Justplain
18th April 2019, 03:50
My family has known this for many years, but now the white world is acknowledging that putting young children in front of screens is detrimental to their health.
A new study links excessive screen time among preschoolers to behavioural problems they experienced at age five.
The research looked at more than 2,400 families and compared children who got at least two hours of daily screen time to those who had less than 30 minutes per day.
Kids who spent more of their day in front of screens were five times more likely to exhibit clinically significant “externalizing” behavioural problems such as inattention. They were also more than seven times more likely to meet the criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but without aggression.
University of Alberta pediatrics professor Piush Mandhane, who led the study, says screen time was associated with problems more than any other risk factor considered, including sleep, parenting stress, and socioeconomic factors.
And the impact is significant, he says.
“It’s a big study [and] it shows five-fold increases, seven-fold increases. These aren’t small numbers,” says Mandhane.
“These are huge numbers of increased risk.”
Parents reported daily screen time that included TV, DVDs, computers, video consoles, smart phones and tablets.
On average, three-year-old children spent 1.5 hours a day in front of a screen while five-year-olds spent an average of 1.4 hours a day in front of a screen.
https://globalnews.ca/news/5179442/study-preschool-screen-time-behavioural-issues/amp/
A new study links excessive screen time among preschoolers to behavioural problems they experienced at age five.
The research looked at more than 2,400 families and compared children who got at least two hours of daily screen time to those who had less than 30 minutes per day.
Kids who spent more of their day in front of screens were five times more likely to exhibit clinically significant “externalizing” behavioural problems such as inattention. They were also more than seven times more likely to meet the criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but without aggression.
University of Alberta pediatrics professor Piush Mandhane, who led the study, says screen time was associated with problems more than any other risk factor considered, including sleep, parenting stress, and socioeconomic factors.
And the impact is significant, he says.
“It’s a big study [and] it shows five-fold increases, seven-fold increases. These aren’t small numbers,” says Mandhane.
“These are huge numbers of increased risk.”
Parents reported daily screen time that included TV, DVDs, computers, video consoles, smart phones and tablets.
On average, three-year-old children spent 1.5 hours a day in front of a screen while five-year-olds spent an average of 1.4 hours a day in front of a screen.
https://globalnews.ca/news/5179442/study-preschool-screen-time-behavioural-issues/amp/