To wonder why screens aren’t investigated as a cause of childhood behaviour issues?

[Peony1897]

We now know that screens, and in particular tablets, have really horrific effects on young children and their emotional/social development - in particular speech, regulating anger, sensory issues and how they interact with their peers.

So why is it whenever we see a thread where a small child has some or all of the above issues, and the OP clearly mentions tablet use or ‘all they are interested in is screens’, the answer is nearly always an autism assessment rather than removal of screens?

Genuinely curious as to why such a clear risk factor is never picked up on.

DS1 was not hyperactive although is diagnosed inattentive ADHD. He was not quite the same although there were some similarities - I remember he used to exasperate me by announcing "I'm bored!" literally the second that an activity finished and I used to say "That's not what being bored means" - DS1 the other day walking home from school said "Oh!!! I'm going to be bored when I get home." In this world weary tone. Again I found myself saying, that isn't what being bored means! But they have been very similar in that. I think they are describing the sensation where they are looking for stimulation.

DS2 is just on the go all of the time. DS3 is 3.5 and can be like that sometimes - trying to move on to the next thing before the jigsaw is out etc - but not all the time, maybe about 20-30% of the time? I can usually bring him back to the first task as well by reminding him. And it's also totally normal/age appropriate because he is 3. DS2 is 6 and should be able to wait for things like an adult to get an activity ready, so the fact it is EVERY time is quite striking and different from other children his age and can be quite challenging. Even in an environment which caters to him it causes issues, so while I agree that ADHD is a normal variation on an extreme end, to me it feels a bit like being shortsighted. There's nothing wrong with being shortsighted, it doesn't mean I'm broken, I'm totally normal despite my eyesight being outside the "ideal" range and I don't really need my glasses when I'm at home and mostly performing tasks at arm's length or closer, but it's very helpful to me to have glasses to wear when I'm out and about, and I think it's totally fair that I can't legally drive without them. And that is very similar to how I feel about my own diagnosis of ADHD and medication. It helps make up for the bit of my functioning which isn't in the "typical" range, because it causes me problems with certain things.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgp08z3egno

This article was published today. Shame they didn't delve a bit further into the 20% rise of autism with intellectual disability - as that's very unlikely to be due to broadening diagnostic criteria / better understanding.

I was looking for this thread the other day when there was a news article about this in my country. I'll look for the article once I get on my computer.

I think the evidence needs scrutinizing, because it's never going to be an RCT.
So, because kids won't be randomly assigned to more screen or less screen, you have to make sure it's not self selecting. This is the problem with all these cohort studies showing association now.
People who travel to hospital by ambulance are more likely to die, but it's not the ambulance causing it.
I know that my elder child, a bouncy son, who wouldn't colour in, or play shop etc was given more screen time than my daughter, who enjoyed different interaction.

Found it, though I didn't listen to the podcast to actually hear what was said because I can never listen to podcasts
https://yle.fi/a/74-20158012
There's a quote from the chief physician of THL, which is the research and development for health and social care in Finland, so the experts, so to speak
"I think the most important factors are the big changes in kids' and teens' environments in recent years, such as more screen time, less physical activity and less sleep, and this evidently contributes a lot to the increase in ADHD diagnoses," THL chief physician Terhi Aalto-Setälä tells the show.