It’s so easy and kids love it: playing games on their tablets and watching videos. But there’s something nagging somewhere, because is it really healthy to have those screens all the time? New research now shows it’s not.

Or to be precise: Children who spent a lot of time on tablets at age 3.5 were more likely to be angry and frustrated when they were 4.5. And, interestingly, a cycle emerged: Children who experienced more anger and frustration at age 4.5 were more likely to use tablets at age 5.5. According to researchers Using this tablet at an early age can contribute to a harmful process of regulating emotions.

Practicing emotional skills
We talked about this with researcher Caroline Fitzpatrick from University of Sherbrooke In Canada. She describes her findings: “We found that children’s tablet use at age 3.5 was associated with increased expression of anger and frustration at age 4.5. More specifically, every additional 73.2 minutes per day of tablet use led to a 22 percent increase in children’s anger and frustration dimensions. Children’s Behavior Questionnaire.

Fitzpatrick also has explanations for this link between tablet use and anger. “Early childhood is a sensitive period for developing emotion regulation skills. Many parents report using tablets to keep their children occupied. However, as a solitary activity, tablet use provides few opportunities for children to practice their emotional skills. Parents also report using tablets to calm children when they are experiencing strong emotions. This approach can be counterproductive in the long run because it can disrupt the development of children’s internal strategies for managing their emotions.”

No more patience
The fact that angry and frustrated children spent more time on tablets when they were older than one year, which in turn led to more anger and frustration, was a very surprising finding. “We expected to see that children who were more sensitive to anger and frustration at age 3.5 would increase their tablet use a year later, but this effect was not observed until later, at age 4.5.”

However, it is interesting to note that the researchers actually assumed that anger and frustration would lead to increased tablet use, not decreased. Fitzpatrick explains: Scientias.nl: “Our results show that tablet use can undermine children’s development of emotional regulation. Over time, we also saw that children with poor emotional skills spent more time on tablets. This may suggest that children with poor self-regulation skills are increasingly relying on screens as a quick fix for managing strong emotions. It may also be that parents become less patient with tantrums as children get older, and are therefore more likely to use tablets as a calming strategy.”

problems later in life
Fitzpatrick understands this and understands kids’ preference for tablets. “Tablets and other mobile devices have many features that make them very attractive to young users. They are easy to take to restaurants or on the car or bus. They are connected to the internet, allowing users to watch unlimited content on demand, and they use algorithms that suggest content tailored to users’ preferences.

However, it is not a good idea for young children to spend too much time on tablets, also because the resulting poor emotional regulation can have an impact later in life. “Previous research has already shown that emotional regulation is an important predictor of a successful transition to school. Early academic success lays the foundation for continued academic success in elementary and middle school.