Too much screen time can affect early child development: Paediatricians

OTTAWA – Families want expert advice on screen time – including how much is too much, how it affects well-being, and the quality of various forms of digital content. The Canadian Paediatric Society is recommending that child and family screen use be discussed in routine visits and has updated its 2017 guidelines to meet this need in a rapidly changing media landscape.

Understanding how young children learn and develop is at the heart of the latest guidance – and they learn best in real interactions, in real time and space, with real people. “Kids develop in an environment of relationships and, more and more, those relationships involve screens,” said Dr. Michelle Ponti, lead author and a paediatrician in London, Ontario. “That’s why our guidance doesn’t only look at how much screen time children have, but also the quality and context of that screen time.”

Excessive passive or purposeless screen time for preschool-aged children is linked to language and social-emotional delays, interruptions to sleep patterns, and lower levels of physical activity – but the greatest costs are the lost opportunities for experiential learning and relationship-building.

For children under two, the CPS still recommends that screen time be avoided. “There are no benefits for infants and toddlers, with the exception of interactive video-chatting to maintain long-distance relationships,” said Dr. Ponti, “but there is a risk of displacing the activities that we know are good for their development.”

To promote healthy relationships with digital media for young children, families are encouraged to:

• Be mindful about screen time, by carefully consider what, when, and why it is being used
• Model healthy screen habits
• Minimize screen time for babies and toddlers
• Mitigate the risks of screen time by being present and engaged when screens are in use
  
   

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For more information, including how to develop a family media plan, families can visit caringforkids.cps.ca/handouts/behavior-and-development/screen-time-and-young-children.