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MaxParedes t1_j7fxkyu wrote

Yes, a couple important passages from the study that dovetail with what you're saying:

However, the findings from this cohort study do not prove causation. Screen time likely represents a measurable contextual characteristic of a family or a proxy for the quality of parent-child interaction.

and:

Screen time at 12 months of age was reported by parents and not an objective measure. At that point, precise recording of screen use via moment-to-moment capture and machine learning, now referred to as screenome, was still in development. Time spent on each type of electronic device was also not collected. In 2010, handheld devices were beginning to surface in Singapore, and 97% of families were using television alone as the main source of screen time.

Along with the correlation/causation question, the use of self-reporting does seems like another reason for caution with the results. I wonder if there's data on whether parents accurately report things like this (especially sleep-deprived parents of infants!).

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