Preschool children and screen exposure: a literature review comparing spanish and international research

Abstract

Today, technology surrounds our lives and for most families and schools, digital screens have become essential. At the same time, young children are being exposed to these screens at an earlier age. In almost every region exists organisms that investigate the possible harmful effects of overexposure to screen-time during early childhood. Despite this, most Spanish studies either exclude young children (0-6 years). As a result of COVID-19 pandemic, several new articles have been produced with the aim of analyzing the situation, anticipating possible consequences and providing action strategies and healthy routines for families and schools. Throughout this study, we will analyze the current literature on the issue from three different fields of study with the aim to compare Spanish (national) and international research. Once the keywords were established (preschool, early childhood, young children, screen, ITC and guidelines) a systematic literature research was done in two databases: Google Scholar and Scopus. The results were filtered to return only journal articles published in the last 10 years. Articles found in Google Scholar by December 2021 with keywords in the title: in English n= 264; in Spanish n = 2. Articles found in Scopus with keywords anywhere in the text: International n = 45.865; National n= 2.875. Many of these studies are focused only on analyzing screen-time from a health perspective. Fewer studies approach the problem from a holistic perspective or show the importance of the problem but don’ t offer alternatives and solutions. “Educación infantil” and “TIC” are the most frequently used terms in Spanish research, while in English research are “preschool” and “screen”.