Screens and Young Children: The Latest Science Isn’t All Gloom

Sam’s family was flying home after a holiday visit with their extended family. As expected, holiday travel was a hot mess, and Sam, irritable and whining, was on his dad’s last nerve. So, against his better judgement, Dad handed Sam the tablet his son had received as a holiday present with an aggravated, “OK, it’s yours for another hour. Don’t make me regret breaking the rules.” The broken rule: 90 minutes total screen time for the four-hour flight.

Sam’s grandfather said to his son, “Oh, what’s so bad about screens? He’s old enough now.” His son snapped back, “You’ll see when you try to take it away from him after time’s up!”

I’ve written before about the answer to the grandfather’s question, but it’s time for an update on the effects on young kids of the most significant advance (or disruption) of interpersonal discourse since the invention of the telephone: digital media. The uproar a few years back when the American Academy of Pediatrics naively set a guideline of two hours per day for ages five and up suggested that parents needed better advice more securely rooted in “the real world” of their family’s screen usage. Most families feel these devices are not inherently evil and they are here to stay, so let’s figure out how to live with them.

Parents are right to worry. Screens capture a young child’s attention in a uniquely efficient fashion. The barrage and speed of images and messages affect the young child’s focus and attention span.

Research with thousands of 1-year-olds by University of Washington’s Patricia Kuhl shows clearly that these babies do not learn anything from screens, even highly engaging video images. They prefer, and learn only from, a live human being.

Harvard neuroscientist Chuck Nelson adds that since all communication before a child has acquired language is non-verbal, the expressions on the face of their caretaker is their main and most important teacher, driving organization of that part of the brain which will lead to social speech. Since screens don’t provide meaningful feedback, the longer a young child spends with them, the less their ability to read human emotion accurately, increasing frustration exponentially.

For the pre-K set, screen time can interfere with the desire and ability to play creatively both alone and with other children, weakening an essential foundation for social-emotional and problem-solving skills. Also, for this age, a regular serving of boredom helps children manage frustration and rely more on their own imaginations, not Disney’s.

There’s screen time and there’s screen time. Here are suggestions on limiting the less helpful and encouraging the more helpful:

Less helpful

• No smartphones, computers, TVs, or tablets in bedrooms (good idea for parents, too).
• Keep eating and screen time separate. Screens encourage the munchies, mindlessly.
• TVs on in the background is not a good look to a kid who is trying to manage screen time with parental help.
• Complete bans on screen time teach children nothing about how to manage devices on their own, an essential skill by elementary school. And parents can expect explosive pushback by adolescence. Slow and steady works better for them and you.

More helpful

• There is more quality programming available now, and a parent’s first job is to find the good stuff. Prioritize physically active video games or challenges that you can do together, such as yoga.
• Shared viewing: try to watch most of your young child’s screen time with them and discuss what’s happening. Use content as prompts to tie your family’s culture, beliefs, and rituals to what they see. If you can’t, it’s not good content.
• Mute, ignore or exercise during commercials. If you can record beforehand, skipping through commercials is easier.

And granddad saw what his son meant when he tried to take Sam’s tablet back after 60 minutes…