All the screen time some toddlers get may not be so good for them in the long run.
Canadian researchers looked at 2,400 children when they were 2 and 3 years old as part of a new study on how screen time affects early childhood development. They found that children who spent a lot of time staring at screens when they are 2 and 3 lagged in development when they were between 3 and 5.
Those who spent much more time staring at the TV, tablets or a computer had lower scores on developmental screenings a few years later. The study warns that kids with more exposure to screens could later run into problems with communication, motor skills, problem-solving, and social skills.
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Experts at the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend parents limit their preschool-aged children to just one hour a day of high-quality programming. Screen time should be limited to video chatting for babies and toddlers.
[ The study was published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. ]
A 2017 report by Common Sense Media found that children 8 years of age and younger spend more than two hours a day on average with screen media, and the U.S. National Library of Medicine found most children of all ages spend between five and seven hours a day in front of a screen.