How do screen, media, and technology use impact your child’s language development? You’ve heard that too much screen time can have a negative effect on overall development. But you’re not sure what this means for your little one’s speech, language use, and communication. Read on to learn more about screens, language-related issues, and how media could affect your young child.
Screen Use and Children
The growing use of tablets and smartphones have made technology easily accessible to young children. According to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics that reviewed screen use from 1997 through 2014, researchers found that in the late ‘90s children ages zero through two spent an average of 1.32 hours daily and children three through five spent 2.47 hours daily watching screens. Keep in mind, in 1997 the primary form of screen time for a child was TV viewing. By 2014, when computer and phone-based screens started to increase viewing time, infants up to age two were using media 3.05 hours per day and preschoolers ages three to five were watching 2.14 hours of television and using mobile devices for 0.42 hours each day.
Statistics from the Pew Research Center from a 2020 survey found that young children are still more likely to watch TV than any other screen—with 74 percent of children zero to two and 90 percent of children three and four engaging with a television more often than any other media source. This was followed by 49 percent of toddlers and 62 percent of preschoolers using a smartphone.
Not only are children interacting with screens, they are also using voice-activated assistants, such as Amazon Alexa or Apple’s Siri. Pew’s data shows that 36 percent of parents of children 11 and under report that their child uses one of these devices. Younger children are most likely to use voice-activated assistants to play music, get information, hear jokes, and play games.
Childhood Screen and Tech Time
Not all media is the same. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry notes that children under 18 months should only engage in media use such as video chatting with another person, toddlers ages 18 and 24 should only watch educational programming (with an adult caregiver), and kids two through five should get no more than one hour of screen time per day.
Technology and Language Development
Technology isn’t all bad when it comes to language development. While screens certainly have their downfalls, some types of media use may either do nothing to impact language and communication skills or could actually help these abilities to grow. A 2018 study published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology found that parent modeling and on-screen language learning video sessions could increase engagement in children. But the parent modeling part was essential when it came to language learning tasks. This means if you want to use the social interactions of a video chat with grandma or an educational video to help your very young child build their vocabulary skills, it’s best to sit near them and participate in the activity too.
Some research also indicates that engaging literacy-based television programming that is made specifically for young children could help preschoolers to build alphabet recognition and letter sound skills, according to the American Psychological Association.
Even though some research may point to the potential benefits of screen time on language development in the early years, other data does not. A review of 12 studies published in the South African Journal of Communication Disorders found that increased screen time at an early age could have negative consequences for language development—but this type of media use could have some benefits for older children. Another review of research in this area, published in JAMA Pediatrics, did find that better quality screen use could help the young child to develop language skills. Better quality use includes educational programs and co-viewing experiences with parents and other caregivers.
What Does This All Mean for Parents?
Confused? You're not alone. It’s clear that the research in this area often contradicts itself. This makes it important to understand the key take-aways:
What your child watches is important for their language development.
How your child watches is important for their language development.
The data overwhelmingly shows that educational programs and content are the better choice for language and other types of development. This includes series, apps, and software with a literacy, language acquisition, and communication focus.
Along with what your child watches, it’s crucial that you or another adult caregiver participate in the tech-time use. This provides real-world person-to-person interactions, the ability for the adult to model language use, and an engaging approach that can encourage the young child to learn and develop new skills.
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