Spending more than an hour a day scrolling on a smartphone may have a more significant impact on a child's brain development and language skills than the child's own screen time, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics. The research, conducted by scientists at the University of Oslo, followed 747 Norwegian children from age five to eight.
Researchers found that parental phone use was associated with slower vocabulary development. For every additional hour a parent spent on their phone daily, children scored approximately 2.5 points lower on language tests compared to those whose parents used their phones for about one hour a day. This effect was observed even after accounting for factors like household income and parents' education levels.
The study also noted that children aged five who owned their own tablets or phones tended to have poorer speech compared to peers without devices. However, these differences in ability linked to children's screen time diminished by the age of seven.
"Smartphone use is often attentionally disruptive," said Dr. Junyi Yang, the study's first author. "Studies of parent-child interaction show that such disruption can affect children's word learning and language development. Greater overall screen use reflects a reduced opportunity for responsive interactions in the home."
Scientists theorize that frequent parental phone use can act as an "attention disruptor," reducing opportunities for communicative interactions essential for developing vocabulary during critical language development stages. Approximately 90 percent of brain growth occurs before the age of five.
The research also indicated a correlation between parental phone use and a child's screen time, with parents spending more time on their phones often having children with higher screen usage. The study concluded that increased screen engagement within the family may displace high-quality interactions, such as shared reading and storytelling, which are vital for word learning.
These findings align with previous research, including a January study that found two-year-olds using screens for about five hours daily could say significantly fewer words than those with less than an hour of screen time. The World Health Organization recommends limiting screen time for children aged two to four to a maximum of one hour per day. The current study noted that screen use is near-universal in early childhood, with 98 percent of two-year-olds watching screens daily.