Excessive screen time not only causes vision-related problems, it also impairs your brain’s ability to process information, concentrate and make decisions. What’s worse? These effects are aggravated in children as their brains and bodies are still developing.  

 

A research published by the Lancet Child and Adolescent Health analysed the data of 4,500 children aged between 8 and 11. The study discovered that children who spent over two hours of recreational screen time daily on smart phones and playing video games had poorer memory, attention spans, processing speed, language skills and executive function.

 

A Korean study involving 1,778 toddlers (aged 2 years old) also found that those who watched television for more than 2 hours on average had 2.7 times more risk of language delay than toddlers who spent less than an hour watching television.

 

What should you do?

 

Limit your child’s screen time. If your child is under 2, avoid screen time as much as possible. For children between 2 and 5, limit screen time to 1 hour daily. Thereafter, 2 hours of screen time a day is the maximum you should allow.