Screen time and toddlers : evidence summary

• A child’s brain develops rapidly in the first few years of life. This means that children need lots of opportunities to explore the world around them. They also need lots of opportunities to interact with you and the other people in their life.

• Look out for times when your child wants to interact with you and respond positively to attempts at communication.

• Make time for chatting, songs, rhymes, stories and play as they are important for your child’s development.

• Exposure to screens too close to bed time can make it difficult to get to sleep.This is because your body needs time to relax and feel sleepy-tired. It is more difficult to feel sleepy-tired if you are watching something arousing or exciting so think about quiet time away from devices and lower levels of light.

• Background noise and images from the TV or other devices can make it harder for your child to tune in to your voice and interact with you, even if neither of you is actually watching.

• Research shows that harm from screen use arises when it crowds out time playing and talking with adults. Aim for sharing time with screens, with lots of talking and interaction.

• Selection of content is important. Children’s TV programmes and apps where there is lots of interaction, real language and a good story that you can share and talk about are best. Avoid violence, and always check the game/programme yourself first.

• Make some quiet time each day to focus on your child with activities such as chatting, book reading, songs, rhymes and conversations.

• Use TVs and other screens in a positive way to interact with each other – chat about what you are doing and choose content that supports this. For example, suitable e-books can be great for reading and storytelling together. And chatting on Skype or Facetime with far-away family can be great for toddlers.

  o Develop some guidelines on screen time that suit your family. Help your child to learn when and where it’s OK to enjoy some screen time and how they can balance this with ‘unplugged’ time. Start early. The sooner that you establish what works in your family, the easier it will be.

  o Make sure your child gets enough sleep.  Sleep routine is very important in a family as tired children can be as grumpy as tired adults! Sleep is important for memory and learning too so think about a routine that allows the family the opportunity to sleep enough and without disruption.

  o Make sure your child gets enough physical play and chances to move about. This is important for developing movement skills, but also coordination and confidence.  It can also help with keeping the body healthy and preventing too much weight.

  o Many parents will use screens as a “babysitter” from time to time, but try to avoid lengthy periods of time when your child is playing alone with a screen. Find programmes and activities on the TV or on your mobile phone or tablet device that you can enjoy together. Talk about them as you watch or play.

  o Try to avoid lengthy periods of time where your child is alone with screens. Limiting screen time gives children an opportunity to interact with you and learn from the world around them.  Be aware of how much time your children are spending with screens. We recommend reducing this if it is much more than two hours per day.

  o Young children can find it hard to filter out background noise and images such as the TV so get in the habit of turning it off for periods in the day, or if nobody is actually watching. It’s easier for children to focus on talking and playing with you if they’re not distracted.

  o Children are influenced by the screen time habits they see around them. Be aware of how often you check your phone as this could get in the way of positive interactions with your child. Be prepared to put the phone down if you see your child doing something interesting or wanting to talk to you.

  o Don’t be pressured by advertising or friends to spend a lot of money on apps or video. These are often “hyped” and the most valuable investment for your child is time spent playing and talking with you.

Your child needs you to talk to them.
It is important for parents to respond to children’s attempts at communication. Talking to your child as often as you can about what you are doing or what you can see around you will help their language and communication skills to develop. Screen time and digital media use may get in the way of parents’ responsiveness.

Make times when your child has your full attention.
It can be helpful to have a quiet time each day to interact and talk with your child. Avoiding distractions or background noise, such as TV or mobile phones, will help both of you to focus.  Aim for little and often.

How much time do you spend on screens?
TV, tablets and phones are a big part of our lives now. That’s OK, but be aware of whether you are missing opportunities to interact with your child because your attention is on a screen device. Be ready to put the phone down – you can always come back to what you were doing.

Involve your child in your own screen time.
Some of the activities you do on screen devices could be shared with your child. If you shop online, why not do that together? Looking at the pictures of things for sale can be a great focus for talk.

Be selective.
There are many excellent apps available for children and it’s worth taking a bit of time to check that the content is suitable and it’s the right level of difficulty before you let your child use it. You might need to show them how to use it so they don’t get frustrated – most children pick it up quickly. Try to choose television programmes which are suited to your child’s stage of development and are designed with children in mind.

Extend your child’s play beyond the screen.
Find activities that your child can do that link to favourite apps or stories. It takes a bit of preparation, but think about fun things to do before or after their play on the screen. For instance, if they are playing a matching game on the tablet, extend this into real life by finding objects around them that match, such as shoes and socks.

Share some of your child’s screen time.
When possible, share screen time with your child. Find ways to engage with your child while you’re both looking at the screen, Talk about what you can see. If it’s a game, talk about the choices available and ask questions such as ‘what do you think will happen next?’

Relate what your child can see on the screen to their own experiences, such as reminding them went you went on a train or to the zoo. If you’re going on holiday, why not find a video or photos of places of interest. If you’re walking to the park, you could look at different routes and street views. Children love watching video or photos of themselves or people that they know well, too, and this can provide lots to talk about.

Should parents just avoid screens?
Not at all! Social media can be great for keeping in touch with friends and family and there are lots of useful apps. Be aware of how and when you are using screens.  If you are as tired as most parents are, try and have an hour or so before bed without the phone as this can help sleep. If you feel that pre-bedtime is the only chance you get to catch up with friends and family think about how long you are online for and try and not get caught up in anything that will stop that sleepy-tired feeling. More passive browsing than active participation. Think about time online and don’t feel that lack of engagement means you are missing out. The beauty of social media means it’s easy to catch up in the morning!

While children can learn from 2D information (screens and books), it is a lot easier to learn from a live demonstration (Barr, 2013).

There is evidence that the quality of a television program is associated with better language outcomes from their viewers (Lerner and Barr, 2015)

Children will learn more from media when there are caring adults present who can support their learning (Lerner and Barr, 2015).

  Some studies have shown that increased screen time places infants at risk for expressive language delay and can result in young children saying fewer words. This is possibly due to the reduced interactions and opportunities for conversations.

  It is important for parents to respond to infants attempts at communication eg their attempts at babbling, making sounds and words. It is this responsiveness that has been found to be a key factor in children’s early language development. Screen time/media use has been found to reduce parents responsiveness.

  It is possible for children to learn from television and ipads, however some studies show that it takes them longer to do this. The best way for children to learn is through interacting with a responsive adult.  While children can learn from 2D information (screens and books), it is a lot easier to learn from a live demonstration (Barr, 2013).

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