Face Time or Screen Time

The study found some educational benefits for early screen time, in children as young as two. They found well designed, age appropriate programming can can assist in early language and literacy development. For infants and toddlers, the benefits are less clear, especially because they have difficulty making the transition between two dimensional representations on a flat screen to actual three dimensional objects. There is also less physical and social activity involved simply staring at a screen and watching a program, as opposed to sitting beside an adult, turning the pages of a book and being asked to point out objects in an illustration.

The study also pointed out that adult screen time also has a negative effect on children’s learning. Answering a phone call or responding to a text while caring for a child, not only teaches the child that the behaviour is acceptable, but can also trigger frustration from lack of attention leading to behavioural issues.