A new study from The Ohio State University released on Jul. 13 found that using screens to calm young children influences their cognitive development, but the effects differ among individual children.
Jane Shawcroft, an assistant professor of communication at Ohio State and lead author of the study published in the Journal of Communication, said, "It's not just that the effects are larger or smaller for some kids - the underlying pattern is different for different kids." The research focused on media emotion regulation—the use of technology by parents to help regulate children's emotions—and its relationship with executive functions such as cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control. These skills are essential for goal-directed behavior and social functioning.
The study analyzed data from Project M.E.D.I.A., a long-term Brigham Young University project tracking children's development over six waves from ages 2½ to 7½. Shawcroft tested whether screen use affects cognitive skill development, whether children's own skills drive parental screen use, or if both factors interact over time. Most children showed a reinforcing loop: parents used screens more when children were harder to settle, which influenced executive function development and then further shaped parental behavior. "Children influence parenting, and parenting influences children's development," Shawcroft said.
However, two smaller groups diverged from this pattern. In one group—about 6%—the relationship between media emotion regulation and cognitive skills was unclear. In another group (roughly 7%), screen use appeared to shape cognitive skill growth without feedback from child skills influencing parental choices; these families were more likely to have parents reporting higher levels of depression. "We found that parent mental health is a strong predictor of the way parents use technology with their young kids, because technology is a lever parents can pull when they don't have the resources to cope with their own poor mental health," Shawcroft said.
Shawcroft also noted that supporting parent mental health could improve how they manage technology with their children: "Supporting parents' mental health is a way to help them parent with technology better." She emphasized that broader community support—not just individual responsibility—is important: "If we want kids to be OK, part of that is helping their parents to be OK."
