Using electronic devices to distract and calm noisy, restless babies used to be a great idea, or so parents thought.
Singapore scientists recently found that children exposed to high levels of screen time before the age of two showed changes in brain development linked to slower decision-making and increased anxiety by the time they become teenagers.
However, all is not lost – for children whose parents read to them frequently from age three, the link between infant screen time and altered brain development was significantly weakened.
The new research is led by Assistant Professor Tan Ai Peng, a principal scientist at A*STAR’s Institute for Human Development and Potential (IHDP) (Translational Neurosciences). It is Singapore’s largest birth cohort study that links infant screen exposure to long-term changes in the brain and adolescent mental health.
“This research gives us a biological explanation for why limiting screen time in the first two years is crucial. It also highlights the importance of parental engagement, showing that parent-child activities, like reading together, can make a real difference,” said Dr Tan, who is also a clinician-scientist at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
The study tracked 168 children from the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort for more than 10 years and conducted brain scans at several points to map a possible sequence of reaction from infant screen exposure to teen mental health.
It focused on infancy, a period when brain development is most rapid and especially sensitive to environmental influences; and the amount and type of screen exposure during this period, which are largely determined by parental and caregiver awareness, and parenting practices.
GUSTO, a nationwide birth cohort study of Singaporean mothers and their babies, was set up in 2009 to understand how conditions during pregnancy and early childhood affect both the mother’s and child’s health, growth and development.
They include metabolic, neurodevelopmental and other conditions, all of which are of major public health and economic importance in Asia and worldwide.
This recent paper, published in eBioMedicine, a peer-reviewed open-access medical journal, is the first on screen time to incorporate measures spanning over 10 years, highlighting the long-lasting consequences of screen time in infancy.
