LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 21:5 May 2021
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

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Impact of Screen Time on Communication in Toddlers:
A Parental Awareness Survey

Vrinda R., Maria M Reji, BASLP and Swathi S. Sanjeevan

Abstract

Purpose: To understand the awareness among parents of toddlers on the impact of increased screen time on language and communication development.

Method: A screen time awareness questionnaire was developed. 200 Malayalam speaking parents of toddlers participated in the study. The Screen time awareness questionnaire was sent to the parents via google forms.

Results: 88.5% reported that they were aware of the impact of increased screen time. Among the specified impacts, vision problems stand first and the least reported problem was speech delay. 67% believed that children will start speaking by watching screen. 84% believed that increased screen time leads to attention problem. 93.8% believed that screen time has to be restricted but 56% were not aware of any guidelines set.

Conclusion: Increased screen time has detrimental effects on children’s language and other cognitive development including delayed language development, poor social skills, reduced attention, etc. Even when many parents are aware of the impact of increased screen time, misunderstandings persist and are not aware of the guidelines on screen time restriction. With improved awareness, screen time in young children can be limited thereby increasing the parent child interaction and play time which in turn lessens the detrimental effects of screen time on communication development.

Keywords: Screen time, toddlers, Awareness, language and communication development.

Introduction

Screen time is described as the time spent viewing or use of a device with a screen, including, but not limited to television, DVDs, electronic games and computer (Sweetser, Johnson, Ozdowska & Wyeth, 2012; Hinkley, Brown, Carson & Teychenne, 2018). Many parents find it easy to manage their children when they are given a screen to watch. But many parents are not aware of the detrimental effects of increased screen time on their children, including delayed language development. Increased amounts of recreational screen time, without academic purpose is associated with an increased risk of language delays for young children (Kuta, 2017)

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Vrinda R.
Lecturer/Speech Language Pathologist
Department of Neurodevelopmental Sciences
National Institute of Speech and Hearing, Trivandrum, Kerala, India
vrinda@nish.ac.in

Maria M Reji, BASLP, and Swathi S. Sanjeevan, BASLP
National Institute of Speech and Hearing, Trivandrum, Kerala, India
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