The World Health Organisation says that children between the ages of two and five should get no more than one hour of sedentary screen time per day, while children under two shouldn’t get any at all. But the general consensus is that many parents don’t enforce those guidelines, and many toddlers end up overexposed to digital devices as a result.

Increasingly, early childhood professionals are reporting concerning and unusual behaviour in children who have been excessively exposed to screens. Research published in Global Pediatric Health in 2020 referred to this as Early Media Overexposure Syndrome, and the term virtual autism has also emerged to describe it.

What are the symptoms? Is virtual autism a recognised condition then? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

In partnership with upday UK.

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