Giving toddlers touch-screens may inhibit their early communication

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-07-11 01:00

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In a small study, US researchers say toddlers took longer to respond to prompts when they were playing a game on a tablet. The team gave 63 toddlers access to a touch-screen tablet and then attempted to give them joint attention prompts. They say that the kids took longer to acknowledge a behavioural request when they were playing the game than without the screens. They suggest their findings mean that presenting toddlers with a touch-screen might be blocking them from learning early social-communicative interactions.