This study examines the relationships between babies’ and toddlers’ use of touchscreen devices (such as their parents’ phone and ipads) and their sleeping patterns. It was conducted with 715 English families, but it is the first study of its kind anywhere in the world, and findings are likely to be relevant to Australian infants. Findings are particularly important due to the sheer scale of touchscreen use amongst kids in this age group. This study highlights that:

• Three quarters of babies and toddlers use a touchscreen device every day.
• An average 9 month old baby uses touchscreen devices for 9 minutes a day, while an average 2 year old uses them for 44 minutes a day.
• There is a clear relationship between time spent using a touchscreen and babies’ and toddlers’ sleeping patterns. In particular, time using touchscreens is associated getting less sleep overall (and especially, less sleep at night) and also taking more time to fall asleep at night (which is a sign of poorer sleep quality).
• The study also looked at TV time and sleep, and results suggest that touchscreen devices have a larger and more detrimental impact on babies’ and toddlers’ sleep than TV viewing.

It is important to remember that this study is based on a one-off survey of parents, so we can’t be certain whether the touchscreens are actually causing poorer sleep quantity and sleep quality. But there are a number of reasons to think this could be the case:

1. Time playing with touchscreen devices could be competing with sleep time.
2. The touchscreen devices are stimulating, which could make it harder for the kids to fall asleep.
3. Bright blue light affects circadian timing (so, sleeping patterns) by suppressing melatonin production, which leads to increased alertness.

So what does this study mean for Australian children and parents?

The study results are concerning. They suggest that the average 2 year old child is getting 10-15 minutes less sleep per day than they would if they weren’t using touchscreen devices. We know that sufficient sleep is essential for children’s healthy cognitive, social and emotional development. However, we don’t fully understand the impact of sustained, mild sleep deficit. Certainly, in a study we did of nearly 4,000 9-18 year old Australian children, we found that overweight and obese children sleep for an average of 12-18 minutes per day less than healthy weight children, which suggests that the 10-15 minute deficit we are seeing here in babies and toddlers is probably important.

The flip side of this is that touchscreens can have some positive impacts. An earlier study by the same group of researchers found that babies and toddlers who use touchscreen devices actually have better fine motor skills. So, balance is the key. A little bit of time on touchscreens is fine. The kids love it, and it can help their cognitive and fine motor development. However, parents should be careful to limit touchscreen time, and particularly avoid it in the hour or two before bedtime.

It was really interesting that this study gathered data on a lot of infants' touch screen use. Our research focuses on teenagers' sleep and technology use, which is highly prevalent. So I would not have considered that babies would be using touch screens. I think this study raises awareness of the fact that babies are using technological devices.

However, this was a survey of infants' and toddlers' touch screen use and sleep, and so the type of protocol used does not tell us if touch screen use causes poor sleep, or whether children with poor sleep are more likely to be given touch screen devices from their parents (e.g. to distract them, settle them). There are also other factors that can affect a young child's sleep (e.g. napping, evening stimulation (noise, artificial lighting) that were not considered in the study's prediction of infants' nighttime sleep. If they were, the contribution of touch screen use to nighttime sleep might be less than anticipated. The survey design does not inform us of causality.

From here, researchers could examine babies' touch screen use and sleep over a longer period of time (e.g. months or years). This should produce results that will make it more clear if an increase in touch screen use in young children occurs before seeing sleep problems in these kids, or visa versa. This has been done in adults, and the findings showed that sleep problems occurred first, which were then followed by an increase in technology use. This might happen because people believe they may as well do something, rather than lie down in bed worrying in the dark.

This research is important because this new generation are born into touch screen technology which is a simple and intuitive way to interact with devices. Although there can be many benefits from technology, this needs to be weighed against any harms. Ideally, with enough research, we can hopefully develop safe limits for using technology at different development stages, which can then inform public policy.

The research was well executed but the world has already moved on. Based on this and other group's research, many tech companies have already introduced blue-depleted night mode for tablets and phones. This will solve the problem without the need to reduce screen time due to circadian disruption."