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Frequent outdoor play with parents can help reduce negative impacts from prolonged screen time in toddlers

By on March 24, 2023

 

Preschoolers in Japan spend 57.5 minutes of daily screen time on weekdays and 76.7 minutes a day on weekends, according to a recent survey by Amazon.

In the United States,  the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend screen time for toddlers aged 18 to 24 months be kept to no more than an hour a day.

Interestingly, in Canada and Australia, authorities do not recommend toddlers aged 2 and under to be exposed to digital devices. It is only for kids aged 2 until 5 that Canada has relaxed the rules for interactive and educational purposes, including family movie nights.

UNICEF warns that the negative effects of too much screen time for babies and toddlers range from shorter attention span to lower empathy.

Many moms and dads worry about the overall impact, physical and mental from prolonged screen use although relaxing restrictions on their children’s use of devices free up time for them to do other things.

Should parents be concerned?

“No,” suggests a study by researchers from Osaka University and the Hamamatsu University School of Medicine adding,  ‘if you let children play outside for more than 30 minutes a day as a routine.’

The joint study looked into data on 885 children whose average daily screen time was 2.6 hours.  The children who were born between December 2007 and March 2012 were regularly monitored until they were between 18 months and 4 years old.

The study published in JAMA Pediatrics finds that higher screen time for 2-year old toddlers was directly linked to poor communication and ability to understand what people say. It also has an impact on their ability to acquire day-to-day life skills as a result.

The ability to socialize for the two-year-old group with screen time of more than 60 minutes a day, remains intact. Social skills are what helps develop empathy in children. Where communication and life skills are concerned however, children whose screen time is less than an hour a day fared better than the former.

Life skill scores improved in children aged 2.8 years who played outdoors longer than 30 minutes daily for six days or more a week, when they turned 4. There was no improvement seen in their communication ability.

“These negative effects are very limited,  and can be reduced if children’s screen time is supervised by parents,”  the study said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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