Screen Time and Child Wellbeing in Low-Income Families: A Systematic Review

The primary objective of this literature review was to provide a comprehensive overview of the extant literature on the impact of media use on young children's wellbeing in low-income families.

Major academic databases (including Web of Science and Scopus) were searched starting Year 2000. Using PRISMA systematic literature review guideline, thirty articles were selected for final review.

Findings from this review identified three critical areas of children's well-being that are impacted by media viewing during early childhood - socio-emotional well-being, cognitive well-being, and physical well-being. Additionally, findings strongly suggest that exposure to prosocial media content helps children learn values such as kindness, cooperation, and empathy while exposure to violent media leads to behavioral problems in children. Preschoolers from low-income families benefit more from educational media as compared to preschoolers from high-income families, and viewing general audience programs negatively impacts a child's school readiness and academic performance.

Findings suggest that the consequences of media use on children, especially those who are from low-income and vulnerable families, are multifaceted. With the growth of technology and easy access to newer devices, additional research is needed to examine this relationship and develop a unified framework to understand the impact of media viewing on children. The review identifies co-viewing as a significant strategy to optimize young children's media experience.