New Study Links Early Childhood Tablet Use to More Tantrums

There’s plenty of talk these days about screen time. For parents who need a break or moment to carry out some chores or work, screens can be a sanity-saving distraction for baby. But with more screen time comes increasing pressure to identify just how screen time affects baby and their development.

A new study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics has found a link between child tablet use at 3.5 years old and a higher number of expressions of anger and frustration a year later. The link didn’t just go one way though. Children who were more prone to anger and frustration at 4.5 years old were more likely to have higher tablet use at 5.5 years old.

Overall authors believe that excessive early childhood tablet use “may contribute to a cycle” of problems with emotional regulation which leads to more times you’ll need to pull out the tablet to calm them down. The long short of it—using a tablet to calm down your kiddo in the restaurant, during a family event or more may reduce their ability to calm themselves in the future, leading to more tantrums and issues dealing with difficult emotions.

Similar to another experiment that looked at early screen time exposure in relation to baby’s development, New York-Presbyterian pediatric behavior and development expert Jennifer Cross, MD, explains that it’s important to realize it’s not necessarily screen time itself that’s hurting baby’s development, but what they are missing out because of screen time that could hurt their development. If you pull out a tablet every time baby is upset, they miss out on the opportunity to have a parent acknowledge and work through their hard feelings with them.

This doesn’t mean you can’t ever whip out your phone or tablet in a hard situation—sometimes it’s the only option that will keep your sanity intact—but using it in excess at every inconvenience can set up your little one and you for more problems in the long run.

You can find information on the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) suggested screen time usage by age and more tips for limiting your child’s screen time at AAP.org.