Spending long time on smartphones obstructs children from developing language skills, study says

A recent Australian study showed that leaving a child with a smart device for a long period of time leads him to lose the opportunity to develop his language skills quickly compared to children who are talked to and interacted with a lot at home, away from smart screens.

The research team pointed out that spending a long period of time browsing applications and websites through any smartphone is of course not the healthiest way for any adult to spend his free time, warning that spending a long time in front of electronic device screens, for children, means losing lots of important moments to develop their language skills.

The scientists said in an article published in the Journal of the American Pediatric Association that during the time children spend in front of a tablet or control panel, they interact less with adults, pick up fewer words from their parents, and listen to less conversations, which is an essential element for building their language skills.

About half of children aged 8 years and younger each have their own tablet and spend about 2.25 hours a day in front of electronic device screens to follow whatever programs and applications they like, according to the American non-profit organization Common Sense Media.