Young children spending more time watching TV, study finds

(NBCNC) – Younger children are spending more time watching TV, according to a recent study.

Researchers studied the screen time data from nearly 2,000 kids who were all under the age of 6.

In 1997, kids age 2 and younger watched a little over an hour of TV while kids ages 3 to 5 watched two-and-a-half hours.

Then in 2014, when mobile devices became available, the screen time for toddlers increased to about 3 hours a day. But most of it was in front of a TV.

While there was no significant change in the amount of screen for the older kids, most of it was also spent in front of a television.

The study involved time diary data from 1,327 kids in 1997 and 443 kids in 2014 and all were younger than 6.

This study was led by researchers from Florida International University and published in JAMA Pediatrics.