Study Finds Toddlers Learning 1,000 Fewer Words Owing to Screen Time

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Every minute toddlers spend glued to screens at home results in them hearing fewer words, speaking less, and having fewer conversations with their parents, according to new research.

Researchers from the Telethon Kids Institute monitored 220 Australian families over two-and-a-half years, during which toddlers wore a device capturing 16 hours of audio daily in their homes.

Listening to over 7,000 hours of recordings, researchers found that toddlers aged 18 to 36 months spend about three hours a day on screens and miss out on important, language-rich interactions at home during their critical early years.

The biggest decline in language skills was seen at 36 months, with a decrease of 6.6 adult words for each additional minute of screen time, adding up to a loss of 1,139 adult words, 843 vocalisations, and 194 conversations per day.

Senior researcher Mary Brushe said screen time disrupts the crucial amount of talking and interaction necessary for children’s language development.

“Our findings support the notion of ’technoference' as a real issue for Australian families, whereby young children’s exposure to screen time is interfering with opportunities to talk and interact in their home environment,” she said.

However, she said the findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics, show that screen time and its related “technoference” could negatively affect children even more than previously thought.

“Because we haven’t been able to capture parents’ silent screen-related activities, such as reading emails, texting, or quietly scrolling through websites or social media,” she explained.

“The devices only picked up noise associated with screen time—for example, TV shows, videos or games.”

Families in the study were unaware that screen time would be measured during recording, and the analysis was conducted afterwards with parental consent.

“This meant we ended up with a more realistic view of young children’s screen exposure because parents were not subconsciously altering their normal habits,” Ms. Brushe said.

Screen Time Tops Parents’ and Teachers’ Concerns

It comes as parents and teachers say that their biggest health worry for children is too much screen time, according to the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS).

A deeply concerned parent noted that their 3-year-old daughter was strictly prohibited from using any tablet or phone under any circumstances.

“I wouldn’t judge those that allow their kids to; I know how tough it is to find a break, but I’ve been strict for a reason. I work in product design and know a lot of the problems these apps cause adults, never mind children. We are learning more and more about the damage caused, and it genuinely frightens me,” the parent wrote on the social platform Reddit.

However, some parents, while not entirely approving of screen time, resort to placing their children in front of the TV to get tasks done, highlighting a common struggle in handling daily to-do’s while dealing with screen time concerns.

“We have a 14-month-old and only use... the TV when we really need a break. We have no family nor friends nearby, so sometimes, for example, if one of us is showering and the other one has to make dinner, we use the TV,” a parent said.

“It’s easy to say ‘let the toddler play with you in the kitchen meanwhile then’ or whatever, but sorry, our son is super demanding and wants to be held A LOT. So no, sometimes we need to use the TV to be able to function.”

Meanwhile, teachers’ comments suggest that children and teens who use screens excessively from their pivotal years lack social skill development.

“[Young people] are not learning social awareness. They’re not learning how to read emotions. They’re not learning body language,” a wellbeing specialist said.

University of the Sunshine Coast psychology lecturer Rachael Sharman added research is showing a link between increased screen time and social skill problems at increasingly younger ages.

She explained that brain imaging studies indicate increased screen time is linked to reduced white matter tracts in the brain, which are crucial for language and cognitive abilities.

“In contrast, spending a great deal of time in the outdoors is associated with higher grey matter in regions associated with working memory and attention.”

Educational Screen Content for Language Learning

Yet, it’s not all doom and gloom.

Ms. Brushe mentioned screen time is expected in daily life, and there are ways to lessen its potential effects on children.

“It might be that they [parents] opt for interactive co-viewing as a way to reduce the burden of screen time, or make a point of engaging in conversation when a screen is on,” she explained.

“This might include singing along with theme songs, repeating phrases or questions from the screen, and using the content of a show as a conversation starter after the screen has been turned off.”

She also mentioned that efforts to encourage early language development should include assistance in managing screen time.

“Interventions designed to support parents can educate them on high-quality educational screen content that is age appropriate for their child and can support language learning and interaction.”