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  Researchers call for urgent investigation of risks to babies of tablets , smartphones and other digital devices Screen time for babies and toddlers under the age of two has been linked with long-term negative effects on health and quality of life and should be avoided, according to a landmark study . It warns that using screens during that period may lead to wide-ranging developmental concerns and calls for further urgent investigation of the risks smartphones, tablets and other digital devices pose to infants. With the focus on teenagers’ digital habits and government plans to ban under-16s from social media, researchers are concerned about a “ baby blind spot ” in policy at a time when screen use has become embedded in everyday parenting. Rafe Clayton, a senior lecturer in media and communication at the University of Leeds, who co-led the research, said parents – lacking guidance on their own screen use – were “inadvertently teaching children and babies to develop unhealthy...

  Children under the age of six should not be exposed to screens, including   television , to avoid permanent damage to their brain development, French medical experts have said. TV, tablets,  computers , video games and smartphones have “already had a heavy impact on a young generation sacrificed on the altar of ignorance”, according to an open letter to the government from five leading health bodies – the societies of paediatrics, public health, ophthalmology, child and adolescent psychiatry, and health and environment. Calling for an urgent rethink by public policies to protect future generations, they said: “ Screens  in whatever form do not meet children’s needs. Worse, they hinder and alter brain development,” causing “a lasting alteration to their health and their intellectual capacities”. Current recommendations in France are that children should not be exposed to screens before the age of three and have only “ occasional use ” between the ages of three and s...