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Screen exposure during infancy and around the start of formal schooling may have a stronger relationship with children’s later learning and memory than researchers previously understood. A new longitudinal study found that heavier screen viewing at age 1 and age 6 was associated with poorer academic performance at age 9 and weaker working memory at age 10.5.
The findings suggest that the timing of screen exposure could be as important as the total amount of time children spend watching screens. The study followed children repeatedly from infancy through middle childhood, allowing researchers to examine whether particular developmental periods were associated with later cognitive outcomes.
Researchers from Inserm and the National University of Singapore analyzed data from the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes, or GUSTO, birth cohort. The study included 502 children whose screen use was reported by parents at six different ages. The findings were published in the World Journal of Pediatrics.
The strongest association appeared at age 1. The researchers said the effect sizes at that stage were larger than those observed at any other measured age, suggesting that infancy could be a particularly sensitive period for development.
The researchers also found that screen use at ages 2 and 3 was not significantly associated with the later academic and working-memory outcomes examined in the study. However, the association appeared again at age 6, when many children begin formal schooling.
That timing may be significant because school places greater demands on attention, memory and learning. The researchers suggest that heavy screen use during these periods could potentially displace activities that support cognitive development, including interaction with caregivers and other forms of learning.
The findings also showed that children with greater cumulative screen exposure tended to have poorer academic performance later in childhood. However, the researchers emphasized that screen duration is only one factor. The study did not establish that screen use directly caused the differences in academic performance or working memory.
Current guidance from the World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics generally recommends avoiding routine screen exposure for children younger than 18 to 24 months and limiting screen use for children ages 2 to 5.
The researchers say future studies should examine whether the effects vary depending on what children watch, which devices they use and whether parents participate in screen-based activities with them.
