The team found that in kids that were exposed to four or more hours of screen time, development delays affected their communication and problem-solving skills across the ages two and four years. Across the board, the team deduced that at the age of 2 years, delays affected communication (5.1%), gross motor skills (5.6%), fine motor (4.5%), problem solving (4.2%), and social and personal skills (5.5%). Similar effects were observed at the age of four years, but to a smaller magnitude.
Moreover, the effects seem to fade away in some areas over time. “Screen time for children aged 1 year was associated with the fine motor and personal and social skills domains at age 2 years; however, this association was not confirmed at age 4 years,” says the paper. The study, however, was able to confirm a dose-response link between screen time exposure at one year of age, and how it is associated with development delays at ages two and four years.
Research published in the Cognitive Development journal also notes that excessive screen use hinders a child’s development, adding that “programs aimed at young children should be adapted to the child’s cognitive abilities and encourage parent child-child co-use.” Another study, courtesy of experts at Canada’s University of Calgary, surmised that children exposed to screens in the first two years of their life performed worse on development tests by the time they reached three.