This archive report was first published on 24 August 2020.
Published on August 24, 2020, a study by researchers from the University of Bath has shed new light on the effects of screen time on toddlers.
Contrary to previous concerns, the study found that toddlers with high daily touchscreen use were faster to find targets during visual search than those with no or low touchscreen use.
Professor Tim Smith, who led the study, emphasized that the first few years of life are critical for children to develop the ability to focus their attention on relevant information and ignore distractions.
Researchers recruited 12-month-old toddlers with different levels of touchscreen use and followed them over 2.5 years, conducting computer tasks at 18 months and 3.5 years to assess their attention skills.
Dr. Rachael Bedford, co-investigator, noted that high touchscreen users were faster than low users to find a red apple when it stood out among blue apples, but there was no difference when the apple was harder to find.
While the study's findings suggest a potential benefit of screen time, the researchers caution that other factors may be at play, and more research is needed to understand the impact of touchscreen use on toddlers' everyday lives.
