Study: Screen Time For Babies Could Lead To Issue
We’ve all heard that too much screen time isn’t good for kids, but plenty of parents still pass a tablet to a toddler to keep them busy for a few minutes. But they may want to rethink that as new research suggests your kid’s academic success could start with their screen time as infants.
According to CNN and a new study finds letting babies watch tablets and TV could lead to behavior problems and negatively affect their academic achievement later on in childhood. An international team of researchers followed 437 kids from one to nine years old, giving them EEG scans to look at their brain’s electrical activity at age one, 18 months, and again at age nine.
Their parents reported on how much screen time each child had and researchers found that every hour of increased screen time in babies was linked with “decreased measures of attention and executive function” at age nine. They also found infants with more screen time show changes in brain activity associated with attention difficulties. The study’s findings support the recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommends kids don’t get screen time until 18 months old and that screen time should be limited to an hour a day for kids between ages two and five.
Source: CNN
