Based on research undertaken by Duch et al., (2013), there is evidence that at least 68% of children aged 3 years and below use various forms of screen media such as television and video games and television on a daily basis. Interestingly, research varies in regards to the effects of screen time in young children with some studies suggesting that increased screen time for young children leads to diverse negative health outcomes (LeBlanc et al., 2017; ) while others have found certain benefits associated with limited screen media usage for kids (Ponti et al., 2017). In fact, some of the scientific research conducted regarding this phenomenon has found that there are positive effects, negative outcomes and even unknown effects associated with the use of screen media in children (Radesky et al., 2015; Reid et al.,2016 ). This paper will undertake an extensive qualitative research to investigate the impact of the media, video games and television on autistic infants and toddlers aged 0-3 years. This will provide a background to suggest the interventions that can be utilized to prevent adverse effects of screen media usage on autistic children particularly in order to boost their developmental growth and well-being.
According to the study undertaken by Dong et al.,(2021), it appears that the level of early childhood development is linked to diverse factors, which include socio-economic factors. In this research, it was established that electronic screen media plays a very crucial role in terms of providing entertainment to typically developing children and children experiencing neurodevelopmental disabilities. The screen time involves time spent watching the television or computer, or on smartphone. The research undertaken by Dong et al., (2022) determined that the screen time for children with autism spectrum disorder aged 0-3 years tends to be longer as compared to that of children who are considered typically developing. Further, the research indicated that the increase in screen time directly corelates to higher levels of autistic symptoms that adversely affect the child. In fact, the child’s developmental index in the language domain decreases sensationally if they are exposed to a higher level of screen time especially when they are younger and their language development is still low.
In another research undertaken by Kitimat al., (2022) to examine the impact of increased screen time during the pandemic for children aged 1 year and with autism spectrum disorder, it was found that longer screen times at one year of age is linked to autism spectrum disorder at 3 years of age. Essentially, this suggests that when kids are exposed to longer screen times at one year old, then they are statistically subjected to significant odds of developing autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental conditions by the age of 3-year-old. Further, the research suggested that there was a remarkable increase in the use of digital devices which led to a high screen time for autistic kids during the pandemic hence making it necessary to review the health effects on infants and the need to control the excess screen time. Le Blanc et al., (2017) found that an increase in a child’s screen time is linked to poor neurodevelopment even if they are exposed to as low as one hour of screen time before they have reached the age of three years. This indicates a serious risk in terms of the extent of the poor neurodevelopment which can be directly attributed to high levels of media usage for children during the age when they are delicately developing. Even though researchers such as Ponti et al., (2017) have provided some benefits in cognition and creative thinking as being the result of watching educational shows for kids, such benefits only arise if the child has attained at least the age of four years. Basically, this means that children below three years should not be exposed to screen time especially if they have developmental challenges such as those with autism spectrum disorder.
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