Screens across the pond: Findings from longitudinal screen time research in the US and UK

Infant screen media and child development: A prospective community study

The current study examined longitudinal associations between early screen media exposure (assessed at 6, 12, and 24 months) and the child's motor and language/communication development at the ages of 24 and 36 months. We also aimed to study whether these associations varied by socioeconomic status (SES). Participants were 179 parent-infant dyads, recruited from well-baby clinic services during routine visits. Child development measures included standardized measures of developmental milestones as assessed by professionals and referral data to child developmental centers. Both measures were retrieved from the official health maintenance organization records by an expert in child development. Results indicated that screen exposure at 6 and 12 months was associated with a higher risk for language/communication deficits at 36 months in children with moderate or high SES but not in children with low SES. Our findings are consistent with existing literature demonstrating cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between early screen exposure and language development deficits. Given that media use practices and motivations vary among families from different backgrounds, further investigation of the interaction between SES and screen exposure is needed.

Exploring the perception of parents on children's screentime: a systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative studies

BACKGROUND

Screentime (ST) has been increasingly pervasive in young children. Evidence suggests positive and negative effects of ST on children's development. Parents play a crucial role in influencing their children's ST. There is limited research consolidating the parental perceptions related to children's ST. This review consolidates the evidence on the perception of parents on their children's ST.

METHODS

Six electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, and ProQuest) were searched from their inception to September 2022. Critical appraisal was conducted using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) checklist. Data synthesis was performed using Sandelowski and Barroso's approach.

RESULTS

Twenty studies were included in this review, encapsulating the experiences of 1,311 parents. Three main themes with corresponding subthemes were identified: (1) Varied reasons behind ST; (2) Attitudes toward ST; and (3) Strategies and approaches to managing ST.

CONCLUSION

The findings highlighted the varied reasons parents promote ST. Parents reported their concerns and confusion about ST and shared some strategies and approaches for better ST. Future research is needed to develop and evaluate educational programs to ensure that parents understand the risks and benefits of ST and in turn, ensure the appropriate adoption of ST for their children.

IMPACT

In the digital era, parents' attitudes towards screentime (ST) for their children are mixed. This review presents the dilemma parents face and their struggles with using optimal screen time for their children. This review provides up-to-date evidence on the parents' confusion and concerns about ST as well as strategies and approaches used by the parents for better ST. There is an urgent need for evidence-based educational programs to enhance parental knowledge about ST so that they can ensure appropriate ST among children.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION

PROSPERO Registration No. CRD42022356083.

Should I follow your virtual gaze? Infants' gaze following over video call

From 10 months of age, human infants start to understand the function of the eyes in the looking behavior of others to the point where they preferentially orient toward an object if the social partner has open eyes rather than closed eyes. Thus far, gaze following has been investigated in controlled laboratory paradigms. The current study investigated this early ability using a remote live testing procedure, testing infants in their everyday environment while manipulating whether the experimenter could or could not see some target objects. A total of 32 11- and 12-month-old infants' looking behavior was assessed, varying the experimenter's eye status condition (open eyes vs closed eyes) in a between-participant design. Results showed that infants followed the gaze of a virtual social partner and that they preferentially followed open eyes rather than closed eyes. These data generalize past laboratory findings to a noisier home environment and demonstrate gaze processing capacities of infants to a virtual partner interacting with the participants in a live setup.

Toward a dimensional model of risk and protective factors influencing children's early cognitive, social, and emotional development during the COVID-19 pandemic

Variation in infants' home environment is implicated in their cognitive and psycho-social development. The pandemic has intensified variations in home environments through exacerbating socioeconomic inequalities, and increasing psychological stressors for some families. This study investigates the effects of parental (predominantly maternal) mental health, enriching activities and screen use on 280 24- to 52-month-olds' executive functions, internalising and externalising problems, and pro-social behaviour; with socioeconomic status and social support as contextual factors. Our results indicate that aspects of the home environment are differentially associated with children's cognitive and psycho-social development. Parents who experienced sustained mental distress during the pandemic tended to report higher child externalising and internalising problems, and executive function difficulties at follow-up. Children who spent more time engaged in enriching activities with their parents showed stronger executive functions and social competence six months later. Screen use levels during the first year of the pandemic were not associated with outcomes. To mitigate the risk of persistent negative effects for this 'pandemic generation' of infants, our study highlights the importance of supporting parents' mental health. As our results demonstrate the impact of social support on mental health, investing in support services and interventions promoting building support networks are likely to be beneficial.

An Initial Investigation into Parental Perceptions Surrounding the Impact of Mobile Media Use on Child Behavior and Executive Functioning

Children demonstrate increasing early engagement with mobile media facilitated by its portability and interactivity. Parents are known to employ a range of mediation strategies for mobile media use but continue to have limited awareness about the impact of mobile media on their child’s executive functioning. Mobile media use has previously been shown to be negatively correlated with the executive functioning development of a child; however, little is known of how parents approach their child’s mobile media use. This study employed a survey design ( $N=281$ ) to examine how parents access information related to mobile media and document their perspectives about the impact of mobile media on their child’s behavior and executive functioning. Correlational analyses and cooccurrence graphs showed that parents implement several mediation strategies but rarely access guidelines on mobile media use. A confirmatory factor analysis examined the model fit for four latent constructs of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF®), which included the Inhibit, Emotional Control, Initiate, and Working Memory scales. Structural equation modelling substantiated the association between parental perception of negative impacts of mobile media related to their child’s behavior, academics, and/or attention and a lower observed executive functioning. Overall, these findings suggest that parents recognize the negative impacts of mobile media on their child’s behavior, and this is associated with how they see the development of their child’s executive functioning. The results emphasize the importance of educating parents as to the role of mobile media in shaping their child’s behavior and associated executive functions.

Young children's screen time during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 12 countries

Older children with online schooling requirements, unsurprisingly, were reported to have increased screen time during the first COVID-19 lockdown in many countries. Here, we ask whether younger children with no similar online schooling requirements also had increased screen time during lockdown. We examined children’s screen time during the first COVID-19 lockdown in a large cohort (n = 2209) of 8-to-36-month-olds sampled from 15 labs across 12 countries. Caregivers reported that toddlers with no online schooling requirements were exposed to more screen time during lockdown than before lockdown. While this was exacerbated for countries with longer lockdowns, there was no evidence that the increase in screen time during lockdown was associated with socio-demographic variables, such as child age and socio-economic status (SES). However, screen time during lockdown was negatively associated with SES and positively associated with child age, caregiver screen time, and attitudes towards children’s screen time. The results highlight the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on young children’s screen time.

Screen Time in the Coronavirus 2019 Era: International Trends of Increasing Use Among 3- to 7-Year-Old Children

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate changes in electronic screen-based media use in 3- to 7-year-old children across 6 countries as a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

STUDY DESIGN

Between April and July 2020, parents of 2516 children completed online survey measures reporting current ("now") and retrospective ("before the pandemic") screen-based media use for the purposes of entertainment, educational app use, and socializing with family and friends. Parents also reported family socioeconomic characteristics and impacts of the pandemic to their physical wellbeing (eg, whether a family member or friend had been diagnosed with COVID-19) and social disruption (eg, whether family experienced a loss of income or employment due to the pandemic).

RESULTS

On average, children engaged with screens more than 50 minutes more during the pandemic than before. This was largely driven by increases in screen use for entertainment purposes (nearly 40 minutes) and for use of educational apps (over 20 minutes). There was no overall change in screen use for socializing with family and friends. Children from lower socioeconomic status households increased screen use both for entertainment and educational app use more so than did children from higher socioeconomic status households.

CONCLUSIONS

The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 has increased overall electronic screen-based media use. As lives become increasingly digital by necessity, further research is needed to better understand positive and negative consequences of electronic screen-based media use.

Screen time and early childhood development in Ceará, Brazil: a population-based study

Background

Globally, children’s exposure to digital screens continues to increase and is associated with adverse effects on child health. We aimed to evaluate the association of screen exposure with child communication, gross-motor, fine-motor, problem-solving, and personal-social development scores.

Methods

We conducted a population-based, cross-sectional study with cluster sampling among children 0–60 months of age living in the state of Ceará, Brazil. Child screen time was assessed by maternal report and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations were used to define excessive screen time exposure. Child development was assessed with the Brazilian Ages and Stages Questionnaire. Generalized linear regression was used to determine the association of screen exposure with developmental outcomes. We also examined the potential non-linear relationship of screen time with development scores using spline analyses.

Results

A total of 3155 children 0–60 months of age had screen time exposure evaluated and 69% percent were identified as exposed to excessive screen time. This percentage of excess screen time increased with child age from 41.7% for children 0–12 months to 85.2% for children 49–60 months. Each additional hour of screen time was associated with lower child communication (standardized mean difference (SMD): -0.03; 95% CI: − 0.04, − 0.02), problem solving (SMD: -0.03; 95% CI: − 0.05, − 0.02) and personal-social (SMD: -0.04; 95% CI: − 0.06, − 0.03) domain scores.

Conclusions

Excess screen time exposure was highly prevalent and independently associated with poorer development outcomes among children under 5 years of age in Ceará, Brazil.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-12136-2.

Associations among average parental educational attainment, maternal stress, and infant screen exposure at 6 months of age

Evidence suggests that increased use of screens early in life may have negative developmental consequences for children. However, little is known concerning parental factors that predict initial screen exposure in infancy. The primary goal of this study was to examine whether parental educational attainment and maternal stress were associated with infant screen exposure by 6 months of age. A diverse sample of mothers (N = 93) was recruited prenatally. In a follow-up visit when the infants were six months of age (N = 82), we examined factors that may be associated with initial infant exposure to screens. First, mothers reported whether they had already exposed their infants to screens. Thereafter, those mothers who reported already having exposed their infants to screens were further queried to determine the extent of infant screen use. Results demonstrated that among infants exposed to screens, mothers reported an average of nearly 3 h of daily screen use. Average parental educational attainment, but not maternal stress, was significantly associated with initial infant exposure. Of those families who endorsed screen exposure by 6 months, 70 % reported a screen in the room where the child sleeps, nearly half reported using screens to help calm the infant, and about a third reported using a screen at least sometimes during meals, when going to sleep, and while waiting. Parental education around infant screen use behaviors may be important to help promote child development and outcomes.

Processes and pathways in development via digital media: Examples from word learning

Word learning unfolds over multiple, cascading pathways which support in-the-moment processing and learning. The process is refined with each exposure to a word, and exposures to new words occur across a variety of forms and contexts. However, as children are exposed to more and more digital media, the ways in which children encounter, learn, and build on their vocabulary is also shifting. These shifts represent changes in context, content, and at the level of the child that can lead to negative outcomes. Less work, however, has discussed what these differences mean for how things change in the underlying developmental cascade and learning processes. Here, we suggest that the increasing presence of digital media may shift the developmental pathways for learning (the chain of events that support future learning) but not necessarily the developmental processes (the mechanisms underlying learning). Moreover, the interaction of the two may lead to different behavior and outcomes for learning in a digital era. We argue it is imperative for researchers to not only study how digital media differs from everyday learning, but directly measure if the well-worn pathways, processes, and variables found with decades of research with real items translate to a digital media era.