August 12, 2024

expert reaction to study of childhood tablet use (e.g. iPads) and outbursts of anger

A study published in JAMA Pediatrics looks at childhood tablet use and anger outbursts. 

Prof Chris Ferguson, Professor of Psychology, Stetson University, said:

“I feel this study tells us very little about tablet use.  It is based entirely on parent report and trying to establish correlations between two things using the same source can simply reflect those source’s biases.  It’s also likely that the participants were able to guess the hypotheses if the study and this can also cause spurious correlations to form.  Even taken at face value, the correlations are very small and don’t suggest a relationship that should cause parents to worry too much about tablet use.  The good news for parents is that most studies don’t find much relationship between screen use and youth aggression.  Adults often panic over new technology use. As these are very small associations, alongside the mentioned limitations of the work, it would be an exaggeration of the strength of the evidence to suggest harmful effects. A weak study such as this one shouldn’t lead parents to change their approaches to screen time very much.”

‘Early-Childhood Tablet Use and Outbursts of Anger’ by Caroline Fitzpatrick et al. was published in JAMA Pediatrics at 16:00 UK time on Monday 12^th August.

DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.2511

Declared interests

Prof Chris Ferguson: I don’t have any conflicts of interest to report.