Development Delays Linked To Babies With Excessive Screen Time

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Babies' and toddlers' access to more screen time could lead to developmental risks, according to a new study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association of Pediatrics (JAMA) on Monday. The study, conducted by researchers in Japan looked at the amount of time 7,097 children spent on tablets, phones, watching TV, or using other technology and how it related to their corresponding mental and physical abilities as they got older.

[...] The study found that by two years old, babies who spent up to four hours per day in front of a screen were three times more likely to experience communication and problem-solving delays, while those who spent four or more hours on their devices were 5.78 times more likely to experience the same delays. They were also 1.74 times more likely to have underdeveloped fine motor skills and two times more likely to have not properly developed their personal and social skills.

The study reported that four-year-old children who had more screen time had developmental delays in communication, gross motor and fine motor skills, problem-solving skills, and personal and social skills.

Kids learn how to talk if they're encouraged to talk, and very often, if they're just watching a screen, they're not having an opportunity to practice talking," Dr. John Hutton, associate professor of general and community pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, who wasn't involved in the study told CNN. They may hear a lot of words, but they're not practicing saying a lot of words or having a lot of that back-and-forth interaction."

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