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Important to note that the study[1] doesn't say what percentage of adult conversation this is, and doesn't analyse the effect on children's language skills. I

Important to note that the study[1] doesn't say what percentage of adult conversation this is, and doesn't analyse the effect on children's language skills. I think we already knew that "When you're watching a tablet you're not talking to people." - what we're lacking here is any kind of useful detail. Is 1,000 words 5% of what they might hear in a day? 50%? Seems important to know. Does an hour of screen time reduce vocabulary by 5%? 50%? Increase it by 50%? Study doesn't tell us. [1]https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2815514?guestAccessKey=af1b82f5-2ff4-4cc9-a88c-2720ef541470&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=030424 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/...

Paul-Craft 3y ago
According to https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/word-gap-speak-more-words-to-your-preschooler-daily/ https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/word-gap-speak-more... the range is between 6000 and 21000 words per day, with more being better, and higher numbers being correlated with higher socioeconomic status. I suspect that doesn't tell the whole story you seem to be getting at, though. My guess is that people who will just hand a toddler a tablet to keep them entertained are probably those who would be at the lower end of that range anyway. The effects of a less linguistically rich environment on a child's language development are cumulative as well. Just saying "oh, 1000 words is 5-15% fewer words per day" seems to downplay the issue too much.
- AndrewDucker 3y ago
  So 1,000 words from 6,000 is a huge amount, and you can definitely see how that would have a major impact. 1,000 out of 21,000 I'd be a lot less worried about. I guess the message here is "Talk to your kids lots, when you have the energy to do so. That way they can spend their downtime however they fancy."
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Paul-Craft 3y ago

According to https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/word-gap-speak-more-words-to-your-preschooler-daily/ https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/word-gap-speak-more... the range is between 6000 and 21000 words per day, with more being better, and higher numbers being correlated with higher socioeconomic status. I suspect that doesn't tell the whole story you seem to be getting at, though. My guess is that people who will just hand a toddler a tablet to keep them entertained are probably those who would be at the lower end of that range anyway. The effects of a less linguistically rich environment on a child's language development are cumulative as well. Just saying "oh, 1000 words is 5-15% fewer words per day" seems to downplay the issue too much.

AndrewDucker 3y ago
So 1,000 words from 6,000 is a huge amount, and you can definitely see how that would have a major impact. 1,000 out of 21,000 I'd be a lot less worried about. I guess the message here is "Talk to your kids lots, when you have the energy to do so. That way they can spend their downtime however they fancy."

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