Years ago the technological gurus of Silicon Valley decided to minimize the use of mobile screens by their children because of the harm they can cause in development. "I am convinced that the devil lives in our cell phones and is ruining the minds of our young people," Athena Chavarria, who was an executive assistant at Facebook, told The New York Times. On the other side of the Atlantic, it seems that there are many parents who are not aware of the risks. A survey of private kindergartens in Catalonia indicates that two out of three centers have detected cases in which overexposure to screens has caused a delay in the child's development, mainly in language.
"A few years ago, those of us who are dedicated to early childhood have noticed that the appearance of language is getting later, when we are doing the same stimulation as always", explains Mireia Català, spokesperson for the Catalan Association of Children's Homes. 75% of the nurseries belonging to this organization (more than a hundred) consider that the abuse of screens in early childhood has caused an increase in language problems in the form of delays and alterations. After language, the most disturbed aspects of development are eating (46%, the child has difficulty eating without looking at a screen) and social isolation (42%). More than 30% of the centers identify problems when it comes to establishing links with teachers and other children, difficulty falling asleep and delays in psychomotor development.
During the pandemic and with telecommuting, parents were more dependent on screens than childcare. Children, in turn, are distracted by their cell phones or tablets. That way they don't make noise. At home, in the restaurant, on the bus, walking with the pram... Even grandmothers are seen to pay more attention to the phone than to their grandchildren. "Before, on the bus, in the queue at the store, people would talk to the children, say something to them. Now the child, who needs the stimuli to grow and learn, does not receive this communication because in the park or in the subway people are looking at their mobile phones. This is how language is delayed. As a pedagogue and education expert, I attribute it to everyday moments, and it's an alarming situation", argues Català.
"Studies show that using the screen as a babysitter should be prohibited," says psychologist Josep Lluís Matalí, head of the addictive behaviors unit at the Sant Joan de Déu hospital. "From zero to five years is the period of greatest neural growth and we have a lot of data on the effects of screens in this population: ophthalmological, sedentary, language acquisition, musculoskeletal problems, and something that worries us a lot , which is the impact on neurodevelopment, on attention, on socialization. They are children with less emotional regulation, who have more arguments, and it can be a risk factor for the development of a disorder such as ADHD or anxiety or depression".
Do you understand why screens in early childhood are condemned to the mecca of technology? In Catalonia, most of the childcare centers surveyed declare that they have cases of families whose pediatrician recommends taking their children to these centers so that they get used to the screens at home. 80% consider that the number of children with a global delay in development due to overexposure to screens "is increasing year after year".
"It's a hot topic that worries a lot and we're starting to have significant data", says Matalí. At these ages, the important thing is the bond and the game. The child needs full attention, play and speech stimulation and interaction, adds the psychologist. And it's not all the fault of technology, he warns: "I'm hearing very extreme bipolar debates, and the matter is more complex and multi-causal. It seems that if we remove the screens the world will be fantastic, but if you continue to ignore it, the child will have other difficulties."
According to Català, the advantage is that children up to three years old who have been kidnapped by mobile phones or tablets recover in a short time from this dependence when there is a drastic change in habits in the family and at nursery school.
