But one kind of screen time may be valuable in moderation: interacting with family members or friends via FaceTime, Zoom, or other video platforms. A key insight gained from research on screens and young children is that active, synchronous virtual interactions with other humans—what most of us call a video chat—can foster language learning and bonding, while passive, asynchronous viewing of a prerecorded video yields minimal benefits and in some cases even backfires and disrupts language learning, particularly for those under 2 years old.[6]
