Two-year-olds in England watch television, videos or other digital content for an average of two hours each day, double the daily recommended screen time, new UCL-led research finds.
According to the latest data from the Children of the 2020s study, higher screen use among children is linked to poorer language development and higher rates of emotional and behavioural difficulties. The first national birth cohort study of children in two decades also reveals that toddlers in families facing more challenging social and economic circumstances tend to use screens more than those from advantaged backgrounds.
Commissioned by the Department for Education, researchers from UCL Psychology and Language Sciences and the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies analysed data from more than 4,700 parents of two-year-old children in England. In 2023-24, primary caregivers answered a series of questions about their child's home learning environment, screen time, and emotions and behaviour. They reported on their own circumstances, including their mental health and wellbeing, and completed an assessment to measure their child's spoken vocabulary.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends no more than one hour a day of screen time for children aged 2 to 4. Almost all the 2-year-olds (98%) viewed screens on a typical day, and they did so for an average of 129 minutes a day. Only 34% met the WHO recommendation of one hour or less of screen time on a typical day. A fifth of toddlers also regularly played computer games.
The researchers found that children who spent the most time on screens (an average of five hours a day) scored lower in vocabulary tests than those who spent the least time (an average of 44 minutes a day). For example, the most regular screen users could say, on average, 53% of a set of 34 test words, compared to 65% of words for those with the lowest screen use. The association remained after the researchers considered a range of background factors such as parents' income and education.
Screen time was also associated with children's mental health. Two-year-olds who spent the most time on screens were twice as likely to have some emotional and behavioural difficulties than those who watched screens the least (39% vs 17%).
Children from families facing more challenging social and economic circumstances spent more time watching screens and less time reading or looking at books with someone at home. Children in the lowest income families had nearly double the screen time of those in the highest income families (179 minutes vs 97 minutes per day for children in the lowest family income quintile compared with the highest). Parents from the most well-off families were more than twice as likely to read to their children daily than those from the least affluent homes (77% vs 32%).
Children of parents who reported symptoms of depression spent more time watching television, videos, other digital content or playing computer games than those without symptoms of depression (182 minutes vs 135 minutes per day).
On the other hand, the researchers also found that stimulating, interactive parenting activities, like reading stories, playing together, drawing or painting, were strongly linked to better early language skills. Specifically, children whose caregivers engaged most frequently in a variety of stimulating and interactive parenting activities had a higher spoken vocabulary and were able to say 74% of the test words, compared to 44% of children whose caregivers engaged in these kinds of activities the least frequently.
Co-author, Dr Laurel Fish (UCL Psychology and Language Sciences) said: "An important feature of the Children of the 2020s study is its focus on early-life exposure to digital media and these latest findings provide important insights into its prevalence in young children in England. The research highlights a strong social patterning of screen time in England, with two-year-olds in families experiencing greater economic disadvantages or whose primary caregiver is experiencing symptoms of depression using screens more than those in other families.
"However, it is also important to bear in mind that screen time is often perceived by parents as a valuable way to help them juggle the challenges of the modern household or settle children when over-excited, upset or tired, and to provide educational content, such as nursery rhymes, early literacy and numeracy activities, and age-appropriate educational programmes."
Co-author, Dr Marialivia Bernardi (UCL Psychology and Language Sciences) added: "Although our data can't prove for sure whether screen time is causing these differences in early development, our new findings do reinforce the need to consider this carefully and to give families good advice, guidance and support.
"It's also important to recognise that managing screen time and home learning isn't easy; it's affected by a parent's daily realities, such as stress, financial worries, lack of time and other caring responsibilities. So, support to address those challenges and disadvantages is also important. In our research, we are always impressed by how dedicated parents are in giving their children the best start in life, often while managing a lot of challenges in their lives."
The researchers caution that the study did not assess the content of what children were viewing and captured quite limited information about the context in which it is happening (for example, watching screens alone, or with others), and these likely make a difference. The study will be able to address these factors in more detail in the future as new waves of data are collected.
