The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in increased screen time levels and has led to growing debates on the role of screen time on toddlers' development. These findings will play a significant role in this debate.
Lead researcher Professor Tim Smith said "The use of smartphones and tablets by babies and toddlers has accelerated rapidly in recent years. The first few years of life are critical for children to learn how to control their attention and ignore distraction, early skills that are known to be important for later academic achievement.” He added that there has been growing concern that toddler touchscreen use may negatively impact their developing attention, but there has been no empirical evidence to support this before this research.
This study was named the TABLET Project. Researchers investigated 12-month-old infants with different levels of touchscreen usage. The study took place over the course of 2.5 years, studying the infants in the lab at 12 months, 18 months and 3.5 years. The toddlers took part in eye-tracking computer tasks to measure their attention during each of their visits. Objects appeared in different screen locations. Researchers focused on two aspects - How quickly toddlers looked at the objects and how well they could ignore distracting objects.
Results showed that infants and toddlers with high touchscreen use were faster to look at objects when they appeared and were less able to ignore distracting objects than the low users.
Dr. Ana Maria Portugal, main researcher, pointed out that whether touchscreen use caused the differences in attention has not been proven currently. Another explanation could be that more distractible children may get more attracted to the attention-grabbing features of touchscreen devices than those who are not.
Co-investigator Dr. Rachael Bedford commented "What we need to know next is how this pattern of increased looking to distracting objects on screens relates to attention in the real-world: is it a positive sign that the children have adapted to the multitasking demands of their complex everyday environment or does it relate to difficulties during tasks that require concentration?"
Source-Medindia
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