Study finds link between screen use and slow development in children

"This study shows that with excessive time, the time spent in front of the screen can have consequences on the development of children," concluded Madigan in a study supported by the University of Calgary.

The badysis showed that the more children spent two to three years in front of their screens, the worse their performance was at five years.
To demonstrate this, a test was developed in which the progression of the children was badyzed in five key points.: communication, motor skills, problem solving and social skills.

The psychologist explained what some of the dynamics were to perform these tests: "For motor skills, for example, we see if a child can count on one foot … and to measure communication in a three-year-old child, for example, we ask if a child can form a four-word phrase or identify the most common parts of the body. "

Sheri Madigan said that among the children studied, the peak use of scouts was reached at three years, before school, with 25 hours a week on average.

"When young children are watching screens, they can miss important opportunities to practice and master their interpersonal, motor and communication skills," the study said.

For example, when they are in front of a screen, they tend to become more sedentary and, therefore, they do not practice skills like walking and runningwhich in turn delays development in this area. Screens can also interrupt interactions with family members, which could cause difficulties to socialize with other people, according to the study.

Four months ago, another study compared the intellectual performance of 4,500 American children aged 8 to 11, depending on whether they spent more than two hours of entertainment on the screen. It was discovered that the more devices were used, the more the tests performed were degraded. But scientists could not firmly say that the correlation implied that it was the origin.

With these new results, it is suggested that higher exposure levels are badociated with poorer development, and not the reverse.

Recent research scientists have found some trends, such as girls getting better test scores and spending less time in front of screens, or children reading more, doing more exercise, and sleeping more. the performance However, apart from all these factors, the result remained the same: the longer the time on the screen, worst development.

One of the main limitations of this study is that no distinction is made by device, context or type of content. In other words, a single hour with the tablet watching videos online is equivalent to an hour watching an educational program.

For psychologist Madigan, it is likely that when these details are badyzed, much more significant differences appear.

In this way, you might be able to learn more about the really bad habits for kids.

The US Academy of Pediatrics recommends to moderate the use of all these media because "You can limit the time you could spend throughout the day playing, studying, talking or sleeping."

With information from El País