The Impact of Screen Time on Language Development among Preschool-Age Saudi Children

Abstract

Young children are growing up in a new era of technology with increasing exposure to touchscreen devices. In this study, investigated whether exposure to screen time is associated withchildren’s early language development. Fifty caregivers of Saudi children aged 24-60 monthscompleted a media exposure questionnaire and language screening survey. Thirty percentneeded learning activities, while four percent had a language delay and needed furtherassessment. Data analysis revealed that spending more than two hours using a mobile devicepredict language delay (P = 0.034); children of working mothers had low language scorescompared to children of housewives (P = 0.005); children who were watching entertainmentvideos on YouTube had lower language scores than children who watched educational videos(P = 0.049). Thus, the evidence suggests screen time quantity and quality correlate withlanguage development among young Saudi children.