Screens and early childhood: What generation Alpha pays without seeing it

It often begins harmlessly. A few videos to soothe a child after a difficult day, a cartoon to prepare dinner in peace, an app said to boost language development. Gradually, and almost without noticing, the screen slips into every moment of daily life. The evening routine turns into a struggle. Sleep becomes possible only after one last episode, and in the morning the child asks for the screen before even saying hello. The gesture is automatic, almost physiological. Over time, subtle but persistent effects appear: irritability, withdrawal, agitation, mild yet enduring developmental delays. These are now familiar stories shared by thousands of parents.

Warning signs are becoming increasingly clear. Pediatricians, developmental psychologists, and public health institutions report that early screen exposure affects language development, attention, sleep, and even emotional regulation. One question inevitably emerges: what happens to a child’s brain when a screen intervenes too early between the child and the real world?

A brain under pressure

The young child’s brain is a structure under construction, shaped by gestures, eye contact, and slow rhythms. Exploring an object, waiting for an adult’s response, following a face: these repeated experiences build the neural circuits of attention and language.

Screens introduce a radically different tempo. Rapid images, intense colors, and abrupt sounds train the brain to expect constant novelty. Instead of developing sustained attention, the child becomes accustomed to immediate stimulation. This subtle but profound shift later influences the ability to listen in class, to engage in prolonged play, and to focus without distraction.

At the same time, the experience of pleasure changes. Visual and auditory signals strongly activate reward circuits. When repeated, these brief surges of excitation become the norm. The child gradually prefers immediate gratification over the slow rewards of effort or discovery. Screens soothe the moment without teaching self soothing skills. They calm without teaching how to calm oneself. This partly explains why emotional outbursts and frustration intolerance increase when screens become the primary regulator.

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Language development also suffers from this substitution. Words emerge through live interaction: an adult who rephrases, pauses, laughs, and comments. A video can display words, but it cannot share them. Real dialogue involves feedback, adjustments, and shared silences that nourish expression. When these exchanges diminish, vocabulary growth slows quietly, with consequences that often become visible when the child enters school.

The body, too, sends signals. Sleep, which supports memory, emotional regulation, and immune function, becomes fragile when light exposure and stimulation interfere with falling asleep. Shorter or fragmented nights increase irritability and reduce resilience to everyday frustrations. Motor development and coordination are also affected. Manipulating objects, touching, throwing, building, and exploring textures shape fine motor skills and spatial perception. These experiences are replaced by flat gestures sliding across smooth surfaces. Eating habits also change when meals take place in front of screens. Eating without attention and without internal cues disrupts hunger and satiety signals and can gradually distort the relationship with food.

Why human connection remains the core of brain development

Beyond biological mechanisms lies the relational dimension. A child becomes themselves through the gaze of another, through emotional micro repairs, and through moments when a parent lends their calm so the child can learn self regulation. When screens take on the role of primary comfort, they deprive the child of a living emotional education. They occupy the space where imagination and creative boredom emerge, the time when a box becomes a boat, stories are invented, and self containment develops. Without this territory, the child loses opportunities to build autonomous thinking and inner patience.

This is not a moral condemnation of digital technology. Screens offer resources, opportunities, and shared experiences. The risk arises when the tool becomes the environment. The central question is no longer simply how much screen time is allowed. It becomes which world do we want the child to learn to inhabit? A world navigated by fingertips on a flat surface, or a world discovered through breath, slowness, material resistance, and the warmth of human faces?

Screens will not disappear. However, spaces where attention can take root still exist. Screen free moments, unstructured play, reading aloud, outdoor experiences, and simple gestures that require time and repetition. Preserving these spaces is not a luxury. It is a responsibility. Not to shield children from technology, but to preserve within them the capacity to inhabit a world that cannot be reduced to light.

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🔗 Explore further: Attachment in motion: How everyday gestures sculpt the infant brain

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References

Law, E. C., et al. (2023). Associations Between Infant Screen Use, Electroencephalography Markers, and School-Age Cognitive Outcomes. JAMA Pediatrics, 177(8), e231251.

Lakicevic, N., Manojlovic, M., Chichinina, E., Drid, P., & Zinchenko, Y. (2025). Screen time exposure and executive functions in preschool children. Scientific reports, 15(1), 1839.