Objective To analyze the correlation between language development and screen exposure in children aged 1-3 years in community, so as to provide suggestions for improving the current situation of screen exposure in children. Methods A total of 827 children aged 1-3 years born in Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University from January 2016 to July 2018 were enrolled in this study, including 406 boys and 421 girls with average age of (24.5±5.3) months old.Clinicians in Department of Pediatric Neurorehabilitation asked the subjects' medical history in detail, carried out physical examination and behavior observation, and evaluated the language development by Gesell Infant Development Scale and the Early Language Development Process Scale. Results Among 827 children, 93 were diagnosed with language retardation and 734 were normal.There were significant difference on contacting screen age, children's sex, family situation, parental education level, maternal age, screen exposure time, regular sleep habits, contacting screen accompanied by parents and limiting screen exposure time between language retardation group and normal group (P<0.05).After controlling confounding factors, Logistic regression analysis showed that screen exposure time >2 hours (OR=1.687, 95%CI:1.022—2.236, P<0.001), contacting screen not accompanied by parent (OR =2.035, 95%CI:1.588—2.634, P=0.002) and no limit of screen exposure time (OR=1.475, 95%CI:1.087—2.156, P=0.035) were risk factors for language retardation. Conclusions Long-term screen exposure will affect the family language environment and children's sleep, and is not conducive to children's language development.Parents are advised to forbid children under 18 months old from screen exposure, and children over 18 months old are not allowed to touch the screen until accompanied by their parents.Moreover, screen time should be controlled within 2 hours, and watching the electronic screen before going to bed should be strictly avoided.