Is screen exposure beneficial or detrimental to language development in infants and toddlers? A meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

This meta-analysis aimed to investigate whether screen exposure is beneficial or detrimental for early language development. A total of 28 eligible studies were synthesized to examine the correlation between screen exposure (including screen time, educational programme viewing, co-viewing, and start age of screen exposure) and language development in children aged 0–3 years. The results reported that screen time was negatively related to early language development, while co-viewing and later start age of screen exposure were positively associated with child language outcomes. The correlation between educational programme viewing and child language was non-significant. Four factors (i.e. family socio-economic status, screen type, screen exposure measure, and language outcomes measure) moderated the relationship between screen exposure and early language outcomes. The findings suggest that restricting the screen time on young children, improving the quality of screen content and context, and ensuring that children do not start using screens too early are advantageous to early language development.

KEYWORDS:

• Screen time
• co-viewing
• language
• screen exposure
• young children

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Education Sciences Planning Fund of China [grant number BDA210076].

Notes on contributors

Wanlin Xie

Wanlin Xie is a postgraduate student in the College of Education at Fujian Normal University. Her research focuses on early childhood development and education.

Jinjin Lu

Jinjin Lu is a senior associate professor in the Academy of Future Education at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Her research interests include language and literacy in early years, developmental psychology, and social media technology in early childhood education.

Xunyi Lin

Xunyi Lin is a professor in the College of Education at Fujian Normal University. Her research focuses on early childhood development and education.