AIIMS Study on Screen Time and Autism Risk: Association, Not Causation

New Delhi, 2nd May 2026: A screen in a child’s hand has become so routine that it rarely raises questions anymore. But new research is beginning to challenge that notion.

A study led by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences is drawing attention to a pattern that many parents may overlook: higher screen exposure in infancy is linked to a greater likelihood of autism-related concerns by the age of three. Not a cause. Not a diagnosis. But a signal strong enough for doctors to pause.

The research tracks how early and how often children are introduced to screens, and what that might mean later. In a sample of around 250 children aged three to six, those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder had, on average, started using screens earlier, spent more time on them, and showed higher tendencies toward media dependence than typically developing children.

That distinction matters. Because what the study highlights is not what screens do directly, but what they might be replacing.

Dr Shefali Gulati, who led the research, is explicit about the limits of the findings. This is an association, not causation. Screens are not being identified as a trigger for autism. But their presence, especially in the earliest stages of life, may be interfering with something far more fundamental: human interaction.

The first 1,000 days of brain development are built on responsiveness, eye contact, expressions, touch, voice, and play. These are not just moments; they are mechanisms through which a child learns to communicate, interpret emotion, and connect. When screens begin to occupy that space, even partially, the shift is not always visible immediately, but it can be consequential.

This is why medical guidelines have remained consistent. The Indian Academy of Paediatrics, along with global health bodies, recommends no screen exposure for children under 18 months, except for limited video interaction with family. The emphasis is less on restriction and more on preserving a phase of development that cannot be recreated later.

What makes this conversation sharper now is context. Screens are no longer occasional; they are ambient. Used to soothe, distract, or engage, often before a child can speak. The question, then, is no longer whether children are being exposed, but how early that exposure begins and how much of their world it starts to occupy.

The AIIMS study doesn’t offer an alarm. It offers a reframing.

Because the risk may not lie in screens themselves, but in the quiet trade-off they create, replacing interaction with immersion, and moments of connection with passive attention. And in early childhood, that trade-off may matter more than we think.