Children aged under two who spend more than one and a half hours a day watching TV or online have weaker language skills and are more likely to misbehave at ages four and eight, a study has revealed.
In the pioneering research, academics tracked more than 6,000 children from aged two to eight to investigate the impact of breaching the limit for toddlers aged two to five of no more than one hour a day of screen time.
This is the maximum recommended by health chiefs, but most British children aged two spend more than two hours a day watching TV, playing on computers or using a smartphone. One in five already owns a smartphone by the age of two, according to the online regulator Ofcom.
