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The Link Between Early Tablet Use & Anger Issues? Researchers Find Concerning Correlation

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In the 1980s, there was a significant change in children’s television. It arose from marketing deregulation that suddenly allowed our cartoons to essentially be what some critics have called “program-length commercials,” centering around characters that we’d then see on store shelves in plastic, on cereal boxes, on drinking glasses, and in every other merchandisable possibility.

Pediatricians and others interested in child development and health began to wonder how our attachment to screens affected us, and 40 years later, researchers are still asking that question.

In the latest study, the focus is on the effect of tablets, which more and more kids are now being given at younger and younger ages.

Apps & Programming Targeted To Younger Audiences

If we’re honest, the apps, websites, and media marketed to toddlers and preschoolers keep improving. We’ve got content creators like Miss Rachel, who draw kids in and make a connection with songs and learning. There are apps like ABC Mouse encouraging our kids to read—and an electronic device can reread the same favorite story to a kid over and over, long after a parent suffers exhaustion and a sore throat.

They’re labor-saving devices that are brilliant at what they do — but they raise the question of whether the particular labor they’re doing is really one we want to cede to a computer. If only the tablet would fold laundry while I read to my daughter instead of vice versa!

The clear downside is that they’re very addictive. Touch screens provide an instant response, and just like teens or adults scrolling social media and TikTok seeking dopamine hits, toddlers also get caught up. The difference is they don’t have our conscious awareness of the timesuck.

Correlation With Anger Issues

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So, while we’re handing our babies a touch screen at younger ages, we can see the positive effects, such as a minute of quiet, your kid suddenly reciting the alphabet or her pure joy, but the adverse effects might be more complex to link since they can come at a delay.

A new study in JAMA Pediatrics, though, is showing a correlation with anger issues over just a short few years, although more study is needed to prove causation. Here’s what they found:

“In this study, child tablet use at age 3.5 years was associated with more expressions of anger and frustration by the age of 4.5 years. Child proneness to anger/frustration at age 4.5 years was then associated with more use of tablets by age 5.5 years.”

This seems to suggest that using a tablet at an early age could result in a quicker temper and greater difficulty with emotional regulation, followed by more screen addiction to satisfy that desire for instant gratification.

Different Interpretations Of The Data

As Motherly points out, the correlation doesn’t definitively prove causation. Kids who already have a tendency toward emotional regulation difficulties may be more drawn to tablet use, which would skew the results.

Still, even the most generous interpretation of the data still draws concerning links, and there are other specific factors, such as parents using electronic devices to soothe their children’s negative emotions.

That is to say, when your toddler is having a minor fit because she’s very tired and existing is big work for small bodies, if you hand her the tablet, it certainly can calm things down, but it can also teach her that bad feelings should be addressed with screens. Sitting with her, giving her hugs, and talking about feelings, by contrast, would do more to promote emotional regulation skills.

That interpretation suggests that the tablets themselves may be less to blame than our bad grownup habit of using them as a quick cure.

Increasing Childhood Tablet Use

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The study above was done in Canada, but the problem is much broader. In the United States, a Pew Research study in 2020 found that about 64% of children had begun using a tablet device by age five, and over a third of children under age two had already begun being entertained with the devices!

Furthermore, two years later, Statista found that the number of tablets in homes with children had increased by about a third since the pandemic, which they linked to distance learning. That study focused on a larger age group—all kids aged 11 and younger—so it doesn’t specifically address toddlers and preschoolers, but it does show that the use of electronic devices by our smallest kids is rising fast.

Though tablets are more common in higher-income households, they’re also prevalent in lower-income homes, mainly when kids are present. Last year’s U.S. Census found that 62% of homes with annual income levels below $25k where kids were present had tablets.

Should We Be Cutting Screen Time?

There are so many opinions on this. We’ve heard from medical and child developmental experts who say that screen time is okay but should be mindful and carefully curated, for example. On the other hand, we’re also seeing kids suffer serious self-esteem and mental health issues connected to their devices and social media attachments.

Now we have this latest study showing that even our youngest babies might already be suffering adverse emotional health effects from screen time. Ultimately, every parent will have to make the best choice for their kids, but the evidence seems to suggest that we need to be at least making those decisions more carefully and thoughtfully and perhaps hold back the devices for an extra year or two.

How Do We Do It?

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The first thing we have to do as parents is set an example. We need to prioritize time with our kids over time with our electronic toys. Our kids need to see that when they approach us to share something in our lives, we put down the cell phone or even the e-reader, no matter how important or exciting the social media political debate, the current chapter, or the TikTok dance is. We have to show them that screens are not a top priority visibly.

The second part is hard, too. We will have to set limits and pry them off the devices when the time comes, no matter how much they hate it. We must take time in the evening and read to our kids instead of farming that chore (which is also a joy) to the tablet. With our older kids, we need to stop and have screen-free family time, whether that means a chat about how school went or a board game.

Finally, when we do allow screens, we have to take more control of what our kids are accessing. With our elementary-aged kids, that can mean keeping devices in a central room and actively monitoring use, installing software to limit access to the darker corners of the internet, or just talking with them regularly about what they see and do.

For our littlest kids, we can keep the tablets as a special treat allowed when sitting with a parent, and we can use parental controls to limit them to specific apps we curate ourselves that are focused on education and are age-appropriate.

The post The Link Between Early Tablet Use & Anger Issues? Researchers Find Concerning Correlation appeared first at The Link Between Early Tablet Use & Anger Issues? Researchers Find Concerning Correlation


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