A new study from UCLA suggests that children who spend too much time engaged with screens (e.g., TVs, computers, smartphones) may lessen their ability to read people’s emotions.

The study examined sixth graders and split them into two groups: One group was forced to abandon screens altogether for five days. The other engaged screen-based media as they normally did—about an average of 4.5 hours a day. The children were then shown pictures of people exhibiting various emotions and were asked to tell researchers how the people in the pictures felt. Scientists found that children who stayed away from screens were more likely to detect the right emotion.

“Many people are looking at the benefits of digital media in education, and not many are looking at the costs,” said Patricia Greenfield, who teaches psychology at UCLA and was the study’s lead author. “Decreased sensitivity to emotional cues—losing the ability to understand the emotions of other people—is one of the costs.” (LiveScience)

Paul Asay has written for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for PluggedIn and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He recently collaborated with Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, on his book The Good Dad. He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.