The commentary below has been provided by Dr. Stephanie Allen.
As electronics become more and more integrated into schools and home life, discussing the harms of extended use screen time has become one of the most common concerns addressed in any clinic working with a pediatric population. I have often found one of the most difficult parts of this conversation to be that while the majority of my parents see and agree with the ramifications of significant screen use, they may be at a loss for how to minimize time for their children. Here is where »Æ¹ÏÊÓƵ can offer valuable support to families in need, providing parents not just with the knowledge of the problems with screen time, but also offering support for what their children can be doing instead.
Dr. McArthur and collaborators have done excellent research in this area, with their research on longitudinal associations between screen use and reading demonstrating a clear link between lower reading activities and screen time. In their 2021 paper, 2440 mothers and children were assessed using a maternal report at 24, 36, and 60 months. They found that greater screen use at 24 months had a statistically significant association with lower reading levels at 36 month. The same finding was found with later age groups with greater screen use at 36 months having a statistically significant association with lower reading at 60 months. Using such research can help empower both clinicians and parents to understand the positive impacts of early life reading habits on later life screen use.
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