Does Digital Media Use Harm Children’s Emotional Intelligence? A Parental Perspective

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (EI) is comprised of a set of critical life skills that develop, in part, through practice in social interaction. As such, some have expressed concern that the heavy screen media diet of today’s youth threatens the development of those crucial abilities. This research assesses how the media diet of children and the media use of their parents relates to child EI levels to assess what, if any, specific patterns exist. Four hundred parents of children aged 5–12 reported on, among other variables, their child’s EI, empathy, and emotional regulation skills along with their child’s various digital and non-digital media use, and non-media activities. Parental EI, screen use, media emotional mediation, and media co-use with their children were also assessed. Analyses revealed no significant relationships between child EI and screen use of any kind, though reading positively associated with child EI. Especially interesting, children whose parents used their mobile device more frequently in the presence of their child had lower EI, and parents who engaged in emotional mediation around their child’s media use reported higher EI levels in their children. These findings suggest that concerns about children’s digital media usage are perhaps overblown in terms of impeding emotional skill development. Further, and especially critical, parents’ own media-related behaviors around their children could have significant impact on child EI development.

La technoférence parentale : Revue de littérature des liens avec la qualité de la parentalité et le développement socioémotionnel du jeune enfant.

“…Les parents ont une attention divisée lorsqu’ils utilisent leur téléphone en présence de leurs enfants, leurs expressions peuvent être plus liées aux contenus du téléphone qu’à ce que l’enfant exprime. Il est alors possible que les enfants perdent les bénéfices des réponses émotionnelles parentales à leurs paroles et à leurs actes lorsque ces derniers sont occupés par leurs outils numériques, ce qui peut être un obstacle significatif au développement des compétences émotionnelles de leurs enfants (Nabi & Wolfers, 2022). Il s’agit pourtant d’une compétence infantile primordiale, qui est associée aux compétences sociales, à la réussite scolaire et à moins de comportements problématiques (Garner & Waajid, 2012).…”

Editorial: Digital Child- and Adulthood—Risks, Opportunities, and Challenges

“…The three contributions on advertising, as well as the contribution on the EU Kids Online survey, show that children, adolescents, and parents need to be supported in their development of media literacy. However, as suggested by the contributions of Holvoet et al (2022) and Nabi and Wolfers (2022), interventions seem to be only one component of everyday rationalization. Thus, normatively demanded behavior is subject to cost-benefit trade-offs, and knowledge mediated by interventions encounters existing folk theories and discussion spaces that are closed from a subjective perspective.…”

Tempo nos dispositivos eletrônicos e reconhecimento das expressões faciais emocionais em crianças

“…Contudo, poucos estudos têm investigado o TT e o desenvolvimento socioemocional no período da pré-adolescência. É de suma importância realizar estudos e análises sobre os impactos decorrentes da alta exposição ao TT e a escassez do chamado "tempo de rosto" (Nabi & Wolfers, 2022), pois através do rosto humano transmite -se uma ampla gama de informações socialmente significativas: idade aproximada, atratividade e estado emocional (Silva, 2017). As crianças que crescem diante das telas tornam-se viciadas em usar seus aparelhos para comunicar-se em vez de interagir face a face com as pessoas.…”

“…Estudos que investigaram a associação entre o tempo de tela e aspectos emocionais tem demonstrado, por um lado que, o aumento das oportunidades de interação face a face melhora o reconhecimento de pistas emocionais em préadolescentes (Uhls et al, 2014). Ao passo que não foram encontradas relações significativas entre a inteligência emocional infantil e o uso de qualquer tipo de tela (Nabi & Wolfers, 2022). Mas não foram localizados estudos que tenham investigado o reconhecimento das expressões faciais emocionais utilizando diferentes intensidades emocionais, considerando o tempo de exposição as telas por pré-adolescentes.…”