Anger Outbursts Among Children Linked to the Use of Tablets During Early Childhood: Study

The frequency of tablet usage in early childhood could be linked to the outbursts of anger and frustration among young children, a new study found. 

Researchers from the Université de Sherbrooke in Canada found that children who used tablets at 3.5 years old experienced a higher number of anger outbursts and expressions of frustration a year later. 

The study, published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, also found that children who had a higher frequency of anger outbursts at 4.5 years old were more likely to have a higher tablet usage a year later.

Furthermore, the study found that the average time young children spend on tablets has increased from five minutes daily in 2020 to 55 minutes a day in 2022. The authors also noted that many children as young as four already own devices. 

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How Was the Research Done?

The study surveyed 315 parents of preschool-aged children from Nova Scotia, Canada. The parents self-reported their children's tablet usage and assessed their children's expressions of anger and frustration using a standard behavioral questionnaire.

The study was done during the peak years of the COVID-19 pandemic, which introduced higher stress and disruptions to routine in households.

The study's findings echo those of another paper published this year, which found that children ages two to five whose parents used technology to manage their negative emotions showed poor anger and frustration management a year later. They were also less capable of deciding on a deliberate response over automatic reactions.

"Here we show that if parents regularly offer a digital device to their child to calm them or to stop a tantrum, the child won't learn to regulate their emotions," Dr. Veronika Konok, the study's first author and a researcher at Eötvös Loránd University. "This leads to more severe emotion-regulation problems, specifically, anger management problems, later in life."

While excessive tablet usage may lead to difficulties in managing emotions, wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen told CNN that parents would not need to avoid tablets for their kids and should only avoid using them as "pacifiers" to get them to stop crying or calm down.

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