Digital content preferences, digital game orientations and developmental domains in young children

This study aims to examine the cognitive development, language development, social-emotional development, gross motor development, fine motor development and self-care skills of children aged 48–72 months in terms of their digital content preferences and tendencies toward digital play addiction. Data were collected via parent reports from 852 children aged 48–72 months across Türkiye using the Selçuk Developmental Assessment Inventory and the Digital Play Addiction Tendency Scale. Parametric techniques were used to analyze the data as they followed a normal distribution. According to the findings, the increased use in daily technology among children aged 4 to 6, greater engagement with social media platforms and a growing tendency toward digital play addiction were found to be significantly associated with developmental delays in the domains of cognitive, language, social-emotional, gross motor, fine motor and self-care skills. Importantly, merely playing digital games was not directly linked to developmental risks, indicating that usage duration and addiction tendencies are the critical factors.