Toddlers who use touchscreens may show improved fine motor control abilities, shows a new study.
Rsearchers at University of London said that early touchscreen use, in particular active scrolling, correlated with increased fine motor skills.
An online survery was carried out for parents to answer questions about their children's touchscreen use by Researcher Tim J. Smith of Birbeck.
The survey included questions about whether the toddlers used touchscreens, when they first used one besides how often and how long they used them.
It also included specific questions to assess the development of the children, such as the age that they first stacked blocks -- which indicates fine motor skills -- or the age they first used two-word sentences -- which indicates language development.
During the study, 715 families responded confirming that using touchscreen is extremely common in toddlers.
"The study showed that majority of toddlers had daily exposure to touchscreen devices, increasing from 51.22 per cent at six to 11 months to 92.05 per cent at 19-36 months," Smith added.
In toddlers aged 19-36 months, the researchers found that the age that parents reported for their child's first actively scrolling a touchscreen was positively associated with the age that they were first able to stack blocks, a measure of fine motor control.
The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, also stated that the current generation of toddlers was adapting rapidly to new technology.
(With agency input)
