Too much screentime for young kids will harm their ability to properly learn later, study reveals

Step away from the screens, little ones.

Regardless of age, too much screen time is detrimental to one’s health.

Excessive staring at screens can cause eye strain, dry eyes, headaches, and poor sleep quality, not to mention increased stress and anxiety, according to Michigan State University.

And the less-than-ideal effects are even more pronounced for children — and require the utmost care to be adequately corrected.

A new study reported by News-Medical and conducted by a team of researchers from Inserm and the National University of Singapore, backed up by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics, discovered that high screen time during specific developmental periods for children is connected with lessened academic performance later on, as well as weaker working memory.

The study, which was published in the “World of Pediatrics” health journal this past April, found that the diminished effects were most apparent on children who had been exposed to excessive amounts of screen time during infancy and school-entry age.

Worsened general academic performance appeared to be an additional result of the study, which followed a group of 502 children from infancy to middle childhood, with the effects researchers saw in participants at the tender age of one being among the most pronounced.

“That suggests early infancy may be a window of heightened sensitivity, when the developing brain is particularly vulnerable to the displacement of learning interactions by screentime,” one of the authors of the study shared.

The scientists were surprised to learn that screen use for two- and three-year-olds did not show significant links to this decreased performance — however, the correlations “re-emerged” when children reached age six, “when children reach formal schooling.”

“So it is not just about early years — screen use later in childhood still matters,” the author continued.

An additional study commissioned by the 1,001 Critical Days foundation — which was led by the interdisciplinary Action on Digital Device Immersive Conditions team (or iADDICT), composed of a group of four UK universities — also found that screen time for children under the age of two is connected with adverse effects on long-term health and quality of life, per The Guardian.

Rafe Clayton, a University of Leeds senior lecturer in media and communications who co-led the study, emphasized that the way parents treat screen time for their young children — and themselves — “has to change.”

“(They are) inadvertently teaching children and babies to develop unhealthy habits and relationships with screen devices,” he said.

While iADDICT, which determined screen time to potentially lead to overstimulation, trouble sleeping, eye health and even childhood obesity, did not find a definite linkage between specific developmental conditions and screen use for children, researchers did emerge with a decree — that “no under-twos should receive regular intentional screen time.”

They are also calling for a “baby screen time risk assessment” in the hopes of providing specific support to families, particularly vulnerable to employing too much screen time for their children — while, at the same time, not placing the entire blame on parents.

“Parents should not be presented with content that is labelled or promoted as suitable for babies when the evidence points to the contrary,” said Andrea Leadsom, a former Conservative minister and founder of the 1,001 Critical Days Foundation.

Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, clarified that the study should not replace individual parental judgment.

“For children under two, the recommendation to avoid screen time is clear, but acknowledges the realities of our world today and that some shared screen use in a limited number of circumstances, such as video-calling relatives or supported learning, is perfectly normal,” she added.