Screen Time and Your Baby's Brain: Why Your Phone Habits Matter

How does a baby respond when her mother’s attention suddenly shifts elsewhere?

For eight-month-old baby Raynera, a simple change in her mother’s attention was enough to make her feel upset and uncomfortable.

As part of an experiment at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Medicine, Raynera sat face-to-face with her mother, Tan Yin Ling, who smiled, made faces and played peek-a-boo with her.

The interaction was a familiar back-and-forth exchange between a baby and a responsive caregiver. Both wore an intricate device on their heads, fitted with what looked like white wires and buttons, to measure brain activity.

This experiment, reported by The Straits Times, was part of research involving Evelyn Law, an associate professor and clinician scientist at NUS Medicine and National University Hospital. Together with researchers from NUS Medicine and A*STAR, Law is investigating how screen exposure and technology-related interruptions may affect children's development.

As instructed, Tan picked up her phone and began reading an email. Her facial expression changed, and she stopped smiling and responding to Raynera.

Within seconds, the baby noticed the change. She looked around, appeared puzzled by her mother’s sudden unresponsiveness, became increasingly agitated and eventually cried in distress.

When Tan turned her attention back to her daughter, their interaction resumed, and their connection was re-established.

The phenomenon of technology interfering with parent-child interactions is known as “technoference.” But the researchers' concerns go beyond a baby becoming upset when a parent looks at their phone.

A long-term study involving children in Singapore found associations between higher screen exposure during infancy, differences in brain activity during toddlerhood, and difficulties with executive functioning later in childhood.

The findings give parents another reason to look closely at not just how much screen time children get, but also what that screen time may be replacing.

In one of the NUS research team’s studies, led by Law, researchers examined the children with different levels of screen exposure to better understand how early screen use may be associated with brain development.

The study found measurable differences in brain activity among toddlers as young as 18 months old. The study showed that the more exposed the children are to screen, the more passive their brains get. Law said the findings add to growing evidence that excessive screen exposure may be associated with differences in brain development and learning abilities in children from an early age.

The research was part of the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) study, a long-term project following mothers and their children from pregnancy through childhood and adolescence.

When the children were 12 months old, researchers asked parents about their babies' daily screen exposure. The children were grouped according to their reported screen time.

At 18 months, researchers measured the children's brain activity using electroencephalography, or EEG. The children later underwent assessments at age nine to examine executive-function skills, including attention, working memory, inhibition and the ability to adjust when rules changed.

The peer-reviewed study, published in JAMA Pediatrics in 2023, involved 437 children, with EEG data available for a subset of 157.

Researchers reported that higher screen exposure at 12 months was associated with differences in EEG activity at 18 months and with several measures of attention and executive functioning at age nine.

According to the researchers, one possible explanation is that the rapid succession of movements, sounds, and scene changes on screens may place greater demands on a young child’s developing brain, leaving fewer opportunities to practice self-regulation.

Over time, this may make it more difficult for children to follow multi-step instructions.

When the children were assessed at age nine, researchers found greater infant screen exposure was associated with greater difficulties in brain development. The report said, “As screen exposure increased, the greater the difficulties with attention and executive functioning.”

The researchers point out that screen exposure is not simply another activity added to a child's day. Time spent watching a screen can also mean less time spent engaging in active play, hands-on exploration, and human interaction.

For babies and toddlers, those experiences are important because much of their early learning happens through interactions with people and their physical surroundings.

When children point at objects, listen to a parent name them, handle toys, observe facial expressions, and respond to sounds, they have opportunities to develop communication, attention, and social interaction skills.

The Singapore research also points to the potential value of shared reading.

A related 2024 study involving children from the GUSTO cohort found that parent-child reading at around age three moderated the association between infant screen exposure and changes in brain-network organization.

The findings suggest that shared reading may provide an enriched experience involving language, interaction, and emotional connection.

When a parent reads to a child, the child can look at the pictures, listen to the parent's voices, point, ask questions, make sounds, and react to the story. Parents can then respond to each of those cues.

One of the concepts highlighted by NUS researchers is “serve and return.”

A baby's glance, smile, sound, facial expression, movement, or pointing gesture can be considered a “serve.”

When a parent notices and responds—by smiling back, talking, naming an object or following the baby's attention—the child receives a response that helps build early communication and social connections.

These exchanges may seem insignificant to us as adults and parents. For a developing baby, however, each interaction is an opportunity to learn.

“Parent talk is one of the most important things you can do with your child to develop their brain,” Law said in the report.

For Filipino families, the findings are particularly relatable because screens have become deeply woven into our everyday family life.

The reality doesn’t mean Filipino parents are careless. It reflects how dramatically parenting has changed in a digital world.

The challenge is that the same device that makes family life more convenient can also compete for a children's attention—and our attention as well.

This is why the Singapore findings are relevant beyond Singapore.

They reinforce the importance of balance, particularly during the earliest years, when children's brains are rapidly developing.

For Filipino parents, finding that balance can begin with small changes rather than unrealistic rules.

A parent can put the phone aside during a few minutes of dedicated play. A bedtime routine can include a story instead of another Youtube video. Mealtimes can become opportunities to share stories and connect as a family instead of scrolling through or editing another Instagram foodie post.

Perhaps the most important takeaway from the research isn’t just about brainwaves and brain activity. It’s about the significance of parent-child connection.

A study published in a Washington-based academic science journal found that baby boys "talk" more than baby girls, a surprising finding even for the researchers themselves.