It's good news for long-distance grandparents everywhere.
New research by a team at Lafayette College has found that starting at about 17 months children start recognizing and learning from people during FaceTime and other live video chats.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has long discouraged screen time for any children under 2 and recommended limiting screen time to two hours a day for older children. Children that spend a lot of time with screens often have poor language skills and miss out on developmentally appropriate play.
Last year, the pediatrician's group issued expanded recommendations on managing screen time but it hasn't tackled the merits of live video chats.
Technology changes at such a rapid fire pace that it's hard for the scientific community to keep up.
A friend inspired Lauren Myers, a developmental psychologist and the lead researcher at the Lafayette Kids Lab, to study how toddlers interact with and learn from screen-time.
Myers' friends' parents lived abroad and she wanted her son to know her parents. But she also knew the recommended limits of screen time.
"She wondered, 'Is it still OK for him to Skype with my parents?'" Myers said.
The team set to find out if there was a difference between plopping a baby in front of a television and interacting over video chat.
After months of research, Myers can confidently say there's a major difference.
At around 17 months, children derive real benefits from real-time interactions with live people and can form relationships over video chat. Myers cautions that young children still learn best from face-to-face interactions and play.
The study of 60 Lehigh Valley children between the ages of 1 and 2 found a major difference in how children learn from live screen communication and recorded video interactions.
Half of the children spent a week FaceTiming with a researcher that could see and hear the child, used their name and responded to their actions. The other 30 kids were shown pre-recorded videos of a researcher asking them to do the same things as in the live chat, like clap or point to their nose. The child and researcher also played with novel objects, like a green furry cloth nicknamed a wug.
"It was important that they were toys that the kids had never seen before so we could attribute to any learning to the exchange with the partner," Myers said.
Children in both groups paid attention to and responded to their on-screen partners, who were Lafayette students. Across all ages, the kids could tell who was live and not. But only children in the live video chat responded in-sync with the researcher, such as clapping to imitate the researcher.
After a week, the children were brought into the Lafayette Kids Lab to see if they recognized and preferred their chatting partner over a stranger and if they'd learned new words and patterns.
"If we asked, "Where's Renee?' could they go find the partner?" Myers explained. "In the pre-recorded one, they had no idea who Renee was."
Starting at 17 months, the child could make a connection between the person on screen and the person in real life. It's not surprising because at around 18 months toddler language development really picks up, Myers said.
"It's a time they really start to connect socially and be excited to share information with people," Myers explained.
Children made interesting errors. When one little girl was asked, "Where is Rachel?" She pointed to the bag with the iPad in it.
"As adults we take for granted pictures exist in the real world," Myers said. "Kids are really struggling with that."
Lafayette students assisted Myers in the study and now a new group of students are helping her expand upon the research. In the first study, parents were told not to help the child, now Myers is exploring how a co-viewer can facilitate a child's understanding.
"Will they grasp things earlier, better and understand more about what is going on?" Myers is asking. "We are looking at how powerful parents can be."
Junior Christopher Felix, 20, and senior Edoukou Ak-Ezoua, 20, are assisting Myers this summer through Lafayette's EXCEL Scholars program, which gives them a stipend and housing for their work. Felix enjoys the autonomy the program gives students.
"You're working on scholastic research," he said.
WANT TO JOIN THE RESEARCH?
The Lafayette Kids Lab is looking for children, ages 1 to 3, and parents to come into the lab for a 45-minute visit.
Contact the lab at 610-330-5870 or lafayettekidslab@gmail.com. Or visit them online here or on Facebook.
Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.