How Screen Time Can Affect Your Child’s Development: What Every Parent Should Know

🧠 The Early Years: A Critical Window for Brain and Body Development

Screens are everywhere—phones, tablets, TVs, and now even baby gear. While technology can be helpful for adults, research is clear: excessive screen time during early childhood is associated with developmental delays in areas like communication, motor skills, and emotional regulation.

Between birth and age 7, your child’s brain is rapidly building connections based on what they experience. This time is critical for movement, language, emotional bonding, and sensory integration. When screens replace real-world, hands-on interaction, children may miss essential building blocks for learning and self-regulation.

🔍 What the Research Says About Screen Time and Developmental Delays

Recent studies from across the globe reveal a concerning pattern:

These findings support the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines:
➡️ Avoid screen time for children under 18 months (except for video calls)
➡️ Limit screen time to 1 hour/day of quality programming for ages 2–5

🧠 Why Screen Time Can Interfere with Development

A Pediatric OT’s Perspective

As pediatric occupational therapists, we understand development as an intricate dance between the body, brain, and environment. Screen time interferes with that dance in three critical ways:

🧠 1. Screens Bypass the Body-Brain Connection

In the first years of life, the brain develops through movement and sensory input. Crawling, climbing, reaching, bouncing—these actions activate primitive reflexes and shape how the nervous system wires itself.

From the lens of Dr. Svetlana Masgutova’s MNRI® method, unintegrated reflexes like the Moro or ATNR can lead to:

• Difficulty with balance and coordination
• Poor postural control
• Challenges with focus or emotional regulation

When a child is sitting passively with a screen instead of moving, exploring, or engaging their senses, the neurological pathways for self-regulation, coordination, and learning may not form correctly.

2. 💬 Screens Limit Human Interaction—and Social-Emotional Growth

Language isn’t just about vocabulary—it’s built on connection. In early childhood, babies and toddlers learn to communicate through serve-and-return interactions: making eye contact, babbling and being responded to, observing facial expressions, and hearing real-time tone and rhythm of voice. These social exchanges activate key areas in the brain responsible for language, empathy, and emotional regulation.

But what happens when children are exposed to screens—and especially smartphones—too early and too often?

By the time these kids reach 10 to 13 years old, many are struggling with social anxiety, poor emotional expression, reduced self-awareness, and difficulty forming meaningful relationships.

📵 The Impact of Early Phone Use in Older Children:

• Decreased real-world social skills: When children spend formative years communicating through screens rather than face-to-face, they may struggle to read body language, initiate conversations, or navigate social conflict.
• Reduced tolerance for discomfort or boredom: Constant stimulation from devices creates a dependency on external input. Without it, kids feel anxious, irritable, or even lost.
• Difficulty with emotional regulation: Because their early nervous system development was shaped in part by screens rather than co-regulation with caregivers or peers, many lack internal tools to manage stress.
• Higher risk of anxiety and depression: Multiple longitudinal studies have linked early and frequent screen use—especially unstructured use like social media or passive scrolling—to increased rates of depression, anxiety, and loneliness in adolescents.

📣 From a neurodevelopmental perspective, the brain’s social-emotional circuits require in-person, emotionally attuned interaction to mature properly. Digital interactions—likes, emojis, and texts—are not a substitute.

These aren’t just behavioral issues—they reflect gaps in the development of core relational skills that typically form between ages 0–7 and are strengthened in the years that follow through real-world experiences.

🧩 3. Not All Screen Time Is Equal—but Less Is Still Better (Especially Under 5)

Yes, some apps and shows claim to be educational—and some are. But no screen, no matter how interactive, replaces full-body, sensory-rich play.

Real learning happens when children:

• Stack blocks (fine motor)
• Pretend play (social-emotional)
• Swing or climb (vestibular & proprioceptive)
• Get bored and problem-solve (executive function)

Even "good" screen content can crowd out these critical experiences. Co-viewing—watching with your child and talking about what you see—can help reduce the negative effects, but it doesn’t replace real-world learning.

🧠 Screen Time and Sensory Regulation

At Sensory Therapy Place, we work with many children showing signs of sensory dysregulation—big emotions, poor body awareness, difficulty with transitions. A common thread? Excessive screen use in early years.

Why? Because:

• Screens often overactivate the visual and auditory systems while under-stimulating touch, movement, and proprioception.
• They can trigger the fight-or-flight response, leading to meltdowns or hyperactivity.
• Screens bypass the natural rhythm of co-regulation, making it harder for children to calm themselves without external stimulation.

✅ What Parents Can Do: Simple, Effective Strategies

We know you want the best for your child—and it’s not always easy to manage screen time in today’s world. Here’s what we recommend:

🏃♀️ 1. Prioritize Movement Over Media

• Start the day with gross motor play: jumping, swinging, crawling
• Encourage outdoor time every day
• Use toys that require hands-on interaction, not just lights and sounds

👁️ 2. Limit and Be Present with Screen Time

• No screens under 18 months (except video calls)
• 1 hour/day max for ages 2–5—high-quality, age-appropriate, and co-viewed
• No screens during meals, in bedrooms, or 1 hour before bedtime

💬 3. Talk, Touch, and Tune In

• Narrate your day aloud (“Now we’re putting on socks!”)
• Make eye contact, sing, read, snuggle
• Let boredom happen—it fosters creativity and executive function

💬 Final Thoughts: Your Presence is the Best “Program” for Your Child

The most powerful thing you can give your child isn't an app, video, or interactive toy—it’s you. Your voice, your touch, your attention, your rhythms. These are the inputs that build healthy brains and bodies.

"Movement is the foundation of all learning."
– Dr. Carla Hannaford

"Children’s emotional regulation is shaped by the emotional availability of their caregivers."
– Dr. Gabor Maté

🧩 Need Help with Developmental Delays or Screen Time Habits?

At Sensory Therapy Place, our team of licensed occupational therapists supports families with:

• Developmental screenings
• Sensory-motor assessments
• Parent coaching 

📞 Contact us today to schedule a consultation or screening.
Let’s build healthy habits from the ground up—one movement, one moment at a time.