BAN YOUR TODDLER FROM TV AND IPADS
Experts say under-twos who spend ANY time looking at screens risk obesity and learning problems — and warn...
CHILDREN under two should not be allowed to watch screens, UN experts said yesterday.
They warned that even a minute a day in front of the TV or playing on tablets and smartphones could be dangerous.
The guidelines – the first of their kind for toddlers – highlight the risk of obesity and educational problems. Pre-schoolers glued to screens take longer to learn words, are worse at counting and have shorter attention spans.
After assessing hundreds of studies, the World Health Organisation experts advised the total ban on screen time for the undertwos and said that under-fives should have no more than an hour a day.
John Reilly, a University of Strathclyde professor who helped draw up the guidelines, said the evidence showed that screens were harmful for very young children.
He added: ‘The Government should reconsider time limits for children to fall in line with other countries. At the moment the default is to wait and see if screens cause problems in children as adults, then do something about it, by which time it may be too late.
‘Experts have been criticised for trying to turn back the clock by keeping young children away from screens, but you do not have to go too far back to see that they used to play quite happily without screens and not get bored.’
Chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies has so far stopped short of setting screen-time limits, despite telling parents to ban smartphones from children’s bedrooms.
The new guidance sets out recommendations
on screen time, sleep and physical activity for children under one, aged one to two and three to four. The WHO’s report states: ‘For one-year- olds, sedentary screen time is not recommended. When sedentary, engaging in reading and storytelling with a caregiver is encouraged.’
Screens themselves – rather than simply sitting still – appear to be the problem, as time spent in front of them was linked to problems with cognitive development.
Professor Reilly added: ‘We adopted the recommendation of no screen time for children under two because the earlier the age, the more potentially harmful it is.
‘Their brains are still developing at this age and watching a tablet tends to displace vital activities like sleeping, interacting or being read a story.
‘The use of time is very important for a child’s development milestones, and passively looking at a screen does very little to stimulate them or help them learn.’
However some experts expressed caution. Dr Max Davie, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: ‘We welcome the WHO’s focus on these important health issues and hope that this attention can lead to more research and interventions to help children and families live healthy lives.
‘However, recommendations alone can have a number of unintended consequences, and simply proposing standards without providing the right support could discourage families rather than motivate.’
Professor Andrew Przybylski, of the University of Oxford, said: ‘None would contest the fact that increasing physical activity, sleep and health are important goals and it is possible that screens impact young people in a wide range of ways but we won’t know that until good scientific studies are done.’ The report also recommends that children aged one and two should get three hours of physical activity a day and 11 to 14 hours of sleep.
Dame Sally also said parents should ban mobile phones from the dinner table, warning that rising amounts of time spent online risked children’s physical and mental health.
But British officials have been unwilling to bring in screen limits, recommending only that families set their own age-specific maximum times.
Launching the WHO guidelines, its expert on childhood obesity and physical activity, Dr Juana Willumsen, said: ‘What we really need to do is bring back play for children. This is about making the shift from sedentary time to playtime, while protecting sleep.’
A panel of 16 experts drew up the guidelines, referring to a major scientific review from 2017 on the effect that screens have on child health.
There is evidence that children aged three who watch more than eight hours a week of TV are 55 per cent more likely to be obese in later life. Even very young children may snack more when sitting watching screens, instead of concentrating on what they are eating and whether they are full.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: ‘The UK chief medical officer’s guidelines on screen time take into account evidence on this from a wide number of studies and reviews.’