A new study examines Massachusetts children known as iPad kids, who have higher rates of screen time than the generations of children before them, and the results could be troubling for Massachusetts parents.
The new study has found that if you feel like you’re witnessing too many tantrums in grocery store lines, you’re not wrong: There may be a correlation between tablet use and increased outbursts in toddlers.
Children logging 75 minutes or more of daily screen time at 3 ½ years old were found to be more likely to have outbursts of anger and frustration a year later, the study shared.
Published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, the findings went on to suggest that those who were more likely to express anger and frustration at 4 ½ would go on to spend even more time on tablets a year later.
“These results suggest that early-childhood tablet use may contribute to a cycle that is deleterious for emotional regulation,” the study’s authors reported in their conclusion.
Caroline Fitzpatrick, the author of the study and a professor of child development at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec, spoke with CBS News about the findings, noting the danger of using tablets to parent children.
“It might allow parents to immediately avoid a temper tantrum, but in the long term, repeated use of this kind of strategy does not allow children to develop strong, internal emotional regulation skills,” Fitzpatrick said.
The study included data from 315 parents who had preschool-aged children living in Nova Scotia, Canada.
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