New to this topic? Start with our companion article: Screen Time and Language Development: What the Research Actually Says
Screens are part of family life, and we're not going to pretend otherwise. Our own house has a tablet and a telly, and some afternoons they earn their keep. The research says it's not the screen itself that matters most for language. It's what's on it, who's beside the child, and what it's quietly replacing. All of those are things you can shape, and here are the strategies we talk through most often with families across Brisbane's south side and Logan.
Choosing content that gives language a chance
Not all programs are equal. Madigan and colleagues' 2020 meta-analysis found educational, age-appropriate content was associated with better language outcomes, while sheer quantity of screen time was linked with lower ones (Madigan et al., 2020). A few things to look for:
- A slow pace. Programs that linger on a scene give a child time to take in what's said. If the cuts come every two seconds, there's no room to process, let alone respond.
- Clear language aimed at children. Short sentences, repeated phrases, people talking straight to the camera. Play School has done this beautifully for decades.
- Australian voices and everyday Australian life. Hearing the accent and words they'll meet at kindy helps the language land. Bluey is a lovely example; the family talk in it sounds like family talk.
- Something that invites a response. A program that asks a question and actually waits, or sings songs with actions, is doing some of the co-viewing work for you.
ABC Kids is a reasonable starting point because it's ad-free and made for Australian children. We don't recommend specific apps, but the same questions apply: is it slow, is the language clear, does it leave space for your child to do something other than tap?
Watch together, and talk
One change worth trying, when it suits your family, is to join your child for part of a program and treat it a bit like a picture book. Strouse and colleagues trained parents of three-year-olds to pause storybook videos and ask questions the way you might during dialogic reading. After four weeks, those children understood those stories better and knew more of the words than children whose parents simply pressed play (Strouse et al., 2013). That's one study, with one kind of video and one age group, so take it as a promising idea rather than a rule. If you've read our piece on making shared reading count, you already know most of these moves.
- Narrate. "Oh, Bingo's hiding under the table." You're adding words to pictures, exactly as you would with a book.
- Pause and wait. Stop at a natural moment and just look at your child. A pause is an invitation, and many children fill it with a word, a point or a sound.
- Ask a real question, sparingly. "What do you think she'll do?" is good. A quiz on colours every ten seconds is not.
- Connect it to real life. "That's like when we went to the beach on Sunday." Linking the screen to your child's own experiences is how new words get depth rather than just breadth.
You don't have to do this for the whole program. Five minutes of genuine co-viewing before you step away to get dinner on still counts.
Noticing when screens are replacing conversation
This part is less about the screen and more about the house. A few quiet signs worth noticing, without judgement:
- The TV is on and nobody's watching it. Kirkorian and colleagues found parents said fewer words to their toddlers and responded more slowly when an adult program played in the background, even though the children barely glanced at it (Kirkorian et al., 2009). Switching it off is the easiest win in this article.
- Screens have moved into the talky bits of the day. Car trips, waiting rooms, the pram, the high chair while you cook. These used to be prime chatting time.
- A screen is the first port of call when your child is bored, upset or curious. No judgement in noticing that; it's just that those moments are where a lot of talking used to happen.
- Mealtimes have gone quiet. A phone on the table, even face-down, changes them.
Turning watch time into talk time
Some of the best language comes after the screen goes off.
- Retell it together. "What happened to the possum?" Recounting a simple story is a real skill and a lovely one to practise.
- Act it out. Toddlers who've just watched a program about animals will happily be the animals. Narrate as they go.
- Let them teach you. Pretend you've forgotten what happened. Children love correcting an adult, and explaining is wonderful for sentence-building.
Boundaries without the guilt
The Australian guidelines suggest no sedentary screen time under two, and no more than an hour a day from two to five (Raising Children Network, n.d.). Those are helpful targets. They're not a measure of your parenting, and a sick day spent watching Bluey on repeat hasn't undone anything.
What works better than counting minutes is a few predictable routines. Screens after kindy but not at breakfast. The tablet lives in the kitchen, not the bedroom. A timer does the arguing so you don't have to. Children handle limits far better when they're the same every day, and so do tired parents. If your child finds coming off a screen hard, and plenty do, a warning a few minutes beforehand with the next thing ready usually helps more than any rule. And if the screen is currently keeping the household functioning, start with one change rather than six.
Video calls: the screen time that's different
Here's a bright spot. When Roseberry, Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff taught toddlers new words over a live video call, the children learned them just as well as from a person in the room. The same words in a pre-recorded video didn't stick (Roseberry et al., 2014). What mattered was that the adult on screen responded to the child in real time.
So a video call with grandparents, cousins or a parent away for work isn't something to ration. Keep it short, hold a toy or book up to the camera to talk about, and leave gaps for your toddler to answer rather than filling every pause yourself. If they wander off after three minutes, that's normal, not rude.
If you're worried
If your child's words seem slow to come, or they're hard to understand, don't wait it out, and don't feel you have to sort out the screen habits before asking for help. Screens are rarely the whole story. Our article on helping a late talker covers what support looks like, and we're always happy to talk. Get in touch — Speaking Speech Pathology offers mobile speech pathology across Brisbane's south side and Logan, visiting families at home and at their early learning centre, with Zoom sessions when that works best for you.
Alexandra Bouwmeester is a Senior Speech Pathologist (MSPA, CPSP), certified in Hanen's It Takes Two to Talk, with over 14 years' experience and a mum of two boys. She offers mobile speech pathology to families across Brisbane's south side and Logan.
This article is general information and not a substitute for individualised speech pathology assessment or therapy. If you have concerns about your child, please speak with a qualified speech pathologist.
References
- Kirkorian, H. L., Pempek, T. A., Murphy, L. A., Schmidt, M. E., & Anderson, D. R. (2009). The impact of background television on parent–child interaction. Child Development, 80(5), 1350–1359.
- Madigan, S., McArthur, B. A., Anhorn, C., Eirich, R., & Christakis, D. A. (2020). Associations between screen use and child language skills: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics, 174(7), 665–675.
- Raising Children Network. (n.d.). Screen time and digital technology use for babies and toddlers. raisingchildren.net.au
- Roseberry, S., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2014). Skype me! Socially contingent interactions help toddlers learn language. Child Development, 85(3), 956–970.
- Strouse, G. A., O'Doherty, K., & Troseth, G. L. (2013). Effective coviewing: Preschoolers' learning from video after a dialogic questioning intervention. Developmental Psychology, 49(12), 2368–2382.
