How just two hours’ screen time a day as a toddler can make children more likely to 'be badly behaved or have ADHD'

Toddlers who spend hours staring at screens every day are more badly behaved by the time they are five, a study has claimed.

Pre-school children who use smartphones, tablets and other gadgets for more than two hours a day are also seven times more likely to develop ADHD.

The screen time has a 'significant impact' on the child's development, researchers said as they warned parents need to cut it down.

One author of the study suggested this is because time spent looking at screens is time taken away from healthier activities such as sport or sleep.

Just half an hour per day, or even less, would be the optimum amount for pre-school aged children, according to the researchers.

But experts in the field immediately dismissed the findings as having 'critical shortcomings' and doing nothing to prove the screen time had actually caused the bad behaviour.

Scientists at the University of Alberta studied more than 2,400 families and found children glued to screens have more significant behavioural problems.

As well as a higher risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), those exceeding two hours per day were five times more likely to be inattentive.

'We found screen time had a significant impact at five years of age,' said Dr Piush Mandhane.

Three-year-olds in the study spent an hour-and-a-half, on average, looking at screens every day. This fell slightly to 1.4 hours for five-year-olds.

The researchers found screen time may even have a bigger effect on a child's behaviour than how much sleep they get or how stressed their parents are.

And this may be because it takes away from other aspects of life which could reduce the risk of attention problems.

Dr Mandhane told MailOnline: 'Our data suggests that more screen-time leads to less sleep-time.

'Developing a regular sleep routine, consistent wake and bed times that limit screen-time prior to bed, in also an important part of growth, development, and behaviour.

'In another analysis, we found that children who watched more than 2 hours of screen time per day were almost 65 per cent less likely to sleep 10 hours per day. So more screen time equals less sleep time.'

The study backs up past research also suggesting damage to sleep, and other studies pointing to poorer brain development, mental health issues and damaged eyes.

A lack of sleep in childhood could stunt the growth of the brain and therefore lead to problems later in life.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6932181/Two-hours-screen-time-makes-children-badly-behaved.html

Of course they're poorly behaved, they haven't had the social interactions to learn how to behave properly!

>THE Ben Reilly< wrote:Of course they're poorly behaved, they haven't had the social interactions to learn how to behave properly!

I have a nephew who's around 10, and he's a nightmare when he's been on his ipad. They have to take it off him. He's fine when he's not been on it.

HoratioTarr wrote:

>THE Ben Reilly< wrote:Of course they're poorly behaved, they haven't had the social interactions to learn how to behave properly!

I have a nephew who's around 10, and he's a nightmare when he's been on his ipad.   They have to take it off him.   He's fine when he's not been on it.  

They say depressed people often retreat into video games (or online, mobile, whatever) because the game gives them a simplified world with predictable rules, plus a self-esteem boost when they do well.

I don't think that's a good mental environment for a kid, especially, to spend too much time in.

Why would you leave a small child to watch a screen for a long time? And if you do let them watch stuff, then watch it with them to make comments and talk about what they’re watching.

Some parents just knock out kids and don’t really enjoy them. I don’t get it. Sure, we all need a break, but just leaving them in front of a TV? That’s just seriously bad parenting. Why bother having them?