What is screen time doing for the brains of toddlers? – Silicon Valley

Is too much time spent in front of a screen linked to poor performance in developmental testing? A recent study confirms what many parents have long feared.

Spending much of his time watching screens as a toddler is linked to poor performance of developmental screening tests later in his childhood, according to a new study published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics .

The Canadian study tracked the early childhood development of 2,441 children and found that longer viewing times at age 2 and 3 could impact development at 3 and 5 years of age. Signs of such development can be seen in behaviors like being able to stack a small block or a toy on another.

"This study shows that, if it is used excessively, the time spent in front of a screen can have consequences on the development of children. Parents may think of screens like they were offering junk food to their children: in small doses, that's ok, but that has consequences, "said Sheri Madigan, badistant professor and research chair on the determinants of child development at the University of Calgary. , who was the lead author of the study, told CNN.

Of course, the Canadian study has reservations. For example, researchers note that "it is unclear whether a longer screen time predicts lower performance scores during developmental screening tests or whether children with a performance poor development benefits from time spent on the screen as a means of modulating difficult behavior. "

How long on the screen is too much? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents limit the use of screening to preschool aged children aged 2 to 5 years to one hour a day of high quality emissions. Most of the children in the study spent two to three hours a day on the screen.

This is bad news for all the parents who started by getting the iPad to go through countless paylines, traffic delays and dinner preparation time, and found that kids can not do it all. just not having enough time on the screen. The incredibly popular games like Fortnite and Roblox are hard to suppress for kids.

"It's an addiction," said David Wanderman, pediatrician of Stanford Children's Health. "Anything that gives you a boost of dopamine makes you feel good and makes you want to do it again and again. Social media and video games trigger this reaction. "

In the United States, children of all ages spend about five to seven hours a day in front of a screen. This includes watching television, working on a computer or playing video games, according to the National Library of Medicine of the United States. Experts warn that too much screen time can also prevent your child from sleeping at night, increase his risk of attention problems, anxiety and depression, and increase the risk of having to sleep at night. obesity.