There has been a lot of research on screen time and developmental milestones in children of all ages. Well, according to one of the latest studies, parents may want to think twice about sharing a phone or tablet with their baby to keep them occupied. The latest research finds that screen time is now being linked to developmental delays in toddlers.

The study was recently published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. The research found that if a baby, aged one, has anywhere from one to four hours of screen time per day, that child is linked with higher risks of developmental delays in communication, fine motor, problem-solving and personal and social skills by 2-years-old.

“It’s a really important study because it has a very large sample size of children who’ve been followed for several years,” Dr. Jason Nagata, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco said in a recent interview with CNN.com. Dr. Jason Nagata was not involved involved in the study.

Dr. Nagata continued saying that, “The study fills an important gap because it identifies specific developmental delays (in skills) such as communication and problem-solving associated with screen time.” Dr. Nagata noted that there haven’t been many prior studies that studied this issue with several years of follow-up data; therefore, this is study is truly significant in its findings.

Between July 2013 and March 2017, 7,097 children were involved in this study. The children and their mothers were a part of the Japan-based Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study.

By age two, researchers found that those in the study who used screens for up to four hours per day were three times more likely to experience developmental delays in communication and problem-solving skills. Subjects who spent four or more hours of screen time were 4.78 times more likely to have underdeveloped communication skills, 1.74 times more likely to have subpar fine motor skills and two times more likely to have underdeveloped personal and social skills. However, it is worth noting that, by the age of four, the only risks that remained in the participants developmental skills were communication and problem-solving skills.

“One of the areas that’s relatively understudied in the whole screen time literature is looking at impacts of screen exposure on very young kids, especially when screens are introduced to babies,” Dr. John Hutton, associate professor of general and community pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center said  to CNN.com. Dr. Hutton was also not involved in the study.

Dr. Hutton continued stating that, “It’s definitely a global concern, and I think the findings (here) should apply to, really, other countries as well.”

If you would like to read the study in its entirety, click here.

 

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