Relationship Between the Use of Digital Devices and Personal and Emotional Development in Preschool Children

Abstract

As the use of electronic media device is becoming widespread in preschool children, there is an obvious need to explore this new social situation of development and to analyse the effects of digital environment on children’s personality and emotional development.The paper presents data from 65 studies conducted from 2010 to 2020 which were aimed at exploring the effects of screen time and electronic content on child development at preschool age.The results suggest that viewing of inappropriate content is associated with higher aggression levels and lower levels of social skills and prosocial behavior, whereas viewing of appropriate content is associated with higher prosocial behavior and social skills level.The amount of viewing (screen time) is related to higher levels of aggressive behavior and lower levels of prosocial behavior, social skills and cognitive aspects of personality and emotional development.