Giving your child a tablet at this age linked to serious behavioral problems: study

They’ve become iPad pros.

Preschoolers who use a tablet to entertain themselves may not learn to manage their emotions, leading to angry outbursts, which prompt their parents to give them a tablet to quiet them down.

Researchers from the Université de Sherbrooke in Canada detailed this “deleterious” cycle Monday in JAMA Pediatrics.

The study authors note that the average amount of time young children spend on mobile devices has increased from five minutes a day in 2020 to 55 minutes a day in 2022, with many 4-year-olds having their own devices.

Research shows that too much screen time can negatively affect preschoolers’ health, academics and social skills because they are not interacting with their parents — who can teach them how to regulate their emotions — or playing with others.

For this study, parents of 315 kids from Nova Scotia reported their iPad, tablet or mobile device use in 2020 when they were 3 ¹/₂, in 2021 at 4 ¹/₂, and in 2022 at 5¹/₂. Temperament was measured with a behavioral questionnaire.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends screen time be limited to an hour a day (or seven hours a week) of high-quality programming for children 2 to 5 years old.

Children in the study spent an average of 6¹/₂ hours a week on tablets at 3 ¹/₂, 6 hours and 42 minutes a week at 4 ¹/₂, and 7 hours at 5 ¹/₂.

The researchers linked child tablet use at 3 ¹/₂ to more expressions of anger and frustration a year later.

The child’s tantrums at 4 ¹/₂ were associated with more tablet use by 5¹/₂.

“Screen use in general and mobile device use in particular are increasingly present in the lives of young children,” the researchers wrote in their findings. “Our study suggests that parents be sensitized that tablet use in early childhood can disrupt the ability to manage anger and frustration and lead to increased outbursts in young children.”

There were some limitations to the study, including that it took place in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic when screens were often used as babysitters.

The authors also didn’t consider the quality of the content the preschoolers were viewing, like whether they were looking at a book or watching YouTube.

“Some applications and programs may offer support in the development of emotional regulation
skills,” they noted. “For instance, the Daniel Tiger program and mobile application [have] been shown to help children improve their emotional regulation skills.”

Plus, the researchers don’t know if parents interacted with their children while they were using the tablet. Co-viewing a tablet can help parents and children strengthen their relationships as they navigate the web together.

Dr. Scott Krakower, a child psychiatrist at Northwell Zucker Hillside Hospital in Queens, recommends a moderation approach to screen time.

“For example, if you’re going to let the kids use the iPad, then I would say set yourself a reasonable time when in the back of your head,” Krakower said. “Maybe it might be 20 minutes on the iPad or 15 minutes on iPad and then there should be a break.”