Study: Technology is depriving kids of social skills

Study: Technology is depriving kids of social skills
(Image credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

New research suggests that exposure to television and other screens is lowering kids' ability to read human emotion.

A study at UCLA found that children who were deprived of all screens for five days were better at reading emotions than those who continued their normal use of screens. The study, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, sent 51 sixth graders to an outdoor camp, where they had no access to television, phones, or the internet. The study also included 54 sixth graders, all from the same public school in Southern California, who spent five days using screens as normal.

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Meghan DeMaria

Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.