Screen time can damage under-twos’ development, landmark study suggests

Screen time can reduce babies’ opportunities for physical play and bonding with caregivers and limit language development, researchers said. Photograph: dvulikaia/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Screen time can reduce babies’ opportunities for physical play and bonding with caregivers and limit language development, researchers said. Photograph: dvulikaia/Getty Images Screen time can damage under-twos’ development, landmark study suggests Exclusive: Researchers call for urgent investigation of risks to babies of tablets, smartphones and other digital devices Screen time for babies and toddlers under the age of two has been linked with long-term negative effects on health and quality of life and should be avoided, according to a landmark study . It warns that using screens during that period may lead to wide-ranging developmental concerns and calls for further urgent investigation of the risks smartphones, tablets and other digital devices pose to infants. With the focus on teenagers’ digital habits and government plans to ban under-16s from social media, researchers are concerned about a “baby blind spot” in policy at a time when screen use has become embedded in everyday parenting. Rafe Clayton, a senior lecturer in media and communication at the University of Leeds , who co-led the research, said parents – lacking guidance on their own screen use – were “inadvertently teaching children and babies to develop unhealthy habits and relationships with screen devices”. “This has to change,” he said. The study, described as the most comprehensive review yet of all available global research on the subject, calls on the government to reconsider its recently published guidance on screen time for under-fives . That recommends avoiding screen time for the under-twos but caveats the advice by adding, “other than shared activities that encourage bonding, interaction and conversation”. The new study, however, lays bare a wide range of potential harms associated with screen time for babies, including reduced opportunities to bond with parents and caregivers, less time for physical play with other children and limited language development. It says screen use at such a young age may increase overstimulation and difficulty sleeping, and have implications for eye health and childhood obesity. There are also concerns that infants are turning to digital devices for comfort and soothing, rather than to a parent. The review, conducted by researchers from four UK universities known as the Action on Digital Device Immersive Conditions Team, did not establish causal links between screen use and specific developmental conditions. However, it was emphatic that “no under-twos should receive regular intentional screen time. Passive exposure is societally unavoidable, so adding deliberate use compounds risk without any meaningful benefit.” It recommends that any official guidance that points under-twos towards regular “shared screen time, screen time for learning, scree