It’s a common scenario. A parent wants to do some chores or wants some free time for his or her self and the child may be causing disruptions or being clingy. Finding no other way to distract the child, the parent gives his/her smartphone to the child to keep them busy.
The child’s attention is diverted, glued to the screen for hours, and the parent gets time to do his/her work. It’s also habitual among many parents to feed the children in front of the TV or some other device, so that the child is engrossed in the screen and makes less fuss while eating.
If that were not enough, as child specialist Dr Mubina Agboatwalla — also the chief paediatrician at the Sindh General Hospital — points out, “Mothers often switch on their phone while the doctor is examining the child, so that the child won’t cry.”
When the Covid-19 pandemic restricted outdoor activities, screens also became children’s favourite pastime.
Handing a smartphone to a child may seem like a harmless way to keep them engaged, but paediatricians caution against the long-term consequences, from sleep disruptions to developmental delays…
GETTING HOOKED EARLY
A look at various studies shows the extent of the use of screens by children. A recent survey by cybersecurity company Kaspersky stated that “89 percent of parents use gadgets to keep children occupied while travelling or to gain some free time for themselves.”
The survey, published in February, further states that about 53 percent of children in the Middle East, Turkiye, and Africa (META) region receive their first personal device — a smart phone or a tablet — between the age of three and seven.
According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry numbers from May 2024, in the US, on average, children aged 8-12 spend four to six hours a day, while teens spend up to nine hours a day in front of screens, including TV, smartphones, tablets, computers etc.
Guidelines provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommend no screen time for children under the age of two and less than one hour per day for children between the ages of two and five years.
Similarly, the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) recommends “avoiding screens for children younger than 18 to 24 months, except when video chatting with family.” It also recommends “limiting screen use for preschool children, ages two to five, to no more than one or two hours a day.”
IMPACT ON WELL-BEING
Exposed to screens from a very young age, children develop a habit of spending time in front of the TV or using some electronic device, and gradually their screen time increases, sometimes to a level where it begins to affect their health and personality in many ways that we may not be aware of.
Dr Nargis Asad, who heads the psychiatry department at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, tells Eos that, as with anything else, excess screen time is also harmful, particularly for children.
Studies from across the world have shown that children who spend long hours on screens not only have reduced quality and quantity of sleep, they also often do not pay attention to their diet and engage in fewer physical activities. Not eating a balanced diet and reduced physical activity can lead to obesity and weight problems.
It can also cause poor posture and chronic neck, shoulder and back pain, explains Dr Agboatwalla while narrating the case of a 10-year-old patient. The excessive use of a tablet [computer] resulted in the patient’s elbow becoming semi-flexed, or partially bent, for which she had to undergo treatment, including physiotherapy, she tells Eos.
“The foremost effect is on eyesight,” says Dr Agboatwalla, adding that the screen light, especially when watching from close, affects the eyes, and headaches are common among children who spend much time on screens. “If a child has a family history of migraine, headaches start earlier, ie predisposition to migraine is exaggerated with excessive use of screen,” she points out.
The excessive screen time can disrupt sleep. The blue light from screens, especially tablets and smartphones, inhibits melatonin — the sleep hormone; this can delay sleep by keeping the brain and body more alert and activated and less ready for sleep.
Dr Asad points out that sleep deprivation affects a person’s cognitive skills, resulting in mood swings, depression etc. Dr Agboatwalla concurs, saying that lack of sleep leaves the child irritated, not able to focus on food and studies. “For young children, 10 hours of sleep is important,” she asserts.
Excessive screen time can also lead to delayed speech, with children’s vocabulary also affected, continues Dr Agboatwalla. Studies have shown that, for children, the best way to learn language or communication is engaging with adults while talking and playing with them. “Their writing skills are replaced by typing and so writing is also affected,” she says. It can lead to lower grades in school; some teens also neglect responsibilities, as they are absorbed in screens.
Excessive use of screens can also affect a child’s social skills, because of spending less time interacting in peer groups, elaborates Dr Asad. She says that screens provide an easy escape for children who have social anxiety, as they don’t have to deal with their peers.
“When children interact with each other, they even have fights and differences,” continues Dr Asad, adding that such situations allow children to learn to deal with conflict.
At the same time, excessive screen time can also make children more aggressive, have reduced attention spans and suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). “The children are more hyperactive because they cannot focus on any particular thing and are fidgety,” says Dr Agboatwalla.
THE NEED FOR PARENTAL CONTROL
The two child experts agree that, while screens can be beneficial, premature exposure to material that is not age-specific can be stressful. Dr Asad points out that older children do learn from spending time on screen, but three or four-year-olds do not gain anything from it. “They need other things, such as books, toys etc,” she says.
But how should parents deal with children who refuse to stay away from screens?
For Dr Agboatwalla, the issue stems from parental behaviour, often using phones as a distraction. “While in older children, peer pressure is also a factor for excessive screen time, yet it is up to the parents to limit screen time and some parents are successfully doing it,” she says.
While watching videos or playing online games or spending time on social media is entertaining, it’s important to limit screen time to make sure it doesn’t turn into an addiction. It is up to the parents to take care and limit screen time for the betterment of their children, explaining to them the pros and cons of it, and providing alternative means of entertainment.
Of course, for this, they have to be aware themselves.
Published in Dawn, EOS, March 16th, 2025
