Does Electronic Media Use in Children and Young Adults Impair Cognitive Development?

This essay explores the impact of electronic media use on cognitive development in children and young adults. It discusses the benefits and risks of screen exposure and provides evidence-based recommendations for health professionals to assist families. The essay highlights the harmful effects of excessive screen time on language development, attention span, and academic and social outcomes. It also discusses the potential benefits of well-designed, age-appropriate educational programs and screen activities in improving social and language abilities. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of creating a family's 'media action plan' to preserve and reinforce meaningful family time.

Essay

Does electronic media use in children and young adults impair cognitive
development
Paediatricians believe it is harmful for children to watch TV or use mobile applications
before the age of 18 months, they are generally surprised, because most toddlers have already
done so. According to surveys, 92.2 percent of 1-year-olds have previously used a mobile device,
with some beginning as early as 4 months. The issue isn't so much with what toddlers do when
watching TV as it is with what they don't do. Children are specifically programmed to learn via
connecting with others (Kirkorian, 2018). The ballet of facial expressions, tone of voice, and
body language between a toddler and his or her parent is not only lovely, but it's also so complex
that researchers have to videotape and slow down these exchanges.
Since this two of you glance at each other once in a while, a child learns a lot more from
cursing loudly on the floor as you prepare dinner than he does from studying a screen for the
same period of time. Even if "no one is watching it," having the TV on in the background is
enough to impair language development. When a toddler is present, a parent normally speaks at a
rate of 940 words per hour. That figure drops by 770 when the television is turned on! Less
learning implies simpler language (Kirkorian, 2018). Toddlers are also learning to pay attention
for lengthy periods of time, and toddlers who watch a lot of television are more likely to develop
attention problems by the age of seven. Video programming is always changing, always
fascinating, and nearly never compels a child to watch something more boring than an
infomercial. Things alter, at least in part, after the age of two. Some youngsters learn some
abilities from educational television during their preschool years (Why to Avoid TV for Infants
& Toddlers, 2021).
Kids can learn literacy, arithmetic, science, problem-solving, and prosocial conduct via
well-designed performances. When kids answer the characters' queries, they get more out of
interactive shows like Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street. The bipartisanship is strengthened
through educational television. In the United States, young children like watching television,
DVDs, and other types of screen media (Pashootanizadeh & Khalilian, 2018). Despite the
American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation that parents avoid exposing children under
the age of two to screen media, a nationally representative survey indicated that 68 percent of
children under the age of two use it on a daily basis, with an average screen time of 2.05 hours.

In furthermore, children in daycare (an average hour per day) and parents house childcare
settings may be exposed to increased time next to the televisions. Children from low-income
families may have disproportionately high levels of screen media exposure (Smartphone use and
smartphone addiction in middle school students in Korea: Prevalence, social networking service,
and game use, 2018).
On a typical weekday, 82 percent of one-year-olds and 95 percent of two-year-olds who
participated in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program in New York State watched
television and videos. With age, the average quantity of screen time grew. One-year-olds spent
an average of ten hours per week viewing TV/videos, while two-year-olds spent about fifteen
hours per week. Furthermore, 43 percent of the 2 year-olds in this survey watched for more than
2 hours on a regular weekday (Perdana, Medise & Purwaningsih, 2017). Other research has
found that having a higher telomere. Children's health and development may be harmed by
excessive screen usage. Screen usage has been linked to cognitive development outcomes in
young children, such as short-term memory, scholastic achievement in reading and arithmetic,
and language development. High levels of screen usage in early childhood appear to have a long-
term deleterious influence on academic and social results. Furthermore, while the evidence for a
link between screen time and BMI in preschool children was equivocal, other studies later in
childhood have found positive relationships. Backstory television viewing has been
demonstrated to have an effect on the growth by lowering the quantity and quality of interactions
between families (Pashootanizadeh and Khalilian, 2018).
The nature of media exposure, rather than the amount of watching television, is linked to
unique emotional results. Concerns about how screen time impacts children and families are
growing as more people are exposed to digital media in their daily lives in Canada. This
statement explores the possible advantages and dangers of screen exposure and use in children
under the age of five, as well as providing evidence-based recommendations for health
professionals to assist families. Screen time includes time spent on phones, ipad, television,
electronic games, desktops, and wearable technology (Lönnerdal, 2017). Unless otherwise noted,
‘digital media' refers to content transferred through the Internet or digital systems to any gadget.
It's unclear if early exposure to screen media affects the growing brain, and published research
on how (and how much) children under the age of 5 learn from screens is scarce. Despite the fact
that babies do not acquire content from television, studies demonstrate that it can capture and

maintain their interest. Between the ages of 6 and 14, they can reproduce certain behaviours they
watch on screen, and by the age of 18, they can remember lengthy sequences. Quality television
—well-designed, age-appropriate shows with specific educational objectives therefore provide
extra avenue to early literacy for students begin around the age of two. Features of cognitive
development, such as favourable systemic racism and creative expression, are also aided by good
software (Perdana, Medise and Purwaningsih, 2017).
Early data suggests that interactive media, particularly programs that need an adult's
contingent responses (i.e., timely responds to what a child tells or does), can help children
remember what they've been given. Co-viewing high-quality screen content can have an impact
on more than just the learning of children. Parents can positively influence their children's social
adaptive skills, sleep patterns, and behaviours by being involved in and placing limitations on
their screen use, according to studies (Kilian & Kitazawa, 2018). According to television study,
socio-economic characteristics influence the content and mediation of screen use. Furthermore, it
has been discovered that television consumption is inversely connected with school ready skills,
particularly when family income falls.
Quality material can help youngsters as young as two years old improve their
social and language abilities, especially those who live in poverty or are otherwise disadvantaged
(Li, Huang & Gao, 2017). Educational television reaches nearly as many children in lower-
income homes as it does in higher-income homes, and barriers to accessing and using
educational content have almost vanished among children whose families own a laptop or mobile
device. Children can learn anti-violence attitudes, empathy, tolerance, and respect through well-
designed, age-appropriate educational programs and screen activities (Tarumi & Zhang, 2018).
Creating a family's "media action plan" can aid in the preservation and reinforcement of
meaningful family time. Prenatal planning is ideal; it accounts for each kid's and family
member's health, education, and entertainment needs; it includes screen-based activities in child
care; and it is reviewed on a regular basis (Impacts of technology use on children: exploring
literature on the brain, cognition and well-being, 2019).
Setting meaningful limitations with young children and communicating them as a family
is significantly easier than reducing screen usage with older children (Neophytou, Manwell &
Eikelboom, 2021). Mobile devices, according to parents, requires more intensive attention than
traditional diversions like reading books or watching TV. Smartphones blur the divide between

work and home life; timing is unpredictably unpredictable, and responding often necessitates an
emotional investment. In a recent research, parents said that juggling their attention between
displays and family situation is unpleasant, exhausting, and limits their capacity to communicate
with their offspring "in the minute." Television consumption has a significant impact on our
children's lives. While television can entertain, instruct, and keep our children entertained, it may
also have a negative affect on them. Reading, schoolwork, playing, exercise, family contact, and
social development are all harmed when time is spent watching television (Petersen, 2017).
Children can also learn unsuitable or erroneous information from television. They frequently
can't distinguish the difference between reality and the fantasy shown on television. Thousands
of commercials are viewed each year, some of which are promoting alcohol, crap food, fried
food, and entertainment (Fuller and Novick, 2017).

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Online
IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGY USE ON CHILDREN: EXPLORING LITERATURE ON THE
BRAIN, COGNITION AND WELL-BEING, 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=EDU/WKP
%282019%293&docLanguage=En>
Smartphone use and smartphone addiction in middle school students in Korea: Prevalence, social
networking service, and game use, 2018. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5802650/>
Why to Avoid TV for Infants & Toddlers, 2021. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/Why-to-Avoid-TV-
Before-Age-2.aspx>