The results showed that more than 63 percent of children with delayed language development had more than 2 hours of screen time every day. (Image credit: Kobiz Media/Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Apr. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent study has argued that showing smartphones or televisions to a crying baby may delay the child’s ability to acquire a language.
A research team led by Prof. Kim Sung-koo from Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital said that the comparison of two groups of children being exposed to media for different periods of time showed meaningful results concerning delays in the child’s language capability.
The team compared 40 children with history of being treated for delayed language development and 66 children who visited the hospital for other symptoms from January 2013 to July 2014 to observe the differences in exposure to media sources.
The results showed that more than 63 percent of children with delayed language development had more than 2 hours of screen time every day.
In contrast, only 16 percent of children without delayed language development had the same exposure.
While more than 95 percent of children with delayed language development were first exposed to screens before reaching 24 months of age, only 58 percent of the control group had been exposed to the media at the same period.
The two groups were also different on how they viewed screen content, as 79 percent of children with delayed language development tended to watch alone, while only 41 percent of the control group did likewise.
The majority of children with delayed language development read comic books (39 percent), followed by song/dance videos (37 percent), children’s stories (3.9 percent), and English education videos (2 percent).
In contrast, the majority of the control group watched song/dance videos (44 percent), followed by comic books (31 percent), English education videos (15 percent), and children’s stories (7.5 percent).
“The human brain is activated by numerous interactions between individuals. Certain media, however, only stimulate the visual center instead of the frontal lobe, where most of the thought process is conducted,” said Prof. Kim.
“Some media, in other words, can negatively impact the language development process among children.”
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
