Indian kids under 5 averaging over 2 hours of screen time
A new study from AIIMS Raipur found that Indian children under five are averaging 2.2 hours of screen time daily, more than twice what the WHO and Indian Academy of Pediatrics recommend.
Researchers analyzed data from nearly 2,900 kids across 10 studies.
Kids under 2 getting about an hour of screen time
Kids under two are getting about 1.2 hours of screen time each day, even though experts say they should avoid screens except for video calls.
Dr. D. K. Gupta shared that most kids aged two to five go past the one-hour daily limit.
Screen use increased after the COVID-19 pandemic
Screen use increased after the COVID-19 pandemic; reported averages for young children are around 2.2 hours per day rather than over four hours.
In some samples many children and adolescents exceeded recommended limits; in one study about two-thirds exceeded limits and roughly one-fifth met criteria for problematic screen media use.
Too much screen time linked to anxiety, speech delays
Too much screen time in young kids is linked to speech delays, trouble with social skills, poor sleep, weight gain, anxiety, and less physical activity, substantially below recommended weekly levels of active play.
It's a big shift from when outdoor play was the norm.