By Gavin Boyle
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt shared multiple statistics about toddler screen time, raising alarms about just how much parents rely on technology to subdue their children.
“I have sympathy for parents who need a break,” Haidt wrote on Instagram. “But an iPad is not a babysitter, it’s an experience blocker that leads to increasing levels of addiction and stunted growth.”
Haidt shared statistics which revealed that 60% of children under that age of four have their own tablet, 16% of kids under eight watch short-form videos daily and 20% of kids under eight use their device for emotional regulation.
While handing kids devices is an easy way to get them under control, it is not a healthy parenting habit as it stunts their mental growth. Numerous studies reveal that high screen time for young children results in a variety of negative developmental effects, including slower speech development, higher rates of anxiety and depression and lower cognitive function. Experts also warn against relying on technology in specific situations — such as when children are throwing a fit — because, by suppressing their emotions in this way, children are not learning how to self regulate.
“What we all discovered, as soon as the iPhone came out, is that you can have peace and quiet at the restaurant if you just give your kid your phone,” Haidt previously told Katherine Schwarzenegger while on her “BDA Baby” podcast. “You can do your email, you can cook dinner, you can do whatever you want — just give the kid what he wants. More than candy, what they want is either an iPhone or an iPad. It’s so exciting, it’s so stimulating.”
“But, you know, 150 years ago, people gave morphine to kids,” he continued. “Kids need to run around, have adventures. They need to master their bodies, they need to be outside, they need sunlight, they need nature. They need a lot of things to grow up healthy.”
Related: Are Child Screen Time and Mental Health Issues Correlated? It’s Complicated…
For this reason, parents like HGTV stars Ben and Erin Napier choose not to let their kids have technology until after they graduate from high school so they can learn how to live without it before enjoying the benefits of it. They believe so strongly in this mission that they started a nonprofit — Osprey — to help connect other parents choosing to raise their kids in the same way, building a support system while also connecting their kids with other children being raised similarly.
Read Next: Erin Napier Confirms Kids Won’t be on Social Media: ‘Not What They Need’
Do you let your toddler watch TV?
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