УПОТРЕБАТА НА ДИГИТАЛНИ УСТРОЙСТВА В РАННО ДЕТСТВО У НАС
USE OF DIGITAL DEVICES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD IN BULGARIA

Summary/Abstract: Although the use of digital devices by both parents and their children has become more widespread, the recommendations of paediatricians and psychologists overall are to limit device use, especially when the child is unsupervised. In Bulgaria, there is a growing public interest in the topic, but also a lack of specific recommendations and associated public policies about digital device use, along with a lack of enough quantitative data. We aim to address this issue by conducting a survey, which 132 parents of children between the ages of 16 and 36 months completed. Children, on average, begin to use digital media devices at 15 months. The average daily use is 2 hours, which is almost double than what has been reported in other countries. Children, on average, spend 1 hour watching TV and over 30 minutes with their smartphones. There is a significant weak negative correlation between age at first use and daily use - the earlier the child starts using devices, the more hours a day they spend with them. Parents’ average daily use is over 6 hours, which includes mostly using a smartphone and a laptop and to a smaller extent watching TV. A correlation shows a strong association between the amount of parental and child TV time daily. There is a need for more data from larger participant samples on digital device use in early childhood in Bulgaria, as well as on how this use relates to other aspects of child development.

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