Spending time in nature and participating in outdoor activities can help mitigate the potential negative impacts of excessive screen time, such as decreased physical activity and decreased social interaction. Outdoor activities provide a change of pace, a different environment, and can encourage exercise and social interaction, which can help children lead a healthier and more well-rounded life.
Researchers discovered that, while more screen time at 2 years of age is associated with poorer communication and daily living skills at age 4, time spent playing outside can mitigate these effects on daily living skills. Outdoor play is a promising target for reducing the negative effects of screen time in young children and should be encouraged wherever possible.
If you have young children, you’re probably concerned about how much time they spend staring at a screen, whether it’s a tablet, phone, computer, or television. You’re probably also curious about how screen time affects your child’s development and whether there’s anything you can do to mitigate any negative effects.
New research from Japan indicates that more screen time at age 2 is associated with poorer communication and daily living skills at age 4 – but when kids also play outdoors, some of the negative effects of screen time are reduced.
Our findings indicate that optimizing screen time in young children is really important for appropriate neurodevelopment. We also found that screen time is not related to social outcomes, and that even if screen time is relatively high, encouraging more outdoor play time might help to keep kids healthy and developing appropriately.
Tomoko Nishimura
The researchers followed 885 children from 18 months to 4 years old in the study, which will be published in JAMA Pediatrics in March. They investigated the relationship between three key features: average amount of screen time per day at age 2, amount of outdoor play at age 2 years 8 months, and neurodevelopmental outcomes – specifically, communication, daily living skills, and socialization scores according to a standardized assessment tool called Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale-II – at age 4.
“Although both communication and daily living skills were worse in 4-year-old children who had had more screen time at aged 2, outdoor play time had very different effects on these two neurodevelopmental outcomes,” explains Kenji J. Tsuchiya, Professor at Osaka University and lead author of the study. “We were surprised to find that outdoor play didn’t really alter the negative effects of screen time on communication – but it did have an effect on daily living skills.”
Outdoor play, in particular, mediated nearly one-fifth of the effects of screen time on daily living skills, implying that increasing outdoor play time could reduce the negative effects of screen time on daily living skills by nearly 20%. The researchers also discovered that, while not related to screen time, socialization was better in 4-year-olds who had spent more time playing outside when they were 2 years 8 months old.
“Taken together, our findings indicate that optimizing screen time in young children is really important for appropriate neurodevelopment,” says Tomoko Nishimura, senior author of the study. “We also found that screen time is not related to social outcomes, and that even if screen time is relatively high, encouraging more outdoor play time might help to keep kids healthy and developing appropriately.”
These findings are especially significant in light of recent COVID-19-related lockdowns around the world, which have generally resulted in more screen time and less outdoor time for children. Because it is difficult to avoid using digital devices even in very young children, more research into how to balance the risks and benefits of screen time in young children is eagerly awaited.
