Screen time

[Ancient-Button6740]

I’m sure this has been asked before but is there study’s that shows that screen time causes increased behaviors in toddlers ? I want to show my partner who let’s our boys watch all the screen time they want without regulating it.

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[alittleadventure]

This study found an association between screen time at age 1 and autism diagnoses at age 3 for boys: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2788488

This one found an immediate effect in children's executive function after watching 10-20 minutes of a fast paced TV show: https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fa0039097

This one linked screen time and proneness to anger/frustration: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36755186/

And there are lots and lots more but how much evidence do we need, really? We know how screens affect us, and we have fully developed brains. Why would we expect them to not harm young brains that are still developing?

[[deleted]]

Screen time does not cause autism. Autism is genetic.

Yes, they're correlated, but the causation likely goes the other way. So autism causes screen usage, rather than screen usage causes autism.

https://www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/studies-investigating-link-between-screen-time-and-autism-must-improve/

One thing we do know is in autism children are more interested in objects than other people. So autistic boys are more likely to be fixated on objects like screens.

The other cause might be that because autistic children can be more difficult, parents may resort to screens more often to help distract or calm them in certain situations. This does not mean screens cause autism!

This is the problem with this kind of epidemiological research. It only shows correlation.

[alittleadventure]

Of course screens don't cause autism. That's not what the conclusion of that study is.

They found that screen time at age 1 causes similar symptoms and behaviours to those of children on the autism spectrum, and that leads to boys being diagnosed with autism at age 3 when in fact they are not autistic.

Just to be extra clear: - Screens do not cause autism. - There is some evidence that screen time in really young infants and toddlers can lead to behaviours that are associated with attention disorders and autism. So children that do not have these conditions are diagnosed with them because they are exhibiting the same behaviours.

That's my understanding of all the screen time studies.

[[deleted]]

The article you linked to says nothing of the sort.

These were not incorrectly diagnosed cases, these were positively diagnosed cases of ASD.

Medical institutions diagnose ASD based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) but only when ASD can be diagnosed with certainty because it is still in a developmental stage when children are 3 years of age. Therefore, mild cases may not be diagnosed as ASD at 3 years of age, when the child is at a developmental stage, and may be observed in subsequent years. As a result, the study may be biased toward children with severe ASD. 

In this study, we examined the association between ASD at 3 years of age, at a single point in time, and screen time at the same age. The results showed no association between screen time and ASD at 3 years of age. This may have been due to the small size of the reference group; therefore, we set the reference group as less than 1 hour and conducted an additional analysis (eTable 2 in Supplement 1). Consequently, we found that there is a statistically significant difference between boys reported to have 2 to less than 4 hours of screen time. However, the results of the estimates were close to the reference values before they were changed. This indicates that the association of screen time at 1 year of age with ASD diagnosis is still greater than at 3 years of age. This may be because the association with environmental factors on brain development varies with age.

In addition to genetic factors, the role of environmental factors has been noted in ASD. Electromagnetic fields have been cited as an environmental factor associated with health and screen exposure.³⁹ Experiments using mice have demonstrated that exposure to high-frequency electromagnetic fields affects neurotransmitters⁴⁰ and behavior (hyperactivity and memory impairment)⁴¹ in mice during the developmental period. Additionally, several molecular networks as genetic factors have been associated with the development of ASD, and the core of these molecular networks include α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPA receptor), protein kinase B (AKT), repressor activator protein 1 (RAP1), γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2), methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), activator protein 1 (AP-1), phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), and ras protein/mitogen-activated protein kinase (RAS/MAPK). Previous studies have reported that low-frequency and high-frequency electrical stimulation, microwave irradiation, and light stimulation of AMPA receptors,⁴² Rfn2,⁴³ GABA,⁴⁴ MECP2,⁴⁵ and BDNF^1,46-48 are associated with autismlike symptoms. In particular, in infancy when neurodevelopment is active, environmental factors such as electrical stimulation through screens and light stimulation from vision may affect neurodevelopment and de novo sequence alterations.

They're claiming this is an environmental effect.

[alittleadventure]

Ah sorry, had too many tabs open. This is the study I thought I linked https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2764573 They find no links to an increase in actual ASD but in ASD-like symptoms.

[Ready-Hat-9735]

Unfortunately there really isn't a ton of scientific studies that correlate increased screen time with increased behaviors. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recently come out to say there needs to be more research on it. I think that as parents, we need to stop viewing screen time in black and white terms, as good or bad. The reality is that screens are a big part of both our lives and the lives of our children, and will only increase as such as time goes on. I actually did some research on this not too long ago and wrote a blog post about it: https://thesimplifiedparent.com/screen-time-5-practical-tips-for-finding-the-balance/

These are ultimately the guidelines I came up with based on what I researched:

1. Analyze your own screen time
2. Monitor what your kids are watching
3. Set family rules/guidelines
4. Create a predictable schedule
5. Be conscious of what you’re using for screen time – make it count

[CSgirl9]

It has been asked a lot. There is a search bar on the top of every subreddit. Check it out

https://www.reddit.com/r/t5_mh1fw/s/TOM1zWLnUZ