Due to the potential harm to children’s cognitive, linguistic, and social-emotional development, children’s excessive reliance on screen media has given rise to severe public health concerns.
Impacts on Cognitive Development
The use of screens by children can affect their cognitive performance in both positive and negative ways. Screen-equipped media devices can enhance learning and education. For example, early reading skills as well as creative thinking abilities in young children may be enhanced by using digital books and learning-to-read software.
On the other hand, using screen media can impacts a variety of cognitive domains, including academic performance, sensorimotor development, and executive functioning negatively. Teenage media multitasking has been shown to negatively affect executive functioning, particularly working memory, restriction, and task switching ability.
Impacts on Language Development
Early infancy is a critical period for the development of language skills, as children learn phonology and vocabulary among other language-related skills. Screen time is raising concerns about how it affects the amount and quality of contacts between kids and their parents, which in turn means the kid has less opportunities to practice and progress in language.
Early exposure to increased screen time is detrimental to language development. Nonetheless, there may be some advantages to starting screen usage later in life. Language development is also influenced by co-viewing, the content of videos, and their features.
Impact on Social-Emotional Development
The use of screens by young people has increased due to technological advancements in recent years, which has decreased their interaction with nature and negatively impacted their mental and general well-being. Screen usage, especially watching television, has been linked to impairments in cognitive and physical development. Screen usage has also been connected to anxiety, sadness, obesity, and sleep issues.
How to manage and reduce screen time in children
Early patterns of excessive screen usage appear to persist over time and are associated with other unhealthy lifestyle choices such as inadequate sleep and poor nutrition. Implementing an electronic monitoring device to limit screen time is one way to supplement interventions. Health care professionals should understand medical evidence and offer guidance to new mothers.
Schools must to take a stance on the amount of time children spend utilizing screens both within and outside of the classroom, and they ought to inform parents and students of this.
Role of Parents in Managing Screen Time in Children
- Being the primary carers, parents have the opportunity to establish rules and conduct behavioral management in the house, usually through observation.
- Parental controls, which are commonly found on many technological gadgets such televisions, laptops, and smartphones as additional options and password protection, could be a good way to address concerns parents have about their children’s screen time.
It is crucial to address children’s excessive screen usage as it affects their social-emotional, linguistic, and cognitive development. Although too much screen time can promote creativity and learning, it also has a negative effects on mental health, language development, and academic achievement.
These effects can be lessened by controlling screen time through electronic monitoring, parental controls, and educated advice from educators and healthcare providers. Setting limits and promoting use of safe screen are important tasks for parents. By being proactive, we can minimize the negative effects of technology on children while maximizing its positive effects, promoting a balanced lifestyle and healthier, more comprehensive development.