely to be in the bottom third of their class at school.
Teachers have reported seeing more children entering school at age five with below-average social and language skills, which researchers believe is the result of too much screen time.
“Screen time during early childhood is predictive of the skills children have when they reach school, and the dramatic increase in screen use in recent years may partially explain why school readiness has declined in the past few years. recent years,” the researchers said.
The impact on education is thought to be worse than any health risks from being sedentary as a result of their screen time, which could make children obese or frequently sick.
Experts have long raised the alarm about the influence of screen time on child development.
A 2024 Australian study found that two-year-olds who spent large chunks of time looking at screens were more likely to show autism-like symptoms by the age of 12.
But the researchers, who tracked more than 5,000 children, acknowledged that the paper was simply observational and could not prove causality.
Other scientists also urged the public not to panic, saying the study shows “no real evidence” linking screen time to autism.
Guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend that children under two years of age should not have screen time.
Those between two and five should only spend less than an hour a day on a screen.
However, in the UK, neither the NHS nor the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have any detailed guidance for screen time among babies and toddlers.
Pleasant recommends an upper limit of two hours per day for all children.
The UK’s chief medical officer also suggests a ‘precautionary approach’ to using screen devices.
(Tagstotranslate) DailyMail (T) Health (T) New Zealand (T) Ofcom