GoKawiil
Tech News
A large-scale study tracking thousands of children found that those who took music lessons during childhood showed notably stronger academic and cognitive outcomes than peers who did not. The research adds to a growing body of evidence examining how specific childhood activities correlate with later performance in school.
A team led by psychiatrist Richard Lyus and researcher Florian Naudet published an analysis in Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods arguing that a 2006 Iranian trial of 40 children had data flaws serious enough to undermine its reliability. They say this single study has disproportionately influenced clinical guidelines recommending fluoxetine (Prozac) for depression in children and adolescents, though they are not calling for doctors to stop prescribing it.
The Imagination Library, Dolly Parton's free monthly book program for young children, is expanding to reach 157,000 additional children. The expansion comes about a month after Parton's death, as concerns grow over declining early childhood literacy rates.
Psychologist Peter Gray's Restoring Childhood disputes The Anxious Generation's central claim that smartphones and social media caused the post-2010 teen mental health crisis. Gray instead traces the decline to decades of shrinking childhood autonomy and rigid, test-focused schooling tied to Common Core, arguing home internet access in the 1990s and 2000s actually improved teen wellbeing by restoring lost freedom and social connection.
A growing number of children and teenagers with obesity or type 2 diabetes are being prescribed GLP-1 medications, drugs originally developed for adults. Physicians and researchers say long-term safety and developmental effects of these treatments in younger patients remain largely unstudied.
A birth-cohort study tracking 502 Singaporean children from age 1 to 8 found that higher screen viewing time, especially at age 1, 1.5 and 6 years, was linked to weaker academic performance at age 9 and poorer working memory at 10.5, even after adjusting for other factors. Cumulative screen exposure across childhood also predicted lower academic performance, though not working memory.