How much time do you spend in front of a screen daily? The answer is not without consequences: every hour of digital media use by parents is correlated with a decrease in their child’s overall development score.
Posted at 7:32 p.m.
This is the conclusion of a study by the Université Sainte-Anne, in Nova Scotia, and the Université de Sherbrooke presented Thursday as part of the 89and Acfas congress.
Alexa Johnson, a student at Université Sainte-Anne, as well as professors Elizabeth Harvey and Caroline Fitzpatrick wanted to understand how parents’ use of screens had affected children’s development during the pandemic.
At the start of the pandemic, the research team recruited 316 parents of preschoolers, an average of three and a half years old, who reported the number of hours per day of parental use of the following devices: television, computer, video games, tablets and smart phone.
A year later, the parents took a measure of their child’s overall development. Analyzes revealed that each hour of parental digital media use was correlated with a decrease in overall development score.
“Global development includes the child’s gross motor skills, fine motor skills, development of communication and problem-solving skills, and personal and social development,” explains Caroline Fitzpatrick, professor at the University of Sherbrooke, member of the Research and Intervention Group on the Social Adaptations of Childhood and co-author of the study.
More screen time in children
Separately, their data suggested there had been an increase in screen time among preschoolers during the pandemic, Ms.me Fitzpatrick.
The World Health Organization recommends not exposing children to any screen before the age of 2, a maximum of one hour a day between 2 and 5 years old and two hours a day for children aged 5 and over. .
However, barely half of preschoolers met the recommendation before the pandemic. The situation has not improved with the arrival of the virus, since screen time among children aged 0 to 18 has increased during the pandemic, Ms.me Fitzpatrick.
These results are of concern to experts, since studies show that children who use screens for more than two hours a day or who are exposed before bedtime to digital media are at risk of developmental delay.
“Screen consumption is still a sedentary behavior, so no matter how good the shows you listen to, it can have a negative impact on long-term health,” says Ms.me Fitzpatrick.
What to do now ?
It’s not too late to act, say the experts. Indeed, parental behaviors can promote better media habits in children.
Indeed, the study found that children of parents who were more restrictive about using digital media were less likely to use it for more than two hours a day and to be exposed to screens before bedtime.
“This is particularly the case for parents who set clear time limits or set up rules on the content to which children can be exposed,” says the professor.
She also encourages families to establish a family schedule for using screens as soon as possible. “We can, for example, set rules for use during mealtimes or before bedtime,” she says.
Their results also suggested that parental habits had an influence on their offspring. “Parents need to be made aware that they are a role model for their children,” concludes the specialist.