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Screen time makes children smarter, study says
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Lead researcher Donnell Holloway reported the positive influence of apps on the development of children. (Shutterstock/-)
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esearchers from Western Australia’s Edith Cowan University have revealed findings that the use of phones and tablets, that kids have grown accustomed to, are making them smarter.
Lead researcher Donnell Holloway reported the positive influence of apps on the development of children. Data from Holloway’s study showed that children with greater access to technology were more literate, more numerate and had more developed technical skills than children with more limited access.
Holloway has called the difference in children's development as the “app gap.”
Read also: Screen time may be causing speech delay in children: Study
The research involved interviews with teachers and parents. Despite teachers emphasizing the positive influence of technology on young children, the researchers found one family that refused to allow their children to access any technology.
Out-of-date laws in Australia also limited children's access to technology, Australian Parent Council member Shelley Hill said. The law states that toddlers aged 0-2 should have no screen time while children 2-5 should have 1 hour of screen time at most per day.
According to Xinhua, Hill and Holloway separately expressed that parents should be more concerned about the content their children are exposed to rather than the duration of exposure to screens. (ezr/kes)
