You may want to think twice the next time you put your child in front of a screen. A recent study presented at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting found that infants and young toddlers who look at screens for more than 30 minutes per day are more likely to have speech delays, USA Today reports.
The four-year study involved 890 children between the ages of six months and two years. Results show that for every 30 minutes in front of a screen, a child had about a 50% increased risk of delayed speech once they learned how to talk. Jenny Radesky, assistant professor of developmental pediatrics at the University of Michigan, said in a statement to USA Today that detrimental screen time still includes “educational” programs targeted at these youngsters.
“Please don’t buy into the marketing claims from baby TV stations or from baby-oriented media, because the evidence shows that they are just looking at the lights and…not comprehending what’s on the screen,” she said. “Those are critical months in terms of language development and getting out and exploring their 3D world.”
Children’s brains are highly vulnerable during their early years, constantly open to new information. Up until the age of eight, children are able to naturally acquire language skills. This critical period in early language acquisition is so important that some individuals are making moves to legally ban or control screen time before a certain age. Voguereports that Tim Farnum, an anesthesiologist in Denver, CO, is collecting signatures to introduce a bill that would ban children under 13 from purchasing smartphones.
“[With smartphones], the internet is always begging for your attention,” he said in a statement to The Coloradoan. “The apps are all designed to addict you…For children, it’s not a good thing.”
There are other reasons to fear excess screen time, too. A 2015 study found that excess technology use also leads to a number of physical issues in addition to psychological, including weight gain and illness. Recent studies also show that one one out of ten of us only exercise a few days per month. Well, it turns out that today’s younger generation may not be far off from that — the average teenager gets as much physical activity as today’s senior citizens.
The solution to this? Controlling how and when our children use technology. Michael Robb, director of research at Common Sense Media, said in a statement to USA Today that screen use should be monitored on a case-by-case basis by parents. In fact, by selecting the right media to show your children in small increments, you can retain the educational purpose of some childhood shows and videos.
“The concept of screen time itself is almost meaningless,” he said. “It’s not about the time, it’s about the content. It’s about the context and about the child themselves.”
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