Study: Limiting screen time linked to children’s cognitive skills

A recent study found that limiting a child’s screen time is linked to the development of their cognitive skills.

According to the Lancet Journal of Child and Adolescent Health, limiting kids’ recreational screen time to less than two hours a day, along with sufficient sleep and physical activity, is associated with improved cognition.

Dr. Hassan Salloum, a pediatrician at Las Palmas Medical Center said children can lose cognitive skills and limit their imagination and creativity because they are exposed to sight, sounds and images on a mobile device or tablet.

“They don’t need imagination as an effort to pay attention,” Salloum said when children are looking at screens.

Salloum said children under two years old should not get much screen time.

Children between two and five years old should get one hour of screen time.

Children six years and older should get a maximum of two hours per day in front of a screen.

Salloum admitted it is a challenge for families to put down devices and spend more time outdoors or doing activities that don’t require a screen.

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