Pediatricians I know can basically immediately tell the difference between a kid raised by the TV/phone and one primarily read/spoken to. Obvious differences in verbal ability.
That’s pretty crazy considering smart phones have become ubiquitous relatively recently.
I like to think my kids enjoy devices and digital stimuli in moderations, and do try to read to them often, but I wish there was a decent way of checking their development.
Not a parent so I'm not familiar with working with the constraints, but something a friend of mine raising kids champions: limit digital interaction to "activity, creation and expression", and use other media for consumption. So let them doodle, play puzzle games, write stuff/create music/etc, but don't give them free access to youtube videos, cartoons, etc. When they want to consume something, prefer offline stuff.
> That’s pretty crazy considering smart phones have become ubiquitous relatively recently.
They’ve been a thing for 8-10 years, and the window for kids to be influenced this way is only a couple of years, so we’ve had several cohorts of kids grow from 1-4 in the smartphone era.
Back-and-forth interactions are more important to language development than passive input. Both TV and phones do not provide the interaction that builds verbal skills.
