Screen time can damage under-twos' development, landmark study suggests

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/27/screen-time-damage-under-twos-development-study

by Brajeshwar • 25 days ago

93 38 25 days ago

The article title claims causality. The article body says the researchers didn't claim causality:

  The review, conducted by researchers from four UK universities known as the Action on Digital Device Immersive Conditions Team, did not establish causal links between screen use and specific developmental conditions.

pmarreck3• 25 days ago

That's a problem because "using a screen as a babysitter" likely correlates with overworked poorer parents and thus a whole host of other developmental problems

thatfrenchguy• 25 days ago

Even for upper middle class parents, "using a screen as a babysitter" just means you're more stressed and have less hands around. My kiddo has not seen a screen at the age of 2, but that's just because he has two parents at home at 5pm everyday.

andai• 25 days ago

And banning screens for the first several decades of your child's life correlates with being a billionaire.

SilverElfin• 25 days ago

This happens a lot in mainstream science and journalism. Another famous example is the often misquoted study (from McKinsey?) about DEI improving company results. The authors didn’t claim causality, since the most likely explanation is just that already large companies were more likely to adopt policies that discriminate based on race or gender, simply to keep up with trends. But virtually all news articles and company policies mistakenly referenced the study as if it had established causality.

sfn42• 25 days ago

The ADDICT, nice

Fire-Dragon-DoL• 25 days ago

I don't like the screen time generalization either. What about watching a tv show with a parent explaining? What about trying a videogame with a controller on an actual game console, experiencing remote controlling something in a screen (Spoiler alert: amazing results, I have a video with my daughter shocked at age 2).

Smartphones used as a babysitter with a f2p game is probably garbage time

y0eswddl• 25 days ago

the guidance in TFA addresses this

SiempreViernes• 25 days ago

The article title claims causality.

Maybe they edited the title since you saw it, but currently there's no claims of causation unless you think "can" and "will" are synonyms.

lesam• 25 days ago

'can damage' means 'sometimes causal'.

If there's no causal link, they should say 'associated with' or 'correlated with'.

Hizonner• 25 days ago

"Landmark" review by an advocacy group. Not a good review, either.

rendx• 25 days ago

"The babies' stress reactions during smartphone use were comparable to those in the 'still-face' situation—that is, intentional ignoring." https://www.pmu.ac.at/aktuelles/detail/wenn-das-smartphone-d...

andrewstuart• 25 days ago

There’s no reason for kids under 6 to ever look at a screen.

amanaplanacanal2• 25 days ago

I don't have kids myself, but I understand there is good educational programming on television for small children.

graemep5• 25 days ago

Not in my opinion. Certainly nothing like as good as adult attention or play.

aweb• 25 days ago

Yeah it seems crazy to me that this is news. Here in France the government officially recommends to avoid screens at all costs for under 3 years omds and as much as possible under 6. There are tons of studies showing it hinders their development.

x3n0ph3n3• 25 days ago

Facetime calls with family. I've had to do a lot of travelling, and it's been amazing being able to see, talk to, and sing with my kid while I'm gone. He's also really close to his extended family and loves seeing them on video calls.

AndrewDucker• 25 days ago

I know one kid, now 5, who taught himself to read watching Alphablocks.

My own kids haven't done anything that impressive, but they've certainly enjoyed watching a lot of videos and it doesn't seem to have done them any harm. Doesn't get in the way of doing non-screen things either.

geophph• 25 days ago

I have no regrets watching the World Cup games with my 3 year old and having him narrate me through everything he’s seeing

cosnenc• 25 days ago

And how many kids do you have?

K0balt• 25 days ago

I’ve raised 5, doing 6 and 7 right now.

I’m not sure I can exactly explain why, but touchscreens are fundamentally different from a developmental standpoint. Also low res screens don’t seem to have the same effect. High resolution Touchscreens are aggressively addictive and encourage a certain kind of ultrafast loop that is simply not a dynamic on other devices.

Chinjut• 25 days ago

I watched Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow and stuff like that as a child. Seemed fine and even good.

pfannkuchen• 24 days ago

What do you think about non-media screen use like Google Maps or typing on a word processor?

greatgib• 25 days ago

When you see the following sentence: "She said parents should not be blamed for a problem they did not create."

associated with the deceptive title, you can know for sure that this article has a hidden objective, and that there is a big lobby behind it. Something like "internet, digital, ... is bad, there should be regulation for that".

Because, let's be serious, if the causality was there (it is not the case), the obvious conclusion is that the parents are not doing their job or at most not well educated enough on how to raise a kid. It would not be the fault of anyone else.

marcuschong• 24 days ago

I don't think my 18-month-old had any problems from watching a little Miss Rachel and Baby Einstein here and there. However, the few times my mother showed her cute animal videos on Instagram, it was a completely different story. She became obsessed with the phone and would fuss and scream whenever my mother put it away. It was pretty incredible. We banned it pretty quickly.

Screen time can damage under-twos' development, landmark study suggests

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