Virtual Autism: A New Threat to Toddlers

Pediatricians are alarmed that babies and toddlers who spend hours a day on phones, tablets, and around TVs can develop behavioral changes that are similar to the symptoms of autism.

The good news: the changes often disappear when the children stop screen exposure and greatly increase face-to-face contact with caregivers and playtime with non-electronic toys.

Two doctors in France are leading an awareness campaign, which they explain in this video.

“Screen viewing several hours a day prevents the brain from developing and generates behavior problems and relationship problems,” reports Dr. Anne-Lise Ducanda, speaking also for colleague Dr. Isabelle Terrasse.

“We decided to make this video to warn parents, professionals, and public bodies of the grave dangers of all screens for children between the ages of zero to four.”

The doctors had noticed more and more toddlers with unusual changes in behavior.

Many children had stopped responding to their names and speaking words, were avoiding eye contact, and had become indifferent to the world around them.  

When asking parents about media use in the household, the doctors were surprised to discover that almost all children with behavior changes had spent large amounts of time on and around screens—in some cases, ten hours a day.

But for most children whose families followed the doctors’ advice to stop the child’s screen exposure and greatly increase social interaction and play, the unusual behavior eventually disappeared.

Romanian Coins Term Virtual Autism

Romanian researchers had a similar discovery, one stating that “sensory-motor and socio-affective deprivation caused by the consumption of more than 4 hours/day of virtual environment can activate behaviours and elements similar to those found in children diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).”

While Dr. Ducanda and colleagues use the phrase “Early and Excessive Exposure to Screens”, Romanian psychologist Marius Zamfir coined the term “Virtual Autism” to describe the screen-induced syndrome.

In Romania today, screen withdrawal is a therapeutic protocol for early ASD. There are Virtual Autism clinics and a campaign to inform parents about the problem.

Zamfir worries that children exposed to excessive screen content may lack a sense of motivation. “Children’s brains are used to getting pleasure without making any effort at all,” he says in this campaign video.

More Links Between Screen Viewing and Developmental Delays

In 2024, a study by researchers at the UC Davis Medical Center MIND Institute found that toddlers showing developmental delays, who also have autism in the family, tend to develop autism-like symptoms more often if they viewed screens as babies.

According to the study, “Children with Autism and ADHD Concerns outcomes experienced significantly more screen exposure at 18 months than children without autism or elevated symptoms of ADHD.”

In Japan, in a 2022 study of more than 84,000 Japanese babies and their mothers, “among boys, longer screen time at 1 year of age was significantly associated with autism spectrum disorder at 3 years of age.”

“With the rapid increase in device usage,” concluded the authors, “it is necessary to review the health effects of screen time on infants and to control excessive screen time.” 

Screen Viewing Tied to Brain Changes

A brain study seems to bear out the behavioral indicators.

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital researchers show evidence in JAMA Pediatrics that young children who spend more than two hours a day on screens have less brain white matter.

The brain’s white matter is responsible for thought processing and organization, as well as other vital functions.

“Think of white matter as cables, sort of like telephone lines that are connecting the various parts of the brain so they can talk to each other,” study author Dr. John Hutton told CNN.

“These are tracks that we know are involved with language and literacy,” he continued. “And these were the ones relatively underdeveloped in these kids with more screen time.”

47 healthy toddlers were studied. Screen exposure among them ranged from zero to about five hours a day.

In their report, the study authors did not make a connection to virtual autism nor did they specifically mention autistic-like symptoms.

Astronomical Rise in Autism Incidence

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, in 1975—when VCRs first came on scene—only one in 5,000 children in the U.S. had Autism Spectrum Disorder. By 2016, as video on demand had become ubiquitous, the incidence of ASD had risen to one child in 68.

The CDC now estimates the rate is one child in every 36. 

Until very recently, “AV (audio-visual) exposure in infancy has been overlooked” as a risk factor for autism, according to research ophthalmologist Karen Frankel Heffler of Drexel University College of Medicine.

As she writes in the journal Medical Hypotheses, “There has been an explosion in viewing opportunities for infants over the past 25 years, which parallels the rise in autism.”

“Attention in the vulnerable infant is drawn away from healthy social interactions toward TV, computer screens, and electronic toys,” according to Heffler.

Social Interaction Counteracts Screen Effects

In early 2020, JAMA Pediatrics published an analysis Heffler co-authored finding that babies who viewed TV and videos at age one had a slightly greater chance of displaying autistic-like symptoms than non-TV watching babies by the age of two.

Conversely, Heffler reports, “less screen exposure and more parent-child play at 12 months of age were associated with fewer ASD-like symptoms at 2 years of age.”

In 2022, Heffler’s team published a pilot intervention involving 9 children between 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 years of age who had an ASD diagnosis and watched at least 2 hours of screen media a day.

As the study shows, when social interaction and play replaced screen time, “Children’s screen viewing decreased from an average of 5.6 hours/day prior to intervention to 5 min/day during the study.

There were also significant improvements in core autism symptoms and parent stress from pre- to post-intervention.

Heffler’s team also published a case study of two toddlers with an ASD diagnosis who had “marked improvements in developmental trajectories” when screen time stopped and social time increased. 

Australian research also shows babies with early signs of autism can avoid an autism diagnosis if parents learn communication skills through video feedback. 

Researcher Tells Son’s Story of Virtual Autism

At the first-ever Children’s Screen Time Action Network conference, I happened to meet Dr. Heffler’s research associate, Lori Frome, M.Ed.

Frome is an autism treatment specialist who discovered, also by chance, that one of her young patient’s symptoms gradually disappeared with an end in screen viewing.

Frome then tried the same treatment on her own young son, who also had an ASD diagnosis.

Over the course of several months, instead of screen viewing, her son greatly increased his face-to-face interaction with family members as well as his independent play time.

The result: “a complete developmental trajectory change in the core deficits of ASD,” as Frome describes in this video.

In other words, her son gradually became developmentally typical for his age. 

Toddlers Become Dependent on Screens

Screen media has a “very addictive power,” says Dr. Ducanda. “Little by little the child can no longer do without and demands it more and more. If the parents try and withdraw him, he can go into a real meltdown.”

Doctors Ducanda and Terrasse contend that heavy doses of screen time affect what would be, in pre-digital times, the natural wiring of a child’s brain.

Watching a ball move on a screen, for instance, does not register in a child’s mind the same way it does when physically handling a ball. Says Dr. Ducanda: “The small child’s brain cannot develop without this sense of touch.”

Dr. Andrew Doan, an ophthalmologist and neuroscientist, produced this video to explain Virtual Autism and how to limit early-life screen viewing.

In this TEDx talk, I discuss the importance of secure emotional attachments between parents and their babies and how digital device use can interfere with early relational health. 

Avoiding Virtual Autism

So, what’s a parent to do?

For one thing: respect the child’s basic developmental needs.

So babies and toddlers can learn to speak, reason, and develop crucial social skills, they need face-to-face interaction with loving people and to use all their senses as often as they can.

A study from Iran proves the power of parent interaction and play.

Investigators selected 12 toddlers with autistic-like symptoms who had spent half their waking hours on screen devices. Their parents had 8 weeks of lessons in how to play with their children, with an emphasis on eye-to-eye contact, loving touch, and continuous communication.

At the end of the two-month period, the children’s screen time had shrunk to a bare minimum. They had much less ASD-like behavior and brain studies showed ASD-like readings returned to nearly normal.

The investigators say consistency is the key.

Parents need to stick with high-touch, high-talk interaction all day every day throughout the child’s waking hours and to keep screens off.

Official Recommendations Urge Screen Avoidance

The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that a baby or toddler never use a screen alone. Caregivers should limit a child’s screen exposure to video calls with other loved ones.   

Preschoolers should have no more than one hour of screen media per day “to allow children ample time to engage in other activities important to their health and development.”

The World Health Organization agrees that, for the sake of their health and proper brain formation, children under age one should have no exposure to screens.

Early Childhood is Unique Opportunity

When you look through Today’s lens, early childhood has become a once-in-a-lifetime pre-digital opportunity.

As I write in The Durable Human Manifesto: Practical Wisdom for Living and Parenting in the Digital Age, each child begins life as a “wild human”—as free and unplugged as any other animal.

“When toddlers range around, freely using all of their senses to examine, taste and play with whatever they choose, they are making rich and lifelong neural connections.”

Recommendations for Avoiding Virtual Autism

So young children stay on a healthy developmental track, Dr. Ducanda, Dr. Heffler, and Lori Frome have these suggestions:

• Talk, play, and read with child every day as much as possible.

• Provide materials, toys, and games that require manipulation, such as empty plastic food containers and lids, stacking cups, play dough, finger paints, and a play kitchen.

• Go outside at least once a day and make sure the child has time to play alone and with other children.

• Use screens very briefly, if at all, when with young children.

• Do not hand a phone or tablet to a baby or young child.

• Keep TV off around kids under age four, even if it’s on in the background and child doesn’t seem to be paying attention.

• Explain to family members and caregivers why these measures are essential to a child’s healthy development, durability, and well-being.

Dr. Heffler points out in her research that characteristics that may resemble those associated with autism in very young children can have a variety of causes.

If symptoms do arise, Dr. Ducanda and her colleagues recommend keeping the child away from all screens for at least a month, which will require the cooperation of every household member.

After that, she claims, ASD-like problems in many children may “miraculously disappear or diminish considerably.”

Conversely, if a child has a full, well-balanced life with very minimal screen exposure, these types of symptoms may never emerge.

Parent Resources

You can watch an interview with an American mother who came forward after discovering information on this post to tell the story of how her 14-month-old son developed and overcame screen-induced syndrome. 

AutismandScreens.org has links to research, researchers, and resources.  

Also see my interview with Lori Frome about detection and treatment: 

Finally, in this simple online course, I teach parents why and how to create loving bonds with their babies and toddlers as well as to maximize their brain development and language learning.

Note: This post was last updated January 15, 2025

About the author:

Jenifer Joy Madden is a certified digital wellness instructor, health journalist, digital media adjunct professor, and author of How To Be a Durable Human: Revive and Thrive in the Digital Age Through the Power of Self-Design and The Durable Human Manifesto. Her writing has informed millions on ABC News and Discovery Health Channel, in The Washington Post, Readers Digest and other news outlets.

Jenifer founded DurableHuman.com in 2009 and is the mother of three grownup durable humans, two of whom have little ones in training.