More than one-third of babies are tapping on smartphones and tablets even before they learn to walk or talk, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics; by the time they're one years old, one in seven toddlers are using devices for at least an hour a day.
While some parents view mobile devices as educational tools, a preliminary study from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto found that too much handheld screen time might cause speech delays in children. The signs of developmental issues include an inability to coordinate sounds and difficulty forming words.
For many parents, the question now becomes: How much screen time is appropriate during child development? To answer those questions, Dr. Nathan Chomilo (@MedPedsChomilo), medical director of Reach Out and Read MN and adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School, joined NewsHour science producer Nsikan Akpan (@MoNscience) for a Twitter chat on Thursday, May 25 to talk about the risks of mobile device usage by children.
Here's a rundown of the conversation: