“Facetime doesn’t count”: Video chat as an exception to media restrictions for infants and toddlers

A cultural perspective of action-based learning by infants and young children

Decades of research have informed about ways in which infants and young children learn through action in connection with their sensory system. However, this research has not strongly addressed the issues of cultural diversity or taken into account everyday cultural experiences of young learners across different communities. Diversifying the scholarship of early learning calls for paradigm shifts, extending beyond the analysis at the individual level to make close connections with real-world experience while placing culture front and center. On the other hand, cultural research that specifies diversity in caregiver guidance and scaffolding, while providing insights into young learners' cultural experiences, has been conducted separately from the research of action-based cross-modal learning. Taking everyday activities as contexts for learning, in this chapter, we summarize seminal work on cross-modal learning by infants and young children that connects action and perception, review empirical evidence of cultural variations in caregiver guidance for early action-based learning, and make recommendations of research approaches for advancing the scientific understanding about cultural ways of learning across diverse communities.

Look at Grandma! Joint visual attention over video chat during the COVID-19 pandemic

Social interactions are crucial for many aspects of development. One developmentally important milestone is joint visual attention (JVA), or shared attention between child and adult on an object, person, or event. Adults support infants' development of JVA by structuring the input they receive, with the goal of infants learning to use JVA to communicate. When family members are separated from the infants in their lives, video chat sessions between children and distant relatives allow for shared back-and-forth turn taking interaction across the screen, but JVA is complicated by screen mediation. During video chat, when a participant is looking or pointing at the screen to something in the other person's environment, there is no line of sight that can be followed to their object of focus. Sensitive caregivers in the remote and local environment with the infant may be able to structure interactions to support infants in using JVA to communicate across screens. We observed naturalistic video chat interactions longitudinally from 50 triads (infant, co-viewing parent, remote grandmother). Longitudinal growth models showed that JVA rate changes with child age (4 to 20 months). Furthermore, grandmother sensitivity predicted JVA rate and infant attention. More complex sessions (sessions involving more people, those with a greater proportion of across-screen JVA, and those where infants initiated more of the JVA) resulted in lower amounts of JVA-per-minute, and evidence of family-level individual differences emerged in all models. We discuss the potential of video chat to enhance communication for separated families in the digital world.

Reducing harm and promoting positive media use strategies: new perspectives in understanding the impact of preschooler media use on health and development

Most children grow up in homes with easy access to multiple screens. Screen use by children between the ages of 0 to 5 has become a worldwide preoccupation. In the present narrative review, we examine child and parent screen use and its contribution to physical, cognitive, and social developmental outcomes. As research has mostly focused on the adverse consequences of screen media, we aim to depict both the negative and the positive influences of screen usage. To provide a more nuanced portrait of the potential benefits and harms of screen use, we examine how consequences of media use vary according to the content of media (ex., educational, violent), context (ex., using screens during mealtimes), and the nature (ex., passive vs active use) of child screen use. Our review supports existing screen time guidelines and recommendations and suggests that media content, the context of use, and the nature of child use, as well as the parent's own screen use, be considered clinically. Future research should seek to clarify how these dimensions jointly contribute to child screen use profiles and associated consequences. Finally, child sex, behavioral/temperamental difficulties, and family adversity appear to contribute to child screen use and its consequences and should be considered in future research. Suggestions for harm-reduction approaches are discussed.

Virtual Grandparenting: Identifying Barriers to Supportive Video Chat between Grandparents and Grandchildren

Many grandparents today are physically separated from their families. Given that maintaining close family relationships (with both adult children and grandchildren) is associated with increased physical, mental, and emotional health across generations, it is important to determine how families can maintain close relationships with grandparents when physically separated. Technology offers one potential support: the proliferation of video chat. Recent work suggests that the frequency of video chat and the variety of behaviors engaged in during video calls predicts family closeness and enjoyment of using this communication method, regardless of the physical distance between parties. However, the frequency of grandparent-grandchild video chat varies across families. Here, we explore how demographic, physical (e.g., distance), technological (e.g., number of devices and barriers), and social factors (e.g., children are distracted) predicted: (1) whether or not video chat was used by grandparent-grandchild dyads, and (2) the frequency of video chat in the families using the technology. This work suggests that geographical distance, having met in person, and the number of devices owned were positive predictors of grandparents and grandchildren having ever video chatted. However, the factors associated with the frequency of video chat were different in the parent and grandparent models and included grandparents’ comfort with technology and the type of device used by the parent and child. These findings not only have implications for supporting grandparent-grandchild relationships but also for all family members separated by distance, immigration, incarceration, health emergencies, and displacement.

Implications of video chat use for young children's learning and social-emotional development: Learning words, taking turns, and fostering familial relationships

Parents of young children use video chat differently than other screen media, paralleling expert recommendations (e.g., American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media, 2016), which suggest that video chat, unlike other screen media, is acceptable for use by children under 18 months. Video chat is unique among screen media in that it permits contingent (time-sensitive and content-sensitive) social interactions. Contingent social interactions take place between a child and a partner (dyadic), with objects (triadic), and with multiple others (multi-party configurations), which critically underpin development in multiple domains. First, we review how contingent social interaction may underlie video chat's advantages in two domains: for learning (specifically learning new words) and for social-emotional development (specifically taking turns and fostering familial relationships). Second, we describe constraints on video chat use and how using chat with an active adult (co-viewing) may mitigate some of its limitations. Finally, we suggest future research directions that will clarify the potential advantages and impediments to the use of video chat by young children. This article is categorized under: Linguistics > Language Acquisition Psychology > Learning Cognitive Biology > Social Development.

Presence at a distance: Video chat supports intergenerational sensitivity and positive infant affect during COVID-19

COVID-19 disrupted infant contact with people beyond the immediate family. Because grandparents faced higher COVID-19 risks due to age, many used video chat instead of interacting with their infant grandchildren in person. We conducted a semi-naturalistic, longitudinal study with 48 families, each of whom submitted a series of video chats and surveys, and most (n = 40) also submitted a video of an in-person interaction. Families were mostly highly-educated, White/Caucasian, and lived between 1 and 2700 miles apart. We used multilevel models to examine grandparents' and parents' sensitivity during video chat across time (centered at February 1, 2021, the approximate date of vaccine availability). Grandparent video chat sensitivity changed as a function of date and parent sensitivity. Parent sensitivity changed as a function of date, grandparent sensitivity, and geographic distance. We then modeled infants' affective valence during video chat and in-person interactions with their grandparents, which was only predicted by grandparent sensitivity, not modality or other factors. This study demonstrates that caregivers were sensitive toward infants during video chat interactions despite fluctuations in family stress and reduced in-person contact during COVID-19 and that grandparent sensitivity predicted positive infant affect during both video chat and in-person interactions.

Explaining Adherence to American Academy of Pediatrics Screen Time Recommendations With Caregiver Awareness and Parental Motivation Factors: Mixed Methods Study

BACKGROUND

With the increasing integration of technology into society, it is advisable that researchers explore the effects of repeated digital media exposure on our most vulnerable population-infants. Excessive screen time during infancy has been linked to delays in language, literacy, and self-regulation.

OBJECTIVE

This study explores the awareness of and adherence to the American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) recommendations related to avoiding screen time for infants younger than 2 years and the motivational factors associated with screen time exposure.

METHODS

A mixed methods survey design was used to gather responses from 178 mothers of infants younger than 2 years. The measures included infant screen time use and duration, maternal awareness of screen time use recommendations, and motivations related to screen time exposure. A variety of statistical procedures were used to explore associations between caregiver awareness of and adherence to AAP guidelines for screen time exposure, motivations related to screen time for infants, and the duration of infant screen time exposure.

RESULTS

The results indicated that 62.2% (111/178) of mothers were aware of the AAP screen time recommendations, but only 46.1% (82/178) could cite them accurately, and most mothers learned of them via the internet or from a medical professional. Mothers who were aware of the guidelines allowed significantly less screen time for infants than those who were unaware (P=.03). In addition, parents who adhered to the AAP guidelines reported significantly less infant screen time per day than those who did not adhere (P<.001). Among mothers who reported not adhering to the guidelines, the greatest motivation for allowing screen time was perceived educational benefits. Less educated mothers rated an infant's relaxation as a motivational factor in allowing screen time significantly higher than more highly educated mothers (P=.048). The regression analysis indicated that none of the parental motivation factors predicted daily infant screen time.

CONCLUSIONS

These results indicate 2 key approaches to improving adherence to screen time recommendations. First, the awareness of the AAP recommendations needs to be increased, which tends to improve adherence. Second, the myth that screen time can be educational for infants needs to be dispelled.

Global Prevalence of Meeting Screen Time Guidelines Among Children 5 Years and Younger: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

IMPORTANCE

Pediatric guidelines suggest that infants younger than 2 years avoid screen time altogether, while children aged 2 to 5 years receive no more than 1 hour per day. Although these guidelines have been adopted around the world, substantial variability exists in adherence to the guidelines, and precise estimates are needed to inform public health and policy initiatives.

OBJECTIVE

To derive the pooled prevalence via meta-analytic methods of children younger than 2 years and children aged 2 to 5 years who are meeting guidelines about screen time.

DATA SOURCES

Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Embase up to March 2020.

STUDY SELECTION

Studies were included if participants were 5 years and younger and the prevalence of meeting (or exceeding) screen time guidelines was reported.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS

Data extraction followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Two independent reviewers extracted all relevant data. Random-effects meta-analyses were used to derive the mean prevalence rates.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Prevalence of meeting screen time guidelines.

RESULTS

From 63 studies, 95 nonoverlapping samples with a total of 89 163 participants were included. For children younger than 2 years, the pooled prevalence of meeting the screen time guideline (0 h/d) was 24.7% (95% CI, 19.0%-31.5%). Moderator analyses revealed that prevalence of meeting screen time guidelines varied as a function of year of data collection (increased over time), measurement method (higher when questionnaires compared with interview), and type of device use (higher when a combination of screen use activities compared with television/movies only). For children aged 2 to 5 years, the mean prevalence of meeting the screen time guideline (1 h/d) was 35.6% (95% CI, 30.6%-40.9%). Moderator analyses revealed that the prevalence of meeting screen time guidelines varied as a function of type of device use (higher when screen time was television/movies only compared with a combination of screen use activities).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

The findings of this meta-analysis indicate that only a minority of children 5 years and younger are meeting screen time guidelines. This highlights the need to provide support and resources to families to best fit evidence-based recommendations into their lives.

Associations between touchscreen exposure and hot and cool inhibitory control in 10-month-old infants

Touchscreen use amongst young children has proliferated in recent years, yet little is known about the association between daily touchscreen exposure and inhibitory control in the first year of life. Previous research has found a negative association between the amount of television viewing and inhibitory control in early childhood, but it is unclear whether negative associations with screen use extend to touchscreens. The current study presents an exploratory analysis of the cross-sectional associations between inhibitory control and the amount of touchscreen use amongst 10-month-olds (n = 128-156). Touchscreen exposure was assessed via parent-report. In order to include a range of "hot" and "cool" aspects of inhibitory control, these skills were assessed using lab-based response inhibition and prohibition tasks as well as parent-reported observations of infants' inhibitory control abilities and broader regulatory behaviors. A "Cognitive Executive Function (EEFQ-CEF)" score (encompassing Inhibitory Control, Flexibility, and Working Memory items) was included as a secondary broader executive function construct to examine whether effects showed specificity to inhibitory control rather than executive functions more generally. Correlation analyses indicated no association between touchscreen exposure and the four indices of IC. However, a positive association was found for the amount of touchscreen exposure and EEFQ-CEF once accounting for sociodemographic variables. The implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.

Media Use Among Kindergarteners From Low-Income Households During the COVID-19 Shutdown

OBJECTIVE

This study examines the media use of children from low-income homes during school closings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

Caregivers of 151 kindergarteners from low-income homes completed questionnaires as part of a larger study. Caregivers reported how much time children spent watching television/videos and using apps on the most recent weekday and weekend days. Caregivers also reported how their child's current use of media for several different purposes compared with how much the child usually uses media for that purpose.

RESULTS

Weekly average media use was 46.3 hours or 6.6 hours per day. Counter to previous research, weekday media use was higher than weekend media use, suggesting that media was likely used as a replacement for time usually spent in school. Caregivers reported increased child media use for positive purposes, such as education and maintaining relationships with family and friends outside of the home, and potentially useful but less socially valued purposes, such as occupying the child's time while caregivers were completing other tasks. Having more children in the household was related to higher media use, and girls used media for maintaining remote relationships more than boys.

CONCLUSION

These findings provide reason for both concern and optimism for the impacts of pandemic closures on low-income children. High levels of media use seem to be prevalent in this population. However, the diverse purposes for media use suggest that caregivers relied on media to supplement children's academic and social growth at a time when school and socializing were not safe in their typical forms.

Measurement of screen time among young children aged 0-6 years: A systematic review

The impact of screen-based devices on children's health and development cannot be properly understood without valid and reliable tools that measure screen time within the evolving digital landscape. This review aimed to summarize characteristics of measurement tools used to assess screen time in young children; evaluate reporting of psychometric properties; and examine time trends related to measurement and reporting of screen time. A systematic review of articles published in English across three databases from January 2009 to April 2020 was undertaken using PROSPERO protocol (registration: CRD42019132599) and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Included articles measured screen time as outcome, exposure, or confounder in children 0-6 years. The search identified 35,868 records, 1035 full-text articles were screened for eligibility, and 622 met inclusion criteria. Most measures (60%) consisted of one to three items and assessed duration of screen time on a usual day. Few measures assessed content (11%) or coviewing (7%). Only 40% of articles provided a citation for the measure, and only 69 (11%) reported psychometric properties-reliability n = 58, validity n = 19, reliability and validity n = 8. Between 2009 and 2019, the number of published articles increased from 28 to 71. From 2015, there was a notable increase in the proportion of articles published each year that assessed exposure to mobile devices in addition to television. The increasing number of published articles reflects increasing interest in screen time exposure among young children. Measures of screen time have generally evolved to reflect children's contemporary digital landscape; however, the psychometric properties of measurement tools are rarely reported. There is a need for improved measures and reporting to capture the complexity of children's screen time exposures.

Infant media use: A harm reduction approach

There are a myriad of potentially harmful developmental outcomes associated with infant digital media use. Studies revealing risk associated with early media use have informed the current American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations that discourage most digital media use among children under 18 months of age. Recent research advances, however, suggest potential benefits of technology engagement in this age group. Additionally, surveys of parents reveal that most infants engage with digital media for at least 30 min a day, exceeding the AAP recommendations. In response to these discoveries and cultural trends, some scholars have made compelling cases to adapt the AAP guidelines for infants. A helpful model for developing infant digital media use guidelines for families may be the harm reduction approach. The intent of this review is to suggest adaptations to the AAP guidelines for infant media engagement using a harm reduction framework. This review describes the challenge of restrictive guidelines, briefly summarizes the harm reduction approach, provides a review of risks and benefits associated with infant media use in each developmental domain (physical, cognitive, and socioemotional), summarizes correlates of infant screen media use, and examines intervention strategies for reducing screen time. The paper concludes with examples of possible adaptations to current AAP infant media use recommendations using harm reduction and bioecological frameworks.

Tantrums, toddlers and technology: Temperament, media emotion regulation, and problematic media use in early childhood

Parents regularly use media to help regulate their child's difficult emotions, particularly for those with a more difficult temperament. However, no research has examined how this may be related to the development of problematic (or addictive-like) media use in early childhood. The purpose of the study was to examine associations between temperament, parental media emotion regulation, and problematic media use in young children, using both questionnaires and observational data. Participants included 269 toddlers (2-3 years old) and their parents, who completed several observational tasks and questionnaires. Analyses revealed that higher levels of media emotion regulation was associated with more problematic media use and more extreme emotions when media was removed in toddlers. Additionally, temperament (specifically negative affect and surgency) was related to problematic media and extreme emotions and was mediated by media emotion regulation. Parents should avoid using media as a primary way of regulating their children's emotions as this may be related to the development of problematic media strategies during infancy.

Toddlers Using Tablets: They Engage, Play, and Learn

Although very young children have unprecedented access to touchscreen devices, there is limited research on how successfully they operate these devices for play and learning. For infants and toddlers, whose cognitive, fine motor, and executive functions are immature, several basic questions are significant: (1) Can they operate a tablet purposefully to achieve a goal? (2) Can they acquire operating skills and learn new information from commercially available apps? (3) Do individual differences in executive functioning predict success in using and learning from the apps? Accordingly, 31 2-year-olds (M = 30.82 month, SD = 2.70; 18 female) were compared with 29 3-year-olds (M = 40.92 month, SD = 4.82; 13 female) using two commercially available apps with different task and skill requirements: (1) a shape matching app performed across 3 days, and (2) a storybook app with performance compared to that on a matched paper storybook. Children also completed (3) the Minnesota Executive Functioning Scale. An adult provided minimal scaffolding throughout. The results showed: (1) toddlers could provide simple goal-directed touch gestures and the manual interactions needed to operate the tablet (2) after controlling for prior experience with shape matching, toddlers’ increased success and efficiency, made fewer errors, decreased completion times, and required less scaffolding across trials, (3) they recognized more story content from the e-book and were less distracted than from the paper book, (4) executive functioning contributed unique variance to the outcome measures on both apps, and (5) 3-year-olds outperformed 2-year-olds on all measures. The results are discussed in terms of the potential of interactive devices to support toddlers’ learning.

Toddler word learning from contingent screens with and without human presence

While previous studies have documented that toddlers learn less well from passive screens than from live interaction, the rise of interactive, digital screen media opens new perspectives, since some work has shown that toddlers can learn similarly well from a human present via video chat as from live exposure. The present study aimed to disentangle the role of human presence from other aspects of social interactions on learning advantages in contingent screen settings. We assessed 16-month-old toddlers' fast mapping of novel words from screen in three conditions: in-person, video chat, and virtual agent. All conditions built on the same controlled and scripted interaction. In the in-person condition, toddlers learned two novel word-object associations from an experimenter present in the same room and reacting contingently to infants' gaze direction. In the video chat condition, the toddler saw the experimenter in real time on screen, while the experimenter only had access to the toddler's real-time gaze position as captured by an eyetracker. This setup allowed contingent reactivity to the toddler's gaze while controlling for any cues beyond these instructions. The virtual agent condition was programmed to follow the infant's gaze, to smile, and to name the object with the same parameters as the experimenter in the other conditions. After the learning phase, all toddlers were tested on their word recognition in a looking-while-listening paradigm. Comparisons against chance revealed that toddlers showed above-chance word learning in the in-person group only. Toddlers in the virtual agent group showed significantly worse performance than those in the in-person group, while performance in the video chat group overlapped with the other two groups. These results confirm that in-person interaction leads to best learning outcomes even in the absence of rich social cues. They also elucidate that contingency is not sufficient either, and that in order for toddlers to learn from interactive digital media, more cues to social agency are required.

Screen viewing behavior and sleep duration among children aged 2 and below

Background

Few studies have investigated the association between screen viewing (SV) and sleep duration among young children. This study aims to examine the association between total and device-specific SV and sleep duration among children aged 2 and below.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study of 714 Singaporean children aged 2 years and below. Parents were recruited during routine well-child clinic visits from two national polyclinics. In Singapore, all parents visit well-child clinics with their children at regular intervals for routine check-ups and vaccinations. Socio-demographic characteristics, duration of total and device-specific SV, and sleep duration were reported by parents via interviewer-administered questionnaires. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess associations between various types of SV and sleep duration, adjusted for socio-demographic variables. Due to significant interaction between SV and age, stratified analyses for children aged less than 6 months and those aged 7–24 months were performed.

Results

The prevalence of daily SV among children was 53.1%; 28.3% in children up to 6 months and 73.8% in children aged 7 to 24 months. TV viewing was reported for 44.3% of all children and mobile device SV for 30.1%. Children’s average sleep duration was 13.9 (SD = 3.5) hours daily and younger children had longer sleep duration than older ones (up to 6 months: mean = 15.6 h, SD = 3.9; 7–24 months: mean = 12.4 h, SD = 2.2; P < 0.01). In the regression analysis among all children, each 1 h per day increment in total SV was significantly associated with 0.26 h shorter sleep duration with similar significant associations for TV (β = − 0.28 h, 95%CI: -0.50, − 0.06) and mobile devices (β = − 0.35 h, 95%CI: -0.61, − 0.09). Stratified analysis revealed significantly greater reductions in sleep with higher SV among children aged 6 months and below (β = − 0.73 h, 95%CI: -1.12, − 0.34), while associations were weaker in older children (β = − 0.13 h, 95% CI: -0.24, − 0.01).

Conclusions

This study provides evidence for a substantial association between longer SV and shorter sleep duration among very young children. These associations appeared stronger among children aged 6 months and below as compared with those aged 7 to 24 months. Further studies are warranted to confirm our findings.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-018-6385-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Child and Adolescent Use of Mobile Phones: An Unparalleled Complex Developmental Phenomenon

This article addresses why children's use of mobile phones is an unparalleled complex developmental phenomenon in hopes of providing a broad context for this special section. It first outlines mobile phones as a sophisticated personalized and multifunction technology. Then it presents mobile phone use by children as an unparalleled complex developmental phenomenon on the basis of its four behavioral elements, two mobile cultures, and two developmental processes. It further illustrates the existing knowledge about children's mobile phones use that has been accumulated over the past 23 years and highlights 12 most studied topics, especially distracted driving and radiation exposure. It concludes with three types of scientific contributions made by the 12 articles in the special section.

Media and Young Minds

Infants, toddlers, and preschoolers are now growing up in environments saturated with a variety of traditional and new technologies, which they are adopting at increasing rates. Although there has been much hope for the educational potential of interactive media for young children, accompanied by fears about their overuse during this crucial period of rapid brain development, research in this area still remains limited. This policy statement reviews the existing literature on television, videos, and mobile/interactive technologies; their potential for educational benefit; and related health concerns for young children (0 to 5 years of age). The statement also highlights areas in which pediatric providers can offer specific guidance to families in managing their young children's media use, not only in terms of content or time limits, but also emphasizing the importance of parent-child shared media use and allowing the child time to take part in other developmentally healthy activities.

Children and Adolescents and Digital Media

Today's children and adolescents are immersed in both traditional and new forms of digital media. Research on traditional media, such as television, has identified health concerns and negative outcomes that correlate with the duration and content of viewing. Over the past decade, the use of digital media, including interactive and social media, has grown, and research evidence suggests that these newer media offer both benefits and risks to the health of children and teenagers. Evidence-based benefits identified from the use of digital and social media include early learning, exposure to new ideas and knowledge, increased opportunities for social contact and support, and new opportunities to access health promotion messages and information. Risks of such media include negative health effects on sleep, attention, and learning; a higher incidence of obesity and depression; exposure to inaccurate, inappropriate, or unsafe content and contacts; and compromised privacy and confidentiality. This technical report reviews the literature regarding these opportunities and risks, framed around clinical questions, for children from birth to adulthood. To promote health and wellness in children and adolescents, it is important to maintain adequate physical activity, healthy nutrition, good sleep hygiene, and a nurturing social environment. A healthy Family Media Use Plan (www.healthychildren.org/MediaUsePlan) that is individualized for a specific child, teenager, or family can identify an appropriate balance between screen time/online time and other activities, set boundaries for accessing content, guide displays of personal information, encourage age-appropriate critical thinking and digital literacy, and support open family communication and implementation of consistent rules about media use.

Toddlers' Fine Motor Milestone Achievement Is Associated with Early Touchscreen Scrolling

Touchscreen technologies provide an intuitive and attractive source of sensory/cognitive stimulation for young children. Despite fears that usage may have a negative impact on toddlers’ cognitive development, empirical evidence is lacking. The current study presents results from the UK Toddler Attentional Behaviours and LEarning with Touchscreens (TABLET) project, examining the association between toddlers’ touchscreen use and the attainment of developmental milestones. Data were gathered in an online survey of 715 parents of 6- to 36-month-olds to address two research questions: (1) How does touchscreen use change from 6 to 36 months? (2) In toddlers (19–36 months, i.e., above the median age, n = 366), how does retrospectively reported age of first touchscreen usage relate to gross motor (i.e., walking), fine motor (i.e., stacking blocks), and language (i.e., producing two-word utterances) milestones? In our sample, the proportion of children using touchscreens, as well as the average daily usage time, increased with age (youngest quartile, 6–11 months: 51.22% users, 8.53 min per day; oldest quartile, 26–36 months: 92.05% users, average use of 43.95 min per day). In toddlers, aged 19–36 months, age of first touchscreen use was significantly associated with fine motor (stacking blocks), p = 0.03, after controlling for covariates age, sex, mother’s education (a proxy for socioeconomic status) as well as age of early fine motor milestone achievement (pincer grip). This effect was only present for active scrolling of the touchscreen p = 0.04, not for video watching. No significant relationships were found between touchscreen use and either gross motor or language milestones. Touchscreen use increases rapidly over the first 3 years of life. In the current study, we find no evidence to support a negative association between the age of first touchscreen usage and developmental milestones. Indeed, earlier touchscreen use, specifically scrolling of the screen, was associated with earlier fine motor achievement. Future longitudinal studies are required to elucidate the temporal order and mechanisms of this association, and to examine the impact of touchscreen use on other, more fine-grained, measures of behavioral, cognitive, and neural development.

Baby FaceTime: can toddlers learn from online video chat?

There is abundant evidence for the 'video deficit': children under 2 years old learn better in person than from video. We evaluated whether these findings applied to video chat by testing whether children aged 12-25 months could form relationships with and learn from on-screen partners. We manipulated social contingency: children experienced either real-time FaceTime conversations or pre-recorded Videos as the partner taught novel words, actions and patterns. Children were attentive and responsive in both conditions, but only children in the FaceTime group responded to the partner in a temporally synced manner. After one week, children in the FaceTime condition (but not the Video condition) preferred and recognized their Partner, learned more novel patterns, and the oldest children learned more novel words. Results extend previous studies to demonstrate that children under 2 years show social and cognitive learning from video chat because it retains social contingency. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/rTXaAYd5adA.