Screen Time in Infancy and Early School Years Linked to Weaker Academic Outcomes

Children's screen viewing during infancy and around the start of formal schooling was linked to lower academic performance and weaker working memory years later, according to a longitudinal study that tracked children from age 1 through middle childhood. The findings, published in the World Journal of Pediatrics by researchers from Inserm in France and the National University of Singapore, suggest that when children are exposed to screens may matter as much as how much time they spend using them.

The researchers analyzed parent-reported screen viewing at six different ages among 502 children followed from infancy through middle childhood, part of the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) birth cohort, and compared it with academic performance at age 9 and working memory at age 10.5. Higher screen viewing during infancy and near the start of school showed the clearest links to poorer later outcomes. "The effect sizes we saw at age 1 were the largest among all time points we examined," the authors said, adding that early infancy may be a window when the developing brain is particularly vulnerable to screen time displacing learning interactions.

Screen use at ages 2 and 3 was not significantly linked to the outcomes measured, but the association reappeared at age 6, when children enter formal schooling and face growing demands on attention and memory. Children who accumulated more screen exposure across childhood overall also tended to perform less well academically.

The World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend avoiding screen use before 18 to 24 months and limiting it to less than one hour a day for children aged 2 to 5, though many children exceed these limits. The researchers said screen duration alone does not capture the full picture, and future studies should examine whether outcomes differ depending on the content watched, the device used, and whether parents watch alongside their children.