Both these skills are thought to be especially sensitive to a child’s environment during their formative years.

The findings of the study come at a time when smartphone makers and social media platforms are facing widespread criticism for intentionally designing products that are ‘addictive’ to children.

Mounting concerns over the impact of social media on children’s health and safety has led to several countries imposing bans or exploring similar restrictions, with the United Kingdom emerging as the latest nation to announce last month that all users under the age of 16 in the country will be banned from accessing social media platforms, including TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram.

“It’s not just that the effects are larger or smaller for some kids — the underlying pattern is different for different kids. We found that parent mental health is a strong predictor of the way parents use technology with their young kids, because technology is a lever parents can pull when parents don’t have the resources to cope with their own poor mental health,” Jane Shawcroft, an assistant professor of communication at Ohio State who led the study, said.

“I really wish the narrative around children and tech would be less about ‘it’s just a parents’ job,’ and more about this shared responsibility we have as a society to support children in this context we’ve built for them. If we want kids to be OK, part of that is helping their parents to be OK,” Shawcroft added.

Methodology

As part of the study, the authors analysed data from another ongoing initiative called Project MEDIA that is tracking how media shapes children’s development. The data was related to children from ages 2½ to 7½.

Next, they laid out three hypotheses:

• Using screens to calm children affects the development of these cognitive skills.
• A child’s own cognitive development drives parents to offer screens more or less often.
• Both of the above feed into each other in a loop over time.

Key findings

The data analysis found that most of the children showed signs of the third hypothesis, that is, a reinforcing loop where the harder or easier a child was to settle, the more or less a parent hit play to calm them down. This screen use, in turn, shaped the child’s developing executive functions, which again shaped how often screens were used for calming.

The study’s results also showed some anomalies. For about six per cent of children, the two cognitive skills were related to media emotion regulation in different ways, which researchers could not fully explain. In another group comprising seven per cent of children, screen use appeared to shape how cognitive skills developed, but the reverse wasn’t true.

Notably, the parents of children in the second group were more likely to report higher levels of depression, as per the study.

What can parents do?

The authors of the study note that there is more than one way to intervene and support the child’s healthy development as well as foster their healthy relationships with technology.

According to the study, parents can undertake the following steps to ensure their child’s executive functions are not impacted by screen use:

• Avoid relying on screens as the only calming strategy by building a range of coping tools.
• Offer children other ways to regulate their emotions, such as outdoor play or mindfulness activities.
• Support your own mental health, as it can influence how you use technology in parenting.
• Reach out to family, friends, or neighbours for support when parenting feels overwhelming.