Screen time has long been a concern for parents, child safety advocates and others, particularly in the early years when a childs brain and language skills are developing. New research from Southern Methodist University adds another piece to that debate, examining how digital media use may be linked to the kinds of words toddlers learnand the family factors that shape how much screen time kids get.
Heres what the research says and what it could mean for families trying to support language development when screens are part of everyday life.
By age 2, four in 10 U.S. kids have a tablet, rising to 58 percent by age 4, according to a 2025 survey by childrens advocacy group Common Sense Media. The survey found that children younger than 2 average 63 minutes of media use per day, which includes about four minutes a day watching short-form videos such as YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels and TikTok.
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