Developmental delays linked to children who spend too much time in front of screens

children’ and young children Access to more screen time can lead to developmental risks, according to a new study published in the journal Children’s Health Journal of the American Pediatric Medical Association (gamma) on Monday. The study, conducted by researchers in Japan, examined the amount of time spent by 7,097 children They spend on tablets, phones, watching TV or using other technology and how this relates to their corresponding mental and physical abilities as they get older.

Parents of children were asked in a survey: “On a typical day, how many hours do you allow your children to watch TV, DVDs, video games, online games (including mobile phones and tablets), etc.?”

The study found that by the age of two, children who spent up to four hours a day in front of a screen were three times more likely to delay communication and problem-solving, while those who spent four or more hours on their devices were 5.78. times more likely to experience same delay. They were also 1.74 times more likely to have underdeveloped fine motor skills and twice as likely to not properly develop their personal and social skills.

The study stated that four-year-olds who spend more time in front of screens suffer from developmental delays in communication, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, problem-solving skills, and personal and social skills.

“Children learn how to talk if they are encouraged to talk, and often, if they are just watching a screen, they don’t have the opportunity to practice speaking,” Dr. John Hutton, associate professor of general sciences and society, pediatricians at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, said. who did not participate in the study CNN. “They may hear a lot of words, but they’re not trained to say a lot or have a lot of cross-talk.”

the The World Health Organization (WHO) advises that it should not be given to infants under one year of ageWhat kind of screen time He says two-year-olds should not be allowed more than an hour of screen time. “Achieving health for all means doing what is best for health from the start of people’s lives,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the WHO conference. New release. “Early childhood is a period of rapid development and a time when family lifestyles can be adapted to promote health gains.”

Hutton told CNN that increased screen time can also affect a child’s ability to get bored, adding that boredom breeds creativity and allows a child to self-soothe, rather than relying on a screen.

“In the long term, one of the real goals is for children to be able to sit quietly in their own thoughts,” Hutton told the outlet. “When they’re allowed to get a little bored for a second, they get a little uncomfortable, but then they say, ‘Okay, I want to make myself more comfortable.’ And that’s how creativity happens.”

a UNICEF report More screen time, he said, can also reduce a child’s ability to build empathy, saying: “For the brain to develop and grow, it needs basic stimuli from the outside world. Most importantly, they need time to process those stimuli.” Screens reduce children’s ability to read human emotions and control their frustrations. … It also detracts from activities that help boost their brain power, such as playing and interacting with other children.

The JAMA study reported that only 4% of children surveyed get more than four hours of screen time per day, while 18% spend between two and four hours of screen time, with the majority saying their children spend less than two hours. They noted that the children who were exposed to more screen time were children of younger mothers who had lower family incomes, lower maternal education levels, and suffered from postpartum depression.

The researchers noted that more follow-up studies would need to be done to verify their findings. They stated that it is possible that the results are reverse causal, meaning that the child is already experiencing a developmental delay which may lead to prolonged screen time.