Children that rely on screens at a young age will grow up less creative and may develop attention and behavioral issues. This issue deals with the early childhood stage Daycare workers claim that children who are raised on screens become less creative. Some potential implications of this article are the fact that they only interviewed nursery workers so the children that don’t go to a nursery weren’t included in this study. Children could also act differently at home then with the nursery workers.
What makes children rely on screens? Is it the app manufacturers making the apps addicting to these children? Is it a popularity thing? The central question being raised is in this article is ‘is screen use at a young age in children causing developmental problems that will affect the child in the future?
What I would like to know
- – do parents allow screen time during family hangouts?
- – do parents give their children screen time as a distraction and so the parents can get other work done?
- – why do screens sometimes create attentional and behavioral problems?
- – how do children develop behavioral and attentional problems from screen use?
- – do parents allow screen use as a reward for good behavior? – how many hours does the average child spend using a screen?
Peer-Reviewed Journals
Screen Time: The Impact of Digital Technology on Children and Strategies in Care. First Page: Summary:The authors knew before conducting their research that access to mobile devices for children 8 years old or younger had increased from 52 % in 2011 to 57% in 2013. The average screen time for children aged 2-4 years old is 2 hours and 39 minutes. The average screen time for children aged 5-8 years old was 2 hours and 56 minutes.
Their hypothesis was children need time away from screens to develop intrapersonal skills in person and to get sufficient sleep and exercise. They examined the effects of screens on 894 children. The children that were included in this experiment were aged 6 months to 2 years old. They found that the longer children were on screens like cellphones, computers, and tablets the more expressive speech delays they found. They also found that for every additional 30 minutes children were on screens the risk for expressive speech delay increased by 49%. Children with expressive speech delays may act out and become aggressive because they are unable to communicate, and people will have difficulty understanding them. A Meta-Analysis of Prosocial Media on Prosocial Behavior, Aggression, and Empathic Concern: A Multidimensional ApproachFirst Page: Summary:The authors knew before conducting this research that prosocial media has a positive impact on positive behaviors, but the authors weren’t content with the studies that measured prosocial behavior because they didn’t focus on prosocial behavior in the media. They also knew that age played huge moderating rolls. They hypothesized that pro-social media content relates to Prosocial behavior, empathic concerned, and aggressive behavior. The collected articles were looked through for relevance and by the end, they had 72 studies in the total and 17, 134 collective participants. The 17,134 participants ranged in age from preschool to adulthood. they found a greater effect of prosocial behavior on strangers. Prosocial media relates to prosocial behavior and negatively relates to aggression. If children watch screens that show lots of prosocial behavior, then they are less likely to become aggressive. Screen-Assisted Parenting: The Relationship Between Toddlers’ Screen Time and Parents’ Use of Media as a Parenting ToolFirst page: Summary:Before conducting their research, the researchers knew that children younger than 2 years of age U screen media for about 1 to 2 hours a day. Children between the ages of two and 5 you scream media for about 3 to 5.6 hours a day.
What they also knew that negative effects of the screen media or attention flash concentration problems, aggressive behavior, and obesity. They hypothesize that using screen assisted parenting practices will explain young children’s media exposure. The researchers used face-to-face surveys with the child’s parents in the participant’s homes. While doing the surveys they used naturalistic observation to observe the children. They found on average about 2.5 hours of screen viewing happened a day. Most screen use took place without parents’ intervention of content. Mealtime, bedtime, and on weekends with babysitter were the most popular screen use time. More screen devices were used on weekends because parents used screens as a reward for good behavior. An intervention to preschool children for reducing screen time: a randomized controlled trial.First Page: Summary:Before conducting their research, the researchers knew that one of the four American children watch about 4 hours of TV a day TV habits are developed or attained during preschool Years. they hypothesized that performing an intervention during preschool years would be beneficial in reducing the amount of screen time and reducing the number of hours children eat in front of the TV and reducing aggressive behaviors. Their methods included an intervention process that was explained to suitable families. After a baseline interview, the families were randomly organized into the intervention group or the control group. Parents were asked to report to the researchers the amount of time they spend on screens a week and the number of hours their child spends on screens. Over the two weeks, period parents in the intervention group were given printed material, CDs, and a counseling call.
They found that parents in the intervention group report a lower number of hours their child eats in front of screens compared to the control group. They also found that the children in the intervention group had lower levels of aggression then the children in the control group.
Integrative statement
The four articles talk about the implications of screen use by children. For every 30 minutes children are on screens they increase the risk of expressive speech delay (Robidoux, Ellington, & Lauerer, 2019). That can lead to aggressive behavior because they are having difficulty expressing what they want with words. According to (Elias and Sulkin, 2019) children spend an average of 2.5 hours a day on screens and the most common time for them to be on screens is mealtime, bedtime, and when the babysitter is over.
They also found that screen use on weekends is greater because it is used as a reward for the child’s good behavior. According to Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, the child’s environment is a huge factor in children’s development. The child’s environment can include the things and people they surround themselves with, including screens and parents. Children learn from their environment, so if they are excessively on screens, they will learn behavior from the screens whether that behavior is good or bad. When there was prosocial behavior on the screens of children, they were more likely to act with prosocial behavior towards others but if aggression was shown on screens, the children were more likely to become aggressive (Coyne, et al., 2018). This is proving bandura’s theory that children learn from the environment and act accordingly.
Decreasing the amount of screen time children use leads to lower levels of aggression in children (Yilmaz, Caylan, & Karacan, 2014). Decreased screen time for children allows for other aspects in their environment to help them develop.
Reference List
- Coyne, S. M., Padilla-Walker, L. M., Holmgren, H. G., Davis, E. J., Collier, K. M., Memmott-Elison, M. K., & Hawkins, A. J. (2018).
- A meta-analysis of prosocial media on prosocial behavior, aggression, and empathic concern: A multidimensional approach. Developmental Psychology, 54(2), 331–347. doi: 10.1037/dev0000412Elias, N. and Sulkin, I. (2019).
- Screen-Assisted Parenting: The Relationship Between Toddlers’ Screen Time and Parents’ Use of Media as a Parenting Tool. Journal of Family Issues, 40(18), pp.2801-2822. doi: 10.1177/0192513x19864983Robidoux, H., Ellington, E., & Lauerer, J. (2019).
- Screen time: The impact of digital technology on children and strategies in care. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing & Mental Health Services, 57(11), 15-20. doi: 10.3928/02793695-20191016-04Yilmaz, G., Caylan, N. D and Karacan, C. (2014).
- An intervention to preschool children for reducing screen time: a randomized controlled trial. Child: Care, Health and Development, 41(3), pp.443-449. doi: 10.1111/cch.12133