Screen Time And School Performance
An article in the Toronto Star this past weekend discussed a study performed by SickKids and St. Michael’s Hospital to learn how screen exposure before age eight affects school performance. The findings? “High levels of screen time in young children are linked to lower scores on provincial standardized tests in elementary school… Each additional hour of daily screen time was associated with a nine to 10 per cent lower likelihood of achieving a higher academic levels in Grade 3 reading and math, and in Grade 6 math. No significant link was found with writing achievement.”
Most of us want to give our children every academic advantage, but it appears that screen time works against their school success. Maybe this is simply because a lot of screen time cuts into activities that are important for learning, like exercise, time to socialize, and getting enough sleep. Whatever the reason, this study makes clear that screen time has a negative impact on school and learning, especially since habits formed in childhood often follow kids into adolescence, when the academic stakes are higher.
The article does point out a few caveats — the findings show association, not causation; the data relied on self-reporting; the study didn’t distinguish between screen time for education or entertainment, to name a few. Still, it raises an important question.
How much screen time do you allow your kids to have, and how old were they when they started?
Check out my Screen Smart Parenting book review
More on fighting the screens
Why kids need chores, not screen time