Child's Phone or computer Use: If your child is glued to a screen - you’d better read this

If your child is glued to a screen, you’d better read this  

https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/if-your-child-is-glued-to-a-screen-youd-better-read-this

2026-02-06

Sandra Davie

The Straits Times 

SINGAPORE – The new guidelines on managing the screen time of children are unambiguous: No screen time for those less than 18 months old, a maximum of one hour a day for those aged three to six years and not more than two hours a day for those between seven and 12.

The guidelines, released by the Government on Jan 21, are part of the new Grow Well SG initiative to encourage children and adolescents to adopt healthier lifestyles. But the advice on screen use has set chat groups abuzz, with several parents saying that the guidelines were “not realistic” and “impracticable – too stringent to be put into practice”.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said that though the first set of screen use guidelines was released in March 2023, research since then has shown a stronger correlation between screen use and cognitive development in young children.

“Hence more decisive and effective measures are needed to shape children’s device usage habits as these affect their physical activity, social interactions and emotional well-being,” he said.

Going by the research done around the world and in Singapore, parents should take the guidelines seriously, as the effects of excessive screen time affect children not just in the immediate future but also in adulthood.

One study followed closely by researchers worldwide is the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (Gusto) study.

In 2023, the longitudinal study reported that excessive screen time at 12 months is linked to impaired brain function related to attention and can possibly affect learning for years after that.

The study, led by Dr Evelyn Law, tracked 506 children at the ages of 12 months, 18 months and nine years.

At each stage, their parents reported the average screen time of the children.

When the children were 18 months old, they were put through a test called EEG, or electroencephalography, that measured brain activity. 

Then, at the age of nine, they participated in various cognitive ability tests that measured attention span and executive functioning, which included the ability to sustain focus and remember things.

The team found that children who were exposed to longer screen time had more “low frequency” waves in brain regions important for attention, indicating that the more the screen time, the less the alertness. 

The researchers also found more executive function deficits among children with higher screen times at the age of nine.

These are important findings – as children with cognitive or executive function deficits often have difficulty controlling impulses, sustaining attention or following multi-step instructions.

Dr Law, the lead author and an assistant professor with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at NUS and a principal investigator with A*Star, explained that the fact that researchers could already see changes in brain activity at 18 months is worrying.

“At 18 months we could already see that children who spent more time on devices found it difficult paying attention and it became worse after nine years,” she said, adding that excessive screen time for infants is also associated with executive function deficits, which experts say matter even more than IQ in terms of achievement later in life.

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A longitudinal research study in New Zealand, called the Dunedin Study, tracked the development of residents for more than 50 years and found that poorer self-control in childhood correlates with being less able to handle health, social and financial issues later in life.

More immediately, attention difficulties make schooling difficult. Dr Law said that if a child is unable to pay attention, a simple exercise becomes a marathon. No matter how much the child wants to learn, the effort required is just too difficult.

Another area of executive function is impulse control – for instance, being able to say no when offered drugs.

What about learning on tablets?

Parents can be forgiven for thinking that tablets help with learning, as they see their children flipping an iPad intently and seemingly reading nursery rhymes and e-books on screens with rapt attention.

But, in fact, research around the world shows that infants do not learn from a two-dimensional screen.

Professor Georgene Troseth from Vanderbilt University, a leading expert in this field, found that toddlers shown video of an experimenter hiding a toy in the room next door are terrible at finding the toy in the real room immediately afterwards.

Dr Law agreed, saying that studies have found that children learn better from a person who is with them face to face than from a person on a screen, even if it’s the same person doing the exact same thing.

To questions from doubting parents on how having the TV on in the background can affect children, she said that for one thing, it can significantly hinder their language development by distracting them and limiting their ability to focus on meaningful language input from their parents and siblings.

She said: “Babies’ brains are super powerful. They soak up all the language around them as they try to make those first sounds.

“But not all language input is equal in terms of quality. Language is a social phenomenon and needs to come from human beings in person, not through the television. 

“Just watch a mother and child communicating – it requires going back and forth, paying attention and picking up cues like body language, vocal tone, facial expressions and more.” 

Dr Law, a mother of two girls aged 12 and 14, said the guidelines should include numbers to be useful. “You can’t advise parents to keep it to a minimum, because that could be one hour to some and three or four hours to others,” she said.

But she also advised parents not to get too caught up with the daily numbers, saying that one way is to assess the amount of screen time over a week rather than in a day.

She said: “So if your child was given a lot of screen time in one day because you were busy, think about spending more time with him on other days.”

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Of course, some of the rumblings are from guilt-ridden parents of older children who are worried that it is too late to turn back the clock.

The good news from experts is that executive function development does not stop until a person is in their 20s to 30s.

What this means for parents is that it’s not too late for children who have been spending too much time on screen.

The child still has the ability to develop good executive functions.

But parents need to be more actively involved and think through their child’s daily experiences, building positive elements and putting in clear limits if the amount of screen time is going overboard.

What parents can do

Dr Law said parents could be honest with the child, by sharing with them that studies have found negative effects from excessive screen time.

“Sometimes it benefits the kids to explain why there are these strict guidelines,” said Dr Law.

Parents can also consider implementing some rules at home to manage screen time.

Instead of giving a two-hour screen time limit, introduce a rule that says no screens one hour before bedtime or during meal times, so as to connect with the child, suggested Dr Law.

Another way is to get the children involved in planning more family activities, such as movie nights.

She also advised parents to preview programmes, games and apps before allowing their children to watch, play or use them. Organisations such as Common Sense Media have programming ratings and reviews to help you determine what’s appropriate for your child’s age.

Better yet, watch, play or use them with your child and seek out interactive options that engage your child, rather than those that just require pushing and swiping or staring at the screen.

But, of course, children at some point may be exposed to content that may harm them. Dr Law and experts advise that parents should try and get their children to think critically about what they see on their screens.

“It’s important as parents to talk to your child about the situations that could occur and the behaviour you expect,” said Dr Law. “Encourage your child to think critically about what they see on their screens. How does watching the content make him feel? If it’s disturbing in some way, does he think children should be allowed to watch such content?”

Dr Law said that while the research is worrying, even scary, there are things that schools, teachers, technology companies and parents can do to wean children from screens.

This is an issue impacting the majority of families and we will need collective action to bring about this shift.

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