Uso de pantallas y su influencia en la cognición y los hitos del desarrollo motor de infantes mexicanos

The use of screens is present at a young age, however, it is documented that it has negative effects on the cognitive development of infants, although its study is still an emerging area in countries like Mexico, in such a way that the objective of this article was to describe and associate the use of screens with language and developmental milestones of Mexican infants. 91 primary caregivers of infants between 12 and 36 months, from different regions of Mexico participated (Mage = 24.14 months, SD = 8.26, female = 39.56%, male = 60.44%). The instruments applied were the Permanent Household Survey, Clinical History, Questionnaire on the Use of Books and Digital Screens, Questionnaire of Development Milestones and Inventory of Communicative Development II. The results indicate that infants use digital screens between 3 and 4 hours per day, television is the most used, as well as the time of use that is shared with an adult. As the number of hours in front of the screens increases, the lexical density and use of sentences is lower. As the use of screens in the home increases, the acquisition of developmental motor and language milestones is later. When an adult accompanies the infant, there is a higher use of lexical density, and the use of sentences is greater. Finally, general statistically significant models were found between the dependent variables, which were lexical density, which explained 28.9% of the variability, and motor development milestones, explaining 16.7%. The independent variables were child’s age, time of use, and shared use. However, only screen sharing predicted earlier acquisition of motor developmental milestones. It is concluded that the use of screens would contribute negatively to early development, although if there is an adult accompanying their use it could generate positive contributions, which reinforces previous studies and the recommendations to reduce their use in the first years of life. El uso de pantallas está presente a temprana edad. Aunque hay evidencia de los efectos negativos del uso de dispositivos digitales en el desarrollo cognitivo de los niños, su estudio aún es un área emergente en países como México. El objetivo de este artículo fue describir y asociar el uso de pantallas con el lenguaje y los hitos del desarrollo de infantes mexicanos. Participaron 91 cuidadores primarios de infantes entre 12 y 36 meses, de diferentes regiones de México (Medad = 24.14 meses, DE = 8.26, mujer = 39.56%, hombre = 60.44%). Los i