Parental smartphone use tied to poorer language outcomes in children

Longer smartphone screen time among parents and owning a digital device at an early age may negatively affect the language development of children, according to a study.

The study included 747 children (mean age 4.9 years, 50.1 percent female) recruited through municipalities across Norway. Children were followed up annually across three waves. Parent-reported child daily screen time (weekday and weekend weighted average), child digital device ownership, maternal and paternal daily social media use, and primary parent smartphone screen time were assessed at baseline.

Outcomes including receptive vocabulary and receptive grammar were evaluated annually using the British Picture Vocabulary Scale and the Test for Reception of Grammar. Latent growth modeling was applied to estimate baseline language levels and developmental trajectories from ages 5–7 years.

Most screen use indicators showed no association with children’s language development. However, primary parent smartphone screen time was associated with slower growth in receptive vocabulary, with each additional 1 h per day being associated with 0.42-slower annual growth in receptive vocabulary raw score.

Additionally, children who owned a digital device at age 4–5 years had poorer baseline performance on the tests compared with children who did not own a device. Specifically, those who owned a digital device had 5.13-points lower receptive vocabulary score and 4.56-points lower receptive grammar score.

The findings underscore the importance of considering screen use within the broader family context when evaluating children’s language development.