found that screen time may be associated with delayed development in young children.

Question

This claim is true; the article cited the source directly, and when following that claim, I found exactly what they said. New York Presbyterian states that over 4 hours of screen time is detrimental to a kid's cognitive abilities. When following that statement, I found that Jama Network claimed the same thing days before NYP published their claim. Jama Network cites every single reference they used to create this article made by doctors and physiologists. Both articles have the same data along with many other articles not cited.

Comments

It has been been proven that increased screen time, especially at an early age, can cause developmental issues in children. According to an article published by Hackensack Meridian health, a study found that "children exposed to more screen time at the age of one, showed developmental delays in communication and problem solving by ages two and four. "

Sources:
https://www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/en/healthu/2023/09/11/screen-time-and-developmental-delays#:~:text=A%20recent%20study%20found%20that,by%20ages%20two%20and%20four.

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I like how you found outside sources related to this claim, however, does the information in these sources directly support the claim? In your answer, you said that "4 hours of screen time is detrimental to a kid's cognitive abilities," but this is not the same as the claim that "screen time may be associated with delayed development in young children." Do you have any information to support the "delayed development" claim, not just general information about cognitive abilities?

Answer 1

This claim is true. The claim is based on a study from JAMA Pediatrics conducted in 2023. The findings state "In this cohort study including 7097 mother-child pairs, a dose-response association was observed between greater screen time at age 1 year and developmental delays in communication and problem-solving at ages 2 and 4 years." Additionally, "The Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization Institutional Review Board reviewed and approved the study protocol." The Tohoku Medical Megabank was founded in 2012 by Tohoku University. Jennifer Cross, the author of the New York Presbyterian article is an "Attending Pediatrician at NewYork-Presbyterian Phyllis and David Komansky Children's Hospital at Weill Cornell Medical Center." All sources check out for this claim.

https://weillcornell.org/jfcross

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2808593

https://healthmatters.nyp.org/what-does-too-much-screen-time-do-to-childrens-brains/

https://www.megabank.tohoku.ac.jp/english/

Comments

Hi chur Newbie, this is a very serious topic and I appreciate that you added more sources that give extra information on this so that we know this article is reliable and can be tested as such.

Answer 2

This claim that screen time may be associated with developmental delays in young children is true. The article from Health Matters explicitly cites a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics. In this study, data was collected from a group of around 8,000 children. The study found that children who were exposed to over four hours of screen time at the age of 1 years old showed developmental delays at the ages of 2 and 4 years old. With additional research, I found that this particular study has a lot of coverage and has been reported on by other reputable news sources including CNN and the Washington Post. This source seems very trustworthy and provides good evidence that directly supports the claim.