Screen Time, Nature, and Development: Baseline of the Randomized Controlled Study “Screen-free till 3”

Abstract

In the first years of life, increased screen media use is presumably associated with health consequences and developmental impairments. “Screen-free till 3” is a prospective Germany-wide randomized intervention study, started in May 2022 with a duration of 3 years. In the intervention group, 2581 pediatric practices received stickers, which were systematically placed in the screening booklet of all children, along with advice to parents to keep children free from screens until the age of 3. A volunteer sample of 17,436 parents received an invitation to take part in the preinterventional questionnaire. The outcomes were parents' internet use (CIUS test), parental screen time in the presence of children, time of screen media in the background, and children's development. Four thousand twenty-one parents answered the questionnaire. 16.7% of mothers and 31.0% of fathers reached the CIUS score of an internet-related disorder. Parents whose children use screen media at an early age had significantly higher CIUS values on average (M = 4.07) than the parents of children who do not yet have any screen time (p < 0.001). Combined developmental characteristics show a negative correlation with parental screen time (p < 0.001). Time spent in nature was positively associated with development (p < 0.001). The evaluation of the survey shows that screen media is to a large extent used on a daily basis. The study confirms the assumption that high screen media use by parents is linked to higher screen media use by children and also has a negative impact on child development.

Trial Registration: Number: RKS00032258; https://drks.de/search/en/trial/DRKS00032258