Distracting preschoolers with devices could cause problems later on, study suggests

Parents who steal a moment of peace by giving a smartphone or tablet to an angry child can start a vicious cycle of anger management problems and other issues, a recent study found.

Research published last week in the journal The boundaries of child and adolescent psychiatry says that using such devices to regulate emotions “may be effective in the short term,” but in the long term it can lead to technology addiction, “screen tantrums,” and make it harder for children to cope with stressful situations.

Researchers from Canada and Hungary looked at surveys of more than 300 parents of children aged two to five in Nova Scotia.

Parents reported their own worries about the demands of raising a child, as well as how much their child watched TV, played video games on a console or used a device such as a tablet or smartphone. They also answered questions about their child’s temperament, such as anger and impulsiveness, during the pandemic lockdown and a year later in 2021.

The results suggest that “if parents regularly offer a child a digital device to calm them down or stop a tantrum, the child will not learn to regulate his or her emotions,” Veronika Konok, the study’s first author and a researcher at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, said in a press release.

The researchers urged health professionals working directly with families to ask parents about their digital media use and to provide special attention and support to parents of temperamentally challenged children who may be at greater risk.

Chriselle Vaz of Toronto had hoped to avoid screens with her son, Caydin, who is almost four. But they bought a TV about two years ago, and Vaz relied on it more to manage him while she cared for the newborn.

“We didn’t have much support from my family,” Vaz said. “I had to rely on the digital screen and devices to help me get some of my work done” at home.

A previous US study found that 65 percent of parents use mobile devices to provide care for their children. peace in public places.

Michelle Ponti, a pediatrician in London, Ont., who was not involved in the Nova Scotia study, chairs the Canadian Pediatric Society’s Digital Health Task Force and wrote the study. Position Statement for 2023 screen time for preschoolers. The group’s guidelines say screen time is not recommended for children under two, outside of video calls with extended family, because children learn best when interacting face-to-face with caring adults.

“Screens used as a calming strategy becomes a vicious cycle, right?” Ponti said in an interview. “Often it works very well in the short term. But what we’ve learned from studies like this … is that in the long term it actually creates a bigger problem because then it’s harder for the child to learn new skills without the screen.”

Ponti proposes the “four Ms” regarding screen time for preschool children:

• Limiting screen time, for example ensuring that sedentary behaviour does not form a routine part of the care of children under five, and avoiding screen use for at least one hour before bedtime.
• Mitigating actions such as having children watch age-appropriate educational and interactive programmes together and preparing playlists.
• Use screens thoughtfully, for example by developing a family media plan that includes when, how and where screens can be used.
• Promoting healthy use of screens, such as encouraging shared reading, outdoor play and crafts, and avoiding watching TV in the background.

Ponti adds, however, that using a screen can be beneficial, for example when using educational apps or when you want to keep a child occupied during a painful procedure.

While pediatric experts advise parents and caregivers not to rely on screens, they also acknowledge that adults sometimes just need a break.

A quiet time for parent and child

“You have to be kind to yourself,” said Dr. Rachel Mitchell, an adolescent psychiatrist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. “It’s the hardest job in the world.”

“If you’re at your wits’ end, if you’re frustrated, your day hasn’t gone well, your child is tired and hungry, and you’re just buying yourself time to calm down and they’re on a device, it’s not the worst parenting decision in the world that you’ve ever made.”

Vaz says her son gets angry when she tells him to stop using his device, but she also knows the way she tells him matters.

“The tantrum starts because he thinks I’m being unfair to him or not being very gentle,” Vaz said. “But if I say, ‘Caydin, I think we’ve had enough, let’s do story time’ … he’s a lot more open to that.”

Next, Konok and her fellow researchers want to investigate whether children with problems with self-regulation also become dependent on devices or “digital pacifiers.”