This is What Happens If You Let Your Child Watch A Lot Of Screen-Based Media

The use of mobile phones and tablets by infants, toddlers, and preschoolers has exploded over the last ten years and is concerning experts about the impact of screen time on the critical years of rapid brain development in children.

A recent study that scanned the brains of young children aged 3-5 has found that kids who had more than an hour of screen time per day had lower levels of development in their brain’s white matter which is the key area that marks the development of language, literacy and cognitive skills.

This is the first-ever study that documents the association between higher screen time and lower measures of brain structure and skills among children of preschool-age.

“This is important because the brain is developing the most rapidly in the first five years. That's when brains are very plastic and soaking up everything, forming these strong connections that last for life," says the study’s lead author Dr. John Hutton, Pediatrician and clinical researcher at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

The study included a special kind of MRI called ‘diffusion tensor imaging’ to examine the brains of 47 healthy children who were yet to begin their kindergarten. The special MRI is used to examine the white matter of the brain specifically. The white matter consists of fibers that are typically distributed into bundles called tracts that establish connections between the cells of the brain and that of the nervous system.

Prior to the MRI, the kids were asked to take a cognitive test and their parents were asked to fill out a scoring system on-screen time developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The test calculated the amount of screen time a child had and the content they watched.

The findings showed that kids who used more than an hour of screen time (AAP’s recommended amount) showed more disorganized, underdeveloped white matter throughout the brain. The average screen time of these kids was observed to be more than a couple of hours every day.

Apart from the MRI results, excessive screen usage was also found to be associated with poorer emerging literacy skills and the ability to use expressive language.

The AAP offers online tools to calculate your child’s screen time and establish a family media plan.