Introduction
Many families in the U.S., with the majority being the middle class, have at least one television in their homes. According to estimates “there are about 122.4 million TV homes in the U.S. for the 2021-2022 periods. As a result, most children between 0-4 years spend most of their time in front of the screens. Their young brain, in the end, take in much information but unable to process it all into their functional skills that depend on these years. As emphasized in this research paper, uninterrupted Cognitive development is essential for functional adaptation and could potentially be negatively affected by such screen exposure. Although there are few benefits associated with watching television as explicated by van den Heuvel et al. (2019), parents must track the time their kids spent on screen. Some of the discussed benefits include encouraging literacy skills for preschool-aged children and vocabulary improvement in school-aged children. Therefore, parents should focus more on controlling the amount of time their kids spent on screens in order to prevent issues related to delays in speech and language development which in those aged 0-4 years.
Problem Statement
Over the past few decades, technology has offered increased information and education through computer laptops, iPads, iPhones, games, and toys. One of the largest populations affected by the availability of technological devices is children. Children engage in with technological devices through what has become known as “screen-time.” Domingues‐Montanari (2017) defines screen time as “time spent watching television, playing a video game or using an electronic device with a screen such as a smartphone or tablet” (p. 333). Screen time has also come to express concern about how much time children spend engaging with their digital devices. There have not been many long-term studies to track the amount of screen time used by children under 18 but researchers are starting to track this information out of concern of impact of screen time on children (Pappas, 2020). According to Supanitayanon et al. (2020), early screen exposure in first two years interrupts cognitive development. This trend has been on the rise due to availability of televisions in most homes.
The availability and ease with which children can consume technology have brought advantages and challenges. On the other hand, many challenges have been presented by the frequent use of devices (Operto al. 2020). There are some studies examining this with not surprisingly mixed results (van den Heuvel et al., 2019). We are too early in this phase to know the long-term effects on children who spend increasing hours watching and playing on their devices. However, today it is easier to spot a baby in the store demanding their mother’s smartphone and adeptly utilizing the device, the question of its impact becomes one to consider. There is already evidence that shows there is reason to be concerned. Brain development and language, may be impacted by children’s increased use of technological devices. Asikainen et al. (2021) observed that uninterrupted cognitive development is essential for functional adaptation and could potentially be negatively affected by such screen exposure. This implies that the young brain may be taking in much information but unable to process it all into their functional skills that depend on these years.
The brain develops rapidly during the first few years of a child’s life. This is how children can reach milestones and learn much information in a short amount of time. Because of this, children are known as sponges and everything they are exposed to influences them significantly. They learn by imitating the behaviors of adults as well as the people on the screen. For example, children exposed to a foreign language at eight years have an easier time learning and retaining it than someone learning a new language at age eleven (Oga-Baldwin, 2019). This is the case because language use and ability to understand are the two most critical competencies developed at this age.
Research Question
How does screen time affect children’s cognitive and language development?
Review of Literature
Extensive research has been undertaken to determine the impact of screen time on children’s development. This review aims at establishing whether the amount of time children spend behind television contributes positively or negatively towards a child’s cognitive development. To achieve this, the researcher focused exclusively on scholarly (peer reviewed) research published related to education, psychology and related fields within the last five years. Several search engines such as Google Scholars were utilized during the research process. A total of 20 articles were identified but only 11 met the criteria for inclusion. The search strategy aimed at identifying sources that discuss both the positive negative effects of screen time to children below five years.
Technological devices can offer significant benefits to the learning process. Research studies have questioned how children’s screen usage affects their language and cognitive development. These researchers sought information on screen time’s negative impacts on children. Nevertheless, they discovered some benefits of digital entertainment. In all the studies, the researchers tracked the children’s development. One discussed how specific preliminary applications encourage literacy skills for preschool-aged children and vocabulary improvement in school-aged children (van den Heuvel et al., 2019). In another study, toddlers learned novel verb words from video chat learning (van den Heuvel et al., 2019). Additional studies have shown that children who spent time on digital technology had improved short-term visual memory and cognitive development (Monteiro et al., 2022). All these studies found benefits screen time had on children while looking for negative effects.
Other positive effects associated with screen-time include expansion of vocabulary, ensuring children are engaged in a safe manner and exposing them to cultural and linguistic diversity. However, Karani (2022) observed that majority of children start understanding information after two years. This explains why the author advised parents to ensure they are actively involved in the developmental process of their children. They should relate with family members through face-to face interactions as this helps a lot when it comes to improving interactive learning. While educative programs on television tend to improve literacy, parents should be aware of the negative effects, especially for children below five years.
While children spend many hours using educational programs, the issue of concern relates to the amount of content they end up absorbing. A study was done to find if there is any association between screen usage and language delay in 18-month-old children. The research suggests these infants are delayed in their speech and language development. They also found that toddlers have trouble applying what they are exposed to from different situations. They cannot absorb as thoroughly from a digital device as they do from face-to-face interactions (van den Heuvel et al., 2019). This study proves that not only do toddlers have difficulty applying knowledge from a digital device it also negatively impacts children.
The use of digital devices has increased significantly for the past decade. Operto et al. (2019) carried out a study to establish the existing relationship between digital devices and language development for children between 8-36 months. From this, the authors observed that both “traditional media and new media offer both benefits and risks for young children” (Operto et al., p. 59). The authors further noted that children, for the first three years of their growth journey, consider language as a critical competency developed through interaction with people, objects and events. They concluded that long screen time period was directly related to lower mimic-gestural skills in children from 8-17 months. Those aged 18-36 months experienced lower language skills.
However, the majority of consumption of screen time is entertainment. In a study done in the Northern Region of Portugal on children ages three to six years old, most children spend close to two hours per day watching television during the weekdays and more on the weekends (Monteiro et al., 2022). Results from the US indicate rates of screen time that are much higher. A U.S. national study was conducted in 2017 with the results that 46% of children under two years of age used a digital device (van den Heuvel et al., 2019). Today, digital technology is more common, probably resulting in greater percentages. Operto al. (2020) discusses a study conducted in a low-income pediatric clinic. Results showed that almost all the children (97%) ages 0 to 4 had used digital devices and three quarters had their own. Additionally, 91% of the one-year-old children did not spend time on the screen for educational purposes but for entertainment.
The World Health Organization recommends that infants under a year not spend time on screens. Children 1-4 years should not spend more than one hour of sedentary screen time. WHO stresses that children need physical activity for their development, “Physical activity was associated with improved motor and cognitive development.” (World Health Organization, 2019) WHO makes the point that children need to constantly be doing physical activity. Especially during early childhood, children should need to do a lot of physical activity because this age sets a child’s habits. The concern is that excessive screen time can impact the quality of development. Sedentary time is part of child development but the concern is what type of sedentary activity is helpful or possibly harmful. Reading on a tablet vs. having a story being read to a child are both useful sedentary activities but is one better than the other? The other concern is if screen time is replacing the needed time for physical activity. Although the amount of screen time matter, they should replace the physical activities as this is detrimental to one’s health.
A team of investigators conducted a study in the Northern Region of Portugal to determine how screen time exposure influences children’s development. The children studied were ages three to six and eleven months old (Monteiro et al., 2022). The study aimed to analyze the teachers’ perceptions of screen time concerning play and language development. For the study, preschool teachers with at least seven years of experience were interviewed face-to-face. They sent out a questionnaire to parents of preschool children with many questions regarding their child’s technology use. They received a total of 266 parents’ responses from mostly middle-class citizens. From the data that was collected, the researchers were able to get a good sense of the children’s screen use. 95.11% of the children had television screens, 45.49% spent one to two hours watching during weekdays, and over 60% spent more than two hours watching television on weekends (Monteiro et al., 2022, p. 108). 95.49% of the children watch cartoon videos, and 59.77% have screen time when their parents are busy (Monteiro et al., 2022, p. 109). It is clear that the availability of digital devices is the main reason why children spent most of their time on screens.
Most of the teachers in the study believe there are changes in how children played as opposed to children ten years ago. “They used to play more symbolic games in the playhouse, taking into account the experiences they saw at home and with friends.” says one of the teachers (Monteiro et al., 2022, p. 106). One teacher felt that children used to be more imaginative and mimicked their surroundings. Children’s play is a big part of their development. It gives them a chance to use their creativity and imagination. The researchers discovered that now children play with peers violently. Also, they found that children can’t focus, and need to be given stimulation (Monteiro et al., 2022). These are two different activities, but somehow they seem to connect. Screens are a source of stimulation, and a child needs to stimulate himself while playing. Maybe, when children are used to being stimulated it takes away their ability to self-stimulate with their own imagination.
In line with the above, children nowadays tend to bounce from one activity to another quicker, and their way of playing is less creative. Interestingly, the teachers agreed that getting the children’s attention is easier when new technologies are used (Monteiro et al., 2022). This can be beneficial, it can be a good way to get children to listen to the teacher or follow directions. However, as mentioned above, children have a hard time applying knowledge from digital devices. Vrinda, et al. (2021), emphasizes the need to identify a specific amount of time of exposure to prevent language delay in toddlers. This research is a clear demonstration that exposure time is a critical determinant of the resulting effects. While there are some positive effects, like increasing knowledge and promoting learning, the study suggests that the cons are more significant than the pros. They found more children with issues than children who screen time helped.
Therefore, there is a need to limit screen-time for children and babies. Several researches, as cited in Pappas (2021), have been carried out with the aim of understanding the amount of time children should spent watching television. One such study, led by psychologist Sheri Madigan, focused on 2,441 mothers and children. The findings showed that “more time per week spent on screens at 24-36 months was linked with poorer performance on screening tests for behavioral, cognitive and social development at 36 months” (p. 234). The authors used excessive screen time which clearly shows that additional research is needed to explain the amount of screen-time children should spend watching television and other related digital devices.
Since parents want the best for their children, maybe psycho-educational programs can be developed to help parents consider the best approach for exposing their children to screen time and devices. Perhaps because of being overwhelmed by the burdens of parenthood, it is easy to forget about the long-term effects. It is understandable for parents to be overwhelmed and exhausted after a long work day, and allowing their children to have screen time can give them a well-needed break, too. As society grapples with this challenging and important topic, more research needs to be conducted.
Discussion
The potential negative impact of screen time on a child’s development has, in the recent past, become a major issue of public concern not only to scholars but parents as well. This comes at the backdrop of the ease with which most children can access televisions especially in their homes. In Van den Heuvel et al.’s (2019), the authors, while interested in the negative effects of screen time on children development, admitted that these devices can also offer significant benefits to the learning process. They observed that some specific preliminary applications have the potential of improving literacy skills for preschool-aged children and vocabulary improvement in school-aged children. The same views were echoed in Monteiro et al. (2022) who noted that children who spent time on digital technology had improved short-term visual memory and cognitive development. However, the overarching issue of concern in most of these studies including those aforementioned revolves around time of exposure and the amount of content consumed.
Several studies have been carried out with the aim of establishing a link between the time of exposure and amount of content absorbed. Van den Heuvel et al. (2019), while admitting that there are several benefits accrued to watching television, cautioned against long exposure time, especially among toddlers delays their speech and learning development. Monteiro et al. (2022), on their part observed that most children, 1-4 years, spent long hours watching entertainment programs. More specifically, the authors explicated that most children spend close to two hours per day watching television during the weekdays and more on the weekends (Monteiro et al., 2022). The same is revealed in Operto et al.’s study who maintained that about 91 percent of children aged one year and below spent most of their screen time not for educational but entertainment purpose. This contradicts the World Health Organization’s recommendation of not having children under one year spend much time on screens. For those 1-4 years citied in Monteiro et al. (2022), WHO recommend that they should not spend more than one hour of sedentary screen time – it stresses the importance of physical activities for motor and cognitive development.
The main concern of WHO revolves around the fact that excessive screen time can impact the quality of development. Ideally, WHO recommendations mirrors the findings in Operto et al. (2019), Karani et al. (2022), Pappas, 2020 and Askainen et al. (2021). According to Asikainen et al. (2021), uninterrupted cognitive development is essential for functional adaptation and could potentially be negatively affected by such screen exposure. The authors further added that long hours of exposure to electronic media affect negatively speech and language development at 18 to 24 months. The findings in Operto et al.’s (2019) study revealed that a longer exposure time on screen is directly related to lower mimic-gesture skills, especially in children between 8 to 17 months. As for those between 18-36 months, the authors noted that most of them record lower language skills. Karani et al. (2022), informed by some of the findings highlighted by other scholars, concluded that negative influences on screen time outweigh the benefits. Overall, Pappas (2020) elucidated that young children are less likely to learn well from screens. As they grow older, they can benefit a lot from information on screens.
Conclusion
From the research discussed some evidence is shown how screen time affects children’s development. Although the authors admitted that there are some benefits that come with watching television and other digital devices, parents must track the time their kids spent on screen. The longer the children spend time on screens, the much the information they end up absorbing. However, their brain may not be able to process all the information acquired through screen-time. Some of the benefits of screen time as evidenced in literature review include encouraging literacy skills for preschool-aged children and vocabulary improvement in school-aged children. The problem often comes in depending on the amount of exposure to these devices. The main disadvantages with exposing children to long screen time include delayed in speech and language development and trouble applying what they are exposed to from different situations. Overall, additional research needs to be done to provide well developed evidence to effectively address the research question. Additionally, more information on how to advise parents on how much screen time they should allow their children would enhance the research.
References
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