Aussie kids miss 1100 words every day because of screen time

Each one minute of viewing for a three-year-old is linked to a loss of seven adult words, and five not spoken themselves, a new study has found.

Talking and interacting with adults is vital to children’s language development. Picture: istock

Australian kids miss out on more than 1100 adult words every day – representing ­almost 200 conversations – ­because of screen time, new ­research has found.

Talking is vital for early language development, but scientists have found parent and child interaction has dropped as screen time increased.

Each one minute of viewing for a three-year-old was linked to a loss of seven adult words, and five not spoken themselves.

The study, which tracked 220 children every six months from ages one to three, found average screen time increased from about 1½ to almost three hours as children grew.

The study tracked 220 children from ages one to three. Picture: iStock

The average three-year-old’s daily screen time – two hours and 52 minutes – meant they heard 1139 fewer adult words, spoke 834 fewer words themselves and had 194 fewer conversations every day.

Researcher Mary Brushe said the talk and interaction kids ­experienced, including before they began to speak, was vital.

“A language-rich home ­environment is critical in supporting infants and toddlers’ own language development … and setting (them) up for lifelong success,” she said.

“This study highlights that screen time may be getting in the way of that (and) … interfering with opportunities to talk and interact in their home environment.

The talk and interaction kids ­experience, including before they begin to speak, is vital. Picture: iStock

“Parents and family members do need to think about what their child might be missing out on when they choose to turn on a screen.”

By age three, kids hear about 16,303 adult words, make 3307 words or sounds themselves and have 700 conversations a day, the findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association show.

Even sticking to the World Health Organisation’s screentime guidelines – no more than an hour a day for toddlers – had an impact, with kids missing out on hearing almost 400 adult words and making 294 sounds or words themselves.

Dr Brushe said researchers used FitBit-like devices to record data and parents did not know the study was measuring screen time until afterwards, when they were asked for consent, but it was probably still under reported.

“The devices only picked up noise associated with screen time – for example, TV shows, videos or games,” she said.

“We have probably underestimated how much screen usage – and associated ‘technoference’ – is going on around children because we haven’t been able to capture parents’ silent screen-related activities, such as reading emails, texting, or quietly scrolling.”

She said it was unrealistic to completely remove screens – Australian guidelines recommend none for kids under two – but parents could improve the quality by interacting or responding verbally to content.

“This might include singing along with theme songs, repeating phrases or questions from the screen, and using the content of a show as a conversation starter after the screen has been turned off,” Dr Brushe said.