The Kids Investigators:
Mary Brushe
External Investigators:
Sally Brinkman, Edward Melhuish, Sheena Reilly, John Lynch
Project team members:
Tamina Islam, Honey Rahmanian, Zara Boulton, Adam Gavin, Abbey Belton, Jamelle Walton
Project description:
The Electronic Use in Little Ones (EUiLO) study (2020 – 2022) investigates the amount of screen exposure and the content and context of young children’s screen time during the first five years of life and what impact that has on children’s development.
To do this, we are leveraging off our existing longitudinal study, Language in Little Ones, which utilises advanced speech recognition technology called Language Environment Analysis (LENA). As well as being able to count the number of words a child hears and speaks, LENA also counts the amount of TV or Electronic Noise a child is exposed to over a day. The research team then listen to the audio when TV/Electronic Noise is flagged by the technology to understand 1) the amount of time a child is exposed to a screen (compared to music or other electronic sounds), and 2) the type of content children are watching and whether its educational or for entertainment purposes. The analysis of this data will allow us to better understand, in the era of mobile technology, what kind of impact screen time is having on young children’s development at school entry.
The study follows 222 families from 6 months of age until their first year of school, with all families participating in a LENA recording day once every six months. The study includes families located across Adelaide in South Australia and Bunbury, Western Australia.
Ultimately, this project will lead to the development of guidelines and resources for young children’s screen use as well as inform interventions to help parents establish and maintain healthy screen behaviours in the early years.
Funders of the project:
National Health and Medical Research Council Ideas Grant: APP1183515