---
title: "Scientists Can’t Agree About Kids and Screen Time"
description: "A new study says some screen time is good for young kids, but the scientific community has yet to reach anything close to a consensus on the topic."
date: "2019-10-25"
modified: "2019-10-25"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientists-keep-changing-minds-kids-screen-time"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "health"
  - "screen time"
---

# Scientists Can’t Agree About Kids and Screen Time

![A new study says some screen time is good for young kids, but the scientific community has yet to reach anything close to a consensus on the topic.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/scientists-changing-minds-kids-phones.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Image via Pixabay\</em\>*

Since 1997, the amount of time that kids aged two or younger spend staring at screens has [more than doubled](<https://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.5546&utm_campaign=articlePDF%26utm_medium=articlePDFlink%26utm_source=articlePDF%26utm_content=jamapediatrics.2018.5546>).

But knowing how much time kids spend focused on TVs, smartphones, and tablets isn't nearly as important as figuring out how it's affecting their brains. The only problem: different research projects keep arriving at totally different conclusions.

According to one recently published study, a couple of hours of screen time might actually be *good* for kids. The [study](<https://archive.is/o/AexDW/https://www.jaacap.org/article/S0890-8567(19)31437-6/fulltext>), published in the *Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry* in August, is the work of researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute, who analyzed screen time data about more than 35,000 American children gathered by the National Survey of Children’s Health.

Lead researcher Andrew Przybylski [told *MIT Technology Review*](<https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614619/screen-time-is-good-for-youmaybe/>) that his team concluded that a couple of hours of screen time produced "modest positive relations" in kids, with kids who used the tech exhibiting "better social and emotional skills" than kids who didn't.

That runs contrary to previous studies on kids and screen time.

One [study](<https://archive.is/L721X#selection-1445.401-1445.582>) published in the journal *Preventive Medicine Reports* in December 2018, for example, found that more than an hour of screen time produced a litany of issues in kids, including lower self-control, more difficulty making friends, and less emotional stability.

Bizarrely, that study was actually based on the same survey data as the new one out of Oxford. But Przybylski told *MIT Tech* he believes his team's research is more scientifically sound.

"Nearly all the studies on this topic are very poorly done; most don’t share their data, code, or conform to best research practices," he said. "More than results, what sets our research… apart is an emphasis on empirical rigor."

These aren't the only two contradictory [studies](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/new-research-screen-time-changing-childrens-brains>) on the subject, though. Researchers have published [more than a hundred](<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/health/screen-time-kids-psychology.html>) deep dives into the impact of screen time on kids' mental and social health, and yet they're still seemingly no closer to reaching a definitive conclusion.

So, what's a concerned parent to do about their kid's screen time then? According to Alexis Hiniker, an assistant professor of human computer interaction at the University of Washington, that depends on their kid.

"Families should set aside other people's ideas about how much is too much and try to figure out what works best for their own," she [told *CNN*](<https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/27/tech/ipad-screen-time-kids/index.html>) in April.

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)