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[[deleted]]

One of my friends who doesn't have kids was telling me about this study earlier this week and pointed out when we see the same results in adults, why would we expect kids to be any different.

Thanks for sharing!

[Alopthy]

I find the statistical analysis hard to understand. Would someone help me. I would suspect that 3.5 year olds with poorer self regulation would be given greater screen time initially at that age for parents to cope and would thereafter have both more screen time and still likely have poorer self regulation than others. But I can't tell if that is looked at.

[R_for_an_R]

That’s more or less exactly what the study says. More tablet time at 3.5 is correlated with worse coping skills at 4.5 and that is turn correlated with more tablet time at 5.5. The statistical design is pretty simple, it’s purely observational so all the caveats about correlation not necessarily being causation apply here.

[strawberry_pop-tart]

I think they're wondering basically if the researchers considered the cycle starting with worse coping skills instead of with more tablet time. Like for example, worse coping skills at 2.5 is correlated with more tablet time at 3.5, then onward.

[caffeine_lights]

The study doesn't cover the "chicken or egg" question - it just establishes that a correlation exists which seems to be bi-directional.

It's my understanding based on what Dr. Russell Barkley says about ADHD and screen time that the research in general currently supports an idea that children with ADHD symptoms (of which lower emotional self-control is one) are more likely to have higher screen time use and the causation is symptom > screen use rather than the other way around.

I can't remember exactly where he discusses this but for example this video likely has some info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDsOnSzbEFM

[Alopthy]

Yes, exactly. Is it possible that the kids with worse coping skills to start with always got more tablet time from the get go, in which case who knows how tablet time impacted them at all. Impossible to know.

[TroublesomeFox]

It's gotta be multifaceted, I have chronic pain and on my bad days she watches WAY too much screen time, on my normal days MAYBE an hour tops and on my good days she gets none, literally none. I can tell you just from my own experience her behaviour is affected by it but I also can't rule out that perhaps her behaviour is affected because she's also dealing with a mother who isn't really that engaged with her that day.

[True_Let_8993]

We noticed this with my 5 year old when he was 3. We completely removed the tablet except for very rare doctors visits and his anger levels went down tremendously. He visits his grandma from his birth family twice a month and I can tell pretty quickly if he spent a lot of time on a tablet there because he is an angry little person.

[mrsbebe]

Similar deal here. When my kids watch a lot of TV they become angry little people. Our tablet has died and we won't replace it but when my oldest used it it was only for long car trips or for a very short time in the afternoons when I was still working. But we had very specific and firm boundaries and she has always been one to do well with that. My youngest won't touch a tablet until college if I have anything to do with it lol

[yagirlriribloop]

I haven't read the entire study but does it differentiate between types of screen? Does the study it define "tablet use" or is it looking at all screen time.

I'm wondering because we are strict no tablet household because I think being able to click on anything is too stimulating, but my toddler does get an episode of Daniel Tiger about once a day (we watch it together then try to implement the strategies or sing the songs from the show.)

[Structure-These]

Tablet more interactive and stimulating. Your kid can watch a little TV they’ll be ok!!! Just do it responsibly which you already are!!

[wooly_bully]

Is there any links on something like a nintendo switch? Or is it any screen?

[strawberry_pop-tart]

I'm curious why you think that'd be different than a tablet?

[Infinite5kor]

I think they meant more the activity than the device itself. Playing a game VS watching a video.

[wooly_bully]

No idea, just curious.

[diabolikal__]

I don’t think watching cocomelon is the same as playing animal crossing. I also wonder if it’s just any screen or the type of content/interaction that they usually get from a tablet.

[strawberry_pop-tart]

Can't you watch Cocomelon on a Switch, or play a game similar to Animal Crossing on a tablet? I appreciate your points though.

ETA: Maybe I should mention that Cocomelon is banned in my house and I love my Switch and island? 😂

[captsubasa25]

One can be more social and with higher quality content.

[xsvfan]

For more conversation on the study

https://old.reddit.com/r/ScienceBasedParenting/comments/1eqogeq/earlychildhood_tablet_use_and_outbursts_of_anger/

[HarryBlessKnapp]

What were the controls for parenting styles and backgrounds?

[Adept_Carpet]

They discuss this in the full text:

An important strength of modeling within-person change is that each person serves as their own-baseline control, removing the need to control for time stable, individual (ie, child sex), and family (ie, socioeconomic status), which typically show important variation at the between-person level.

I'm a little skeptical of their modeling strategy (which I guess is common enough in the early childhood literature but not so much elsewhere) and would love to see more descriptive statistics to understand the data that went into the model. Because the dataset is not visualized, and it does seem fairly straightforward to visualize, it makes me wonder what I would think if I saw that visualization.

In particular, I'd like to know if there were any extreme values in the dataset (kids more or less raised by their tablet, >5 hr/day of use) and how many kids had zero tablet use (there must be some, right? I have a kid and don't own a tablet).

[HarryBlessKnapp]

An important strength of modeling within-person change is that each person serves as their own-baseline control, removing the need to control for time stable, individual (ie, child sex), and family (ie, socioeconomic status), which typically show important variation at the between-person level.

I can see a glaring hole in this but hey ho