As an early years education specialist, over the past decade I have seen children enter classrooms with fewer and fewer of the skills needed to begin their formal education. The key culprit, in my opinion? Screen time.
On a child’s first day at school, it’s normal to expect a few nerves. But they should be able to move around confidently, pick up stationery, make new friends, build a relationship with their teacher and start to feel part of a wider community. Instead, a recent survey reported that some children in England and Wales are unable to sit up or hold a pencil. I have seen kids racked with separation anxiety and unable to form bonds. Upset and confused, they miss instructions and hold back or lash out. To a busy teacher this looks like a lack of ability, or a disruptive child to be managed. Children are simply being set up to fail.
For a while, it seemed as if the pandemic might have been the culprit for delayed development. Lockdowns undeniably had an impact on the development of children raised during that period as they were unable to play outside and interact with others, but five years on, it would seem that this was a short-term issue masking a much longer-term trend.
Lockdowns compounded habits that had already begun with the introduction of the first touch-screen phones. More and more parents relied on smartphones to work, organise their lives, shop, and keep in touch with friends and family. Burnt-out and distracted, they spent less time actively parenting. In turn, they handed their kids a device to keep them entertained. The result has been children growing up with less physical activity and face-to-face social interaction.
Imagine spending a year immobilised in a cast – your muscles would weaken and your movements would become awkward. Now, think about children missing foundational years of muscle development, when practice should be natural and constant, because, instead of moving, children have been incentivised to sit quietly with a device.
Children need opportunities to run, play, climb and explore. They need obstacles to move their bodies around, tunnels to crawl through, beams to balance over, and hula hoops to jump between. Every muscle and joint should be used as they develop balance and posture. This helps to forge the deep brain-body connections required for coordination and spatial awareness.
Cognitively, children are struggling because they are not having quality interactive time with their caregivers. A cohort study of Australian children aged 12 to 36 months found a negative association between screen time and parent-child talk. With fewer adult words spoken, there was a reduction in child vocalisations and the back-and-forth conversations crucial for language development and social skills. Devices are also having a behavioural impact, with studies showing a link between excessive screen time and emotional reactivity, aggression and externalising behaviours in children.
Even more worryingly, these outcomes are not being distributed equally among children; they affect those who already face significant disadvantages due to economic and racial inequality. Research revealed that Dutch children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds tend to have higher screen time and a study from the US examining sociodemographic factors found that Black children reported higher levels of various screen time activities compared with their peers. Interestingly, the researchers behind the US study made an association between limited access to safe recreational spaces and increased screen time. Our environments shape us, and it is clear that children need access to safe play spaces where they can experience socially interactive and physical play.
Some children are simply more vulnerable when starting school than others. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, children and families, especially those with other disadvantages, would benefit from targeted parenting programmes and support. The main lesson I would give to parents is this: when screen time is used it should be interactive, with engaging discussions about the content to enhance learning and connect on-screen lessons to real-life situations, promoting a child’s cognitive and social development. We cannot turn back the tide of technology, but we can use it more mindfully.
Kathryn Peckham is an early childhood consultant, researcher, author and founder of Nurturing Childhoods
