Toddlers using touchscreen tablets for play-like activities are less likely than those who play with real toys to communicate or interact socially with their parents, a new federally funded study has found.
Seven researchers compared the behavioral responses of 63 toddlers aged 18 to 32 months as they viewed videos of toy play, played with a digital toy, played a digital game app and played with a real toy in a laboratory between June 2021 and November 2022.
They found that toddlers playing the popular tablet game responded to fewer nonverbal cues for attention from parents, and male toddlers took longer to acknowledge adult behavioral requests. This lack of attention to face-to-face interaction increased with age and among those whose homes reported more social media use.
Funded by grants from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, the researchers published their findings online Wednesday in JAMA Network Open.
The study is among the first to provide hard evidence that digital screen addiction starts in toddlerhood and is more likely to occur with “certain types” of addictive social media apps, said pediatrician Dimitri A. Christakis, lead author and the editor-in-chief of sister journal JAMA Pediatrics.
“Young children need laps, not apps,” said Dr. Christakis, an investigator and professor at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, affiliated with Seattle Children’s Hospital and the public University of Washington.
He said the study also adds to a growing body of research linking early screen use to delayed development of language skills in young children.
“Human back-and-forth interaction is essential for children’s cognitive and social development,” Dr. Christakis told The Washington Times.
The findings come as policymakers on both sides of the aisle have scrambled to address a growing youth mental health crisis linked to increased screen time. Multiple reports have tracked upticks in anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts among young people since pandemic lockdowns shuttered K-12 schools in March 2020.
In an op-ed earlier this month, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy asked Congress to slap a tobacco-style health warning label on social media.
Despite the convenience of digital screens, Dr. Murthy pointed in a May 23 advisory to “ample indicators that social media can also pose a risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”
Reflecting similar concerns, Florida passed a law last year to limit student cell phones in public schools. Indiana and Ohio did the same this year, while many individual school districts have banned phones entirely.
On Tuesday, Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order directing the commonwealth’s public school systems to restrict non-academic cellphone use on school grounds by January. His order cited an “alarming mental health crisis.”
Beyond video chats, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for children under 2 years old. It suggests no more than one hour a day of high-quality programming for children ages 2 to 5.
There is no prescribed limit for school-aged children, but the Mayo Clinic recommends that parents limit social media use and gaming among school-aged children as needed.
Pediatrician Tiffany Munzer, an official with the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the study published Wednesday shows “it can be harder” for toddlers using tablet devices to build essential back-and-forth communication skills. She urged parents not to use phones or tablets to calm unruly toddlers, noting that the practice can stunt emotional growth.
“So much of communication for toddlers remains nonverbal and embedded in body language,” said Dr. Munzer, who was not involved in the study.
However, she disagreed that there’s never any good reason to hand a touchscreen to a toddler.
“There can be many positive ways to use a digital device with toddlers,” Dr. Munzer said. “High-quality, educational media have been shown to promote toddler development.”
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.