The season of magic, where anything could happen. The magic of Santa Claus for our wide-eyed children, the sparkle of possibilities. Growing up, some may remember playing pretend and taking on different roles in make-up scenarios. Although at that point in time, we may not have been aware of why we do what we do, yet, we do it because it was fun and interesting to us. An empty box could have been so many things to us if we let our imagination run free. These days, many children have access to curated content and parents would purposefully show them content made for their age group. The change in play may have left some wondering how it may have impacted the children these days. In this article, we hope to shed light on the importance of play in a child’s life and to share the some possible impact of screen time on children’s development.
Regardless of age, play is an important part of an individual’s life. Generally, play has shown to have many benefits in a child’s development and it is also critical in improving creativity and better cope with stress for adults. For children, play is a crucial time to the development of worldview, perspective of others and self, and the development of social, cognitive, and physical skills. Importantly, play is a good way for children to bond with their caregiver. The following are some ways that the child may develop through play.
Making sense of the world. As the child grows, they may hear different perspectives based on the interactions that they have. Play becomes an opportunity to test their beliefs and form their understanding of the world. During then, children also get to process experiences and build upon the knowledge that they have.
Forming relationships. As the child socialises with others independently, it provides them with the unique opportunity to seek out people that they want to connect with. Moreover, they learn to engage with children and adults and build relationships with them. Through these interactions, children also learn to develop boundaries based on the responses that they get from others. Furthermore, face to face interaction allows children to read expressions and learn social skills, both of which are key to the development of empathy.
Improve communication. Play presents a natural opportunity for children to share information and knowledge that they know. They get to improve their language skills through modelling other children and adults. Furthermore, children learn to voice their wants during play time and allows them to better collaborate with others. Children may also learn to use and interpret non-verbal cues.
Building imagination. During play, the child is in control of the narrative. They get to decide the roles of people and things. Furthermore, they are free to change, alter, and manipulate the story freely. Thus, allowing them the freedom to creatively express themselves.
Although not a comprehensive list of benefits associated to play, it is clear that play has a significant impact on the child’s development. As such, when screen time started to be a big part of a child’s life, many were concerned if that changes the benefits that children get from play.
Through vast number of studies, it has been established that long hours of screen time is negatively associated to children’s development. Prolonged screen time has been associated to obesity, poor sleep quality, lack of emotion-regulation skills, speech delays, lower executive functions (i.e. thinking and problem-solving), and academic problems. Furthermore, as prolong screen time would limit the time spent on human to human interaction, the child’s social skills would inevitably be impacted. Particularly for young children (under age 5), more than one hour of screen time can negatively impact they physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communication skills. As such, due to the possible negative impact on children, the World Health Organisation has made recommendations for screen time for children across different ages.
Below 1 year old. No screen time at all. Although children may start watching television and videos at 6 months, they generally do not understand its content till after 2 years old.
1 - 2 years old. No screen time for a 1-year-old. No more than an hour for 2-year-olds, with less time preferred. Studies have shown that children under 2 years old learn less from educational videos than if they were to interact with a person.
3 to 4 years old. No more than one hour. During these ages, the child is developing their self-image, self-confidence and sense of purpose through their interaction with others.
Given the advancement of technology, it is inevitable for screens to be a part of the child’s life. There are undeniable benefits associated to learning through screens. However, it is also clear that negative impact was only found when there were prolonged usage of screentime. Hence, there is a need to continuously balance and limit screentime as the child grows.
Interesting reads
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9122783/
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/1/e023191
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-12701-3