Too Much Screen Time Linked to Lower Brain Development

"Screen time use by infants, toddlers and preschoolers has exploded over the last decade, concerning experts about the impact of television, tablets and smartphones on these critical years of rapid brain development,” writes Sandee La Motte on the cnn.com website.

She explains, “Now a new study scanned the brains of children 3 to 5 years old and found those who used screens more than the recommended one hour a day without parental involvement had lower levels of development in the brain's white matter -- an area key to the development of language, literacy and cognitive skills.”

In the book Literacy: A Beginnings Workshop Book, Leah Curry-Rood reminds us all of the importance of cultivating children’s love of reading from an early age, one way to balance the draw of screen time. She offers a number of tips for early educators and families to help aid children’s healthy literacy development. Here are just a few:

• “Read stories aloud every day, any time, any place…
• Travel with books... [This one is especially for families, as she recommends keeping a box of books in the car and letting children bring a book to look at while standing in line at grocery stores, banks etc. Early childhood educators could use this tip, also, for those (hopefully) few times when children are waiting a little bit.]
• Set up a library learning center… [This one is more for early childhood programs… she suggests actually calling it a library.]
• Encourage children to share favorite books…” [This could be with other children in an early childhood program and/or with other family members.]

Source: “MRIs show screen time linked to lower brain development in preschoolers,’ by Sandee La Motte, cnn.com, November 4, 2019

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