LONDON, March 17 — Nearly three in four nine-month-old babies in the United Kingdom have at least some screen time each day, a study has found.
Infants at this age who are only children are even more likely (80 per cent) to experience at least some screen time, research from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) found yesterday, reported PA Media/dpa.
It comes as parents are set to be issued with government guidance on how children under five should be using screens.
The EPI analysis found infants in single-parent households are watching for an average of 47 minutes a day, compared with 39 minutes a day for infants with two parents at home.
The average screen time reported for infants in the study was 41 minutes, but a small minority (2 per cent) exceed three hours of screen time a day.
Infants in the latter group were significantly less likely to regularly experience activities such as going on trips, being read to, or singing.
The study, which uses data from more than 8,000 families that took part in the Children of the 2020s cohort study, found a relationship between family income and the amount of screen time.
However, no pattern was found linking family income with whether babies watch screens at all or never do.
The average likelihood of parents looking at pictures in books with their infants daily was similar, regardless of whether the baby had no screen time, up to one hour, or up to two hours.
The likelihood of parents looking at books with their infants only falls when screen time exceeds two hours.
Four in five (80 per cent) of babies with no daily screen time go on trips outside every day, compared with 76 per cent who watch up to two hours.
This falls to three in five (60 per cent) for babies with over three hours of daily screen time.
Dr Tammy Campbell, director for early years, inequalities and wellbeing at EPI, said the research suggests screen time and a healthy, active childhood are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
“Therefore a large part of the conversation needs to shift from ‘how much’ to ‘what’, and ‘why’. It’s about how and when a screen is being used for shared, interactive play, or for passive viewing.
“It’s about why screen use is high among the very small group of babies using it for over three hours a day. Rather than simply focusing on demonising any use or cutting minutes, policy-making and guidance should help families use digital tools to enhance development, bonding, and the enjoyment of babyhood.”
The UK government is expected to publish guidance on screen time for under-fives in April.
Announcing the research, the government said around 98 per cent of children were watching screens on a daily basis by the age of two, and parents and teachers warned they were finding it harder to concentrate on learning when they started school.
Research has also found children with the highest screen time - around five hours a day - could say significantly fewer words than those at the other end of the scale who watched for around 44 minutes.
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said: “Parents today are raising children in a world where screens are part of everyday life - for many, especially in the earliest months of a child’s life, it can be difficult to know what the right balance looks like.
“That’s why I am pleased to be co-chairing a group creating the first piece of government guidance on screen time for children under five, because the context in which screens are used at home among families is crucial.” — Bernama-dpa
