Does screen time affect children’s language development?

During the Pandemic, screen use permeated our lives more than ever, including our children’s. Since the pandemic, children’s screen time has risen dramatically by approximately 52% . With Children spending and increasing amount of time on screens, parents have lots of questions, including:

How much screen time is ok for my child?

Will too much screen time interfere with my child’s language development?

Is ‘educational programming’ helpful?

Research studying children’s screen use and how it relates to language development shows:

Spending more time on screens does not help language development, and likely hinders it.

Most research findings show that spending more time on screens has either no connection or a negative connection with children’s language skills. Similarly, studies have shown that children who spend more time on screens have lower language skills and smaller vocabularies.

What children watch on screens may (or may not) make a difference

Watching educational programs that include labelling objects, speaking directly to the child, and providing opportunities for the child to respond verbally may be beneficial for their language skills. Other studies have found no connection between the content of what they watched and their language skills.

Interacting with you child while watching screens makes a difference

Children who talk and interact with their parents whilst engaging in screen time tend to have increased language skills. This also supports the extensive research that shows that interacting and talking with parents/ caregivers is so helpful for children’s language development.

What about children with delayed language?

Whilst most research hasn’t specifically considered children who have language delays, we can use the above to inform us on the best ways to support children with a language delay. Children with language delays require more opportunities to hear and use language during enjoyable interactions. The more opportunities they have to spend interacting, communicating and playing with their parents and caregivers, the more opportunities they have to practice communicating and building their language. Spending a significant amount of time watching screens means that a child often doesn’t have enough opportunities to actively engage in turn taking conversations with people. So this would mean they spend less time learning about and practicing communicating.

What’s the take home message?

• Tune into what your child is watching – Choose educational programs as they tend to be better for their language development.

• Interact with your child during screen time – Watching shows with your child and talking about what they see can help your child learn new concepts and vocabulary. Remember your child may not learn as much from screens if they watch it alone.

• Try to follow recommended guidelines about screen time limits – The Australian recommendations on screen time for children 5-17 years old are no more than 2 hours a day (not including school work).

• Don’t forget about books and playtime –Since the pandemic screen time has been replacing some of children’s play time, and this can have a negative impact on language development, play skills, social skills, eye sight, weight, behaviour and can lead to less sleep.

Children learn a lot about language and interaction when they play and look at books with their parents/ caregivers. Ensuring your child has time to play and look at books with you will ensure that your child is hearing lots of helpful language and is getting practice with turn taking during interactions.

Lauren Nirsimloo is St Gabriel’s full time Speech Therapist.