Children as young as six-months-old are being handed their first screened devices to play with, according to a developmental therapist.
Cognikids founder Olwyn Moran is warning that children’s screen time has jumped massively over the pandemic.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning she said screen-time can have a big impact on children’s brain development.
“There is plenty of study and research that is identifying that children as young as six months of age now are actually getting their own screened device to be playing on,” she said.
“The earlier a child has access to a screened device really does impact on brain development because, if you think about it, the brain really isn’t actually fully developed until about 19 or 20-years-of-age.
“So, the younger a child actually starts to use and interact with a screened device is definitely going to impact on the way the brain is developed and wired.”
Silicon Valley
She said some of the biggest names in the tech scene have been working to keep their children away from screens as much as possible.
“If you look at the big wigs in Silicon Valley who now have their children, they have put banket bans in the house on their child using any screens or are sending their children to non-tech schools,” she said.
“We really need to be just very mindful about how we are introducing screens to our children and at what age.”
Ms Moran said her own children are not allowed phones until they are 16-years-old, a decision she took, “knowing the impact on their development and the social, emotional and cognitive impact really.”
Parental pact
Also on the show, Baby Doc Club parenting expert Laura Erskine said most children are given a smartphone as a “coming-of-age thing” when they start secondary school.
“That is, most parents feel, the longest they can hold out in the current environment,” she said.
“Lots of schools have actually engaged in a parent pact whereby parents are signing up, in around Junior Infants or First Class, to actually not giving in to their children in terms of actually giving them a device – so children can’t come home and claim they are the only child in class who doesn’t have one.
“That is in order to protect children for as long as possible from the dangers of having the internet in their pocket.”
She said parents should establish rules early on regarding what age their children are allowed to own a phone and when they do, the devices should be totally banned at night and in the bedroom.
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