Screen Time Undermines Children's Language Skills and Academic Achievement

A comprehensive scientific review has concluded that spending long hours in front of screens can negatively and significantly affect children’s learning skills, language development, and mental and emotional health. The study, which analyzed data from more than 2.8 million children across 64 countries and was published in JAMA Pediatrics under the leadership of academics from Canada’s University of Calgary, found that the magnitude of the negative impact of excessive exposure to digital media “matches or exceeds” other established factors in child development, such as the family’s socioeconomic status, parental behavior, and even premature birth. The analysis covered a wide range of devices, from smartphones to televisions, and various digital activities including social media browsing, gaming, and video calls. The results indicated that increased screen time is associated with lower overall academic achievement and impaired language development. Regarding mental and emotional health, researchers found a strong association between intensive screen use and the emergence of problems in peer relationships, as well as internalizing behaviors (such as symptoms of depression and anxiety) and externalizing behaviors (such as aggression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). However, the team noted that when examining specific academic subjects such as mathematics or reading, no direct association was found, attributing this to the scarcity of specialized studies in this area. According to The Guardian, Tatiana Iniguez-Perez, a lecturer at Spain’s University of Zaragoza, clarified that the magnitude of the relationship between screen use and declines in psychological and academic performance is relatively small, emphasizing that “screen use alone does not explain why adolescents suffer from emotional disorders.”