Children’s iPad use linked to long-term emotional problems

An intriguing new study suggests that children as young as two who consume excessive amounts of digital media — the so-called “iPad kids” who are supervised by electronic tablets, basically — are more likely to have emotional and social problems later in life.

A team of American researchers came to this conclusion in a new article published in the journal Computers in human behaviorreported by PsyPost and which should alarm any parent tempted to provide an iPad to soothe bored or crying children.

The researchers collected data from 269 participants who were caregivers of their children. These participants completed a survey about their children’s media use and general behavior, focusing specifically on “problematic media use,” or PMU, which is defined as addictive or excessive use of media technology with screens such as smartphones, smart tablets, televisions, and other devices.

Parents rated their children on a variety of behaviors, such as how they used media and factors like “parental warmth and connection, as well as the child’s social and emotional problems.” The researchers followed children ranging in age from 2.5 to 5.5 years.

After analyzing the questionnaire data, the researchers found interesting results: an increase in PMU behavior was observed in children from 2.5 years old.

In fact, the study suggests that many young children have difficulty regulating their emotions, especially when confronted with digital media technologies. This makes perfect sense: these are simply children who have difficulty regulating themselves.

But children’s level of emotional sensitivity, aggression, and how often they watched television also strongly predicted initial level of PMU behavior.

And high levels of PMU behavior are “associated with later aggression in childhood, even when controlling for initial levels of aggression,” the researchers write.

“I’ve been studying problematic media use in adolescence for several years and wanted to see if the roots began in early childhood,” said Sarah M. Coyne, professor of human development at Brigham Young University and lead author of the study. PsyPost“It would be great if we could intervene at a young age to prevent serious problems with the media later in life.”

For parents reading this blog post in a panic, the practical advice you might take from this study is to observe your children and see how they react to screen time.

And if you find that they are being cheeky, possessive, or exhibiting addictive behaviors with their screens, you will probably want to nip this behavior in the bud to avoid problems in the future.

Learn more about screens: This Company Wants to Pay You $2,400 to Avoid Screens for 24 Hours