Nowadays, with so much technology around us, which might be accessible to children, as well, it’s challenging to keep your kids away from smartphones, tablets, TV, or laptops. However, that would be the best thing you should do as a parent, to keep your offsprings healthy. According to a Canadian study, less screen time improves cognitive functions in children.
A team of Canadian scientists analyzed the first bits of data from a 10-year-long US research that studied how the children’s brains develop. For their study, the US researchers surveyed kids and parents across the United States to estimate how much time they spent doing physical activity, sleeping, and watching various devices’ screens and what impact these different activities would have on the brain of children.
Across both the United States and Canada, the specialists recommend children over the age of 6 to spend up to two hours in front of the TV, smartphone, tablet, or laptop.
The Canadian study revealed that less screen time improves cognitive functions in children
The Canadian researchers noticed that only 37% of the surveyed children respect the recommendation. The rest, accordingly, spends more than two hours playing computer games, using smartphones or tablets, or watching TV.
“We need to pay attention to how long we are on the screens for. This study is showing that less than two hours of recreational screen time is beneficial for children,” said Jeremy Walsh from the University of British Columbia, and the study’s leading author.
Above all, the researchers found out that too much screen time leads to thinking difficulties in kids. Therefore, less screen time improves cognitive functions in children.
However, the recent Canadian study only an observational one since it’s based on the participants’ answers. Accordingly, the research is not establishing a direct and scientifically-proven connection between less screen time and improved cognitive functions.
