Screen time for babies and toddlers under the age of two has been linked with long-term negative effects on health and quality of life and should be avoided, according to a landmark study.<\/p>\n
It warns that using screens during that period may lead to wide-ranging developmental concerns and calls for further urgent investigation of the risks smartphones, tablets and other digital devices pose to infants.<\/p>\n
With the focus on teenagers\u2019 digital habits and UK government plans to ban under-16s from social media, researchers are concerned about a \u201cbaby blind spot\u201d in policy at a time when screen use has become embedded in everyday parenting. <\/p>\n
In Ireland, the Minister for Communications Patrick O\u2019Donovan<\/a> said earlier this month Ireland is prepared to move ahead<\/a> with restrictions on children\u2019s social media<\/a> use in a move he said would be \u201cembarrassing\u201d for the European Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rafe Clayton, a senior lecturer in media and communication at the University of Leeds in England, who co-led the research, said parents \u2013 lacking guidance on their own screen use \u2013 were \u201cinadvertently teaching children and babies to develop unhealthy habits and relationships with screen devices\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has to change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The study, described as the most comprehensive review yet of all available global research on the subject, calls on the British government to reconsider its recently published guidance on screen time for under-fives.<\/p>\n That recommends avoiding screen time for the under-twos but caveats the advice by adding: \u201cother than shared activities that encourage bonding, interaction and conversation\u201d. <\/p>\n The new study, however, lays bare a wide range of potential harms associated with screen time for babies, including reduced opportunities to bond with parents and caregivers, less time for physical play with other children and limited language development.<\/p>\n It says screen use at such a young age may increase overstimulation and difficulty sleeping, and have implications for eye health and childhood obesity. There are also concerns that infants are turning to digital devices for comfort and soothing, rather than to a parent.<\/p>\n The review, conducted by researchers from four UK universities known as the Action on Digital Device Immersive Conditions Team, did not establish causal links between screen use and specific developmental conditions. <\/p>\n However, it was emphatic that \u201cno under-twos should receive regular intentional screen time. Passive exposure is societally unavoidable, so adding deliberate use compounds risk without any meaningful benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n It recommends that any official guidance that points under-twos towards regular \u201cshared screen time, screen time for learning, screen time for communication and\/or screen time for children experiencing disabilities\/learning difficulties, should be reconsidered, since it may be misinterpreted by parents and caregivers to indicate safety or even encouragement\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis could potentially lead caregivers to believe that screen time for the under-twos is without developmental harm, which may result in an exacerbation of developmental delays and isolating behaviours for those who are already at greater risk.\u201d<\/p>\n As a result of their findings, the research team \u2013 from the universities of Leeds, Leeds Trinity, Loughborough and Aston \u2013 are calling for a \u201cbaby screen-time risk assessment\u201d to help services provide targeted support for families where developmental vulnerabilities may be emerging.<\/p>\n Carmen Clayton, professor of family and cultural dynamics at Leeds Trinity University and co-lead of the research, said: \u201cThe government must consider how to engage with families better about problematic screen use, whilst being sensitive to the fear of judgment that many parents face when opening up about such issues.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrea Leadsom, a former Conservative minister and founder of the 1,001 Critical Days Foundation, said: \u201cThis landmark review is a wake-up call. The evidence increasingly suggests that screens offer limited benefits for babies and may carry significant risks during the first 1,001 days, the most important period of human development.\u201d<\/p>\n She said parents should not be blamed for a problem they did not create. \u201cThe responsibility cannot rest solely on their shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n Leadsom said technology companies should play their part. \u201cParents should not be presented with content that is labelled or promoted as suitable for babies when the evidence points to the contrary.\u201d – The Guardian <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Screen time for babies and toddlers under the age of two has been linked with long-term negative effects…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[78],"tags":[18,135,19,17,36103,1114],"class_list":["post-557061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-eire","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-patrick-o-donovan","tag-social-media"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116822551411853412","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}