Dr Meghan Gath, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, published research that showed that children who watched more than 90 minutes a day of direct screen time were by 4.5 years and 8 years below average for vocabulary, communication, writing, numeracy, and letter fluency.
They also had poorer social skills and were more likely to play alone, less liked by other children, less considerate and less likely to share toys.
Those who had more than 2.5 hours had an even worse response.
“We found a linear relationship, so the more screen time they were exposed to, the worse they fared in terms of outcomes, and that was most evident at the highest levels of screen exposure,” said Megan Gath, one of the researchers, said. “Screen time during early childhood is predictive of the skills that children have on arrival to school, and the dramatic rise in screen use over recent years may partially explain why school readiness has been declining over recent years.”
We are lucky enough that Meghan will be sharing her findings at an HPFSS Q&A later in the year.