Study: Technology is depriving kids of social skills


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.
Before and after the five-day period, both groups were shown photos of people expressing various emotions. After the five days were up, the children who attended the camp were better at identifying the emotions and recognizing expressions than they had been before the camp. Conversely, those who did not attend the camp's skills remained the same.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Yalda T. Uhls, the study's lead author, said the research shows that physical interaction is important for childhood development. "You can't learn non-verbal emotional cues from a screen in the way you can learn it from face-to-face communication," Uhls told Time.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.
-
A journey into the deep past on beautiful Arran
The Week Recommends New Unesco Global Geopark played a 'key role' in the birth of modern geological science
-
China's London super-embassy
The Explainer The People's Republic wants to build a massive new embassy in central London, and a lot of people aren't happy about it
-
Crossword: July 6, 2025
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Disney, Universal sue AI firm over 'plagiarism'
Speed Read The studios say that Midjourney copied characters from their most famous franchises
-
Amazon launches 1st Kuiper internet satellites
Speed Read The battle of billionaires continues in space
-
Test flight of orbital rocket from Europe explodes
Speed Read Isar Aerospace conducted the first test flight of the Spectrum orbital rocket, which crashed after takeoff
-
Apple pledges $500B in US spending over 4 years
Speed Read This is a win for Trump, who has pushed to move manufacturing back to the US
-
Microsoft unveils quantum computing breakthrough
Speed Read Researchers say this advance could lead to faster and more powerful computers
-
TikTok's fate uncertain as weekend deadline looms
Speed Read The popular app is set to be banned in the U.S. starting Sunday
-
Appeals court kills FCC net neutrality rule
Speed Read A U.S. appeals court blocked Biden's effort to restore net-neutrality rules
-
Judge rejects Elon Musk's $56B pay package again
Speed Read Judge Kathaleen McCormick upheld her rejection of the Tesla CEO's unprecedented compensation deal