Limiting screen time for kids

 In continuation of the social dilemma, I wanted to go in depth about screen time and how it affects the young brain. In North America, most households have more than three personal electronic devices.  The way children of today learn, play, and interact has changed more in the past 15 years than in the previous decades. Children today now have the Internet, iPad, cell phones, Google, Tiktok, Facebook and other modern marvels that have unleashed a virtual gush of information on the young brain. Data show that children are spending an average of 8.5 hours per day interacting with digital devices up from 6.5 hours in 2006. Thirty per cent of the time they are using more than one device, bringing daily total media exposure time to 11.5 hours. This indicates that the amount of screen time has been dramatically increasing and is likely to continue to do so as the technology improves and becomes even more widely available.

The digital revolution raised several questions relevant to children’s health – relevance that extend to teens, parents, teachers, and the society at large. We must ask ourselves, what are the implications for good or ill of the dramatic changes in the way our children spend their time?

The digital revolution also gives us a unique insight into how experience shapes the brain, and, in turn, how these brain changes may change our experiences. This means that as kids grow, they have the potential through their choices and the behaviour they engage in, to shape their own brain development.  Therefore, your kids experiences and the people they associate with shape the ways in which their brains ultimately develop.  We have always faced distractions, but computers and cell phones and a constant stream of stimuli they offer, are a new challenge to focusing and learning. In fact, the risk is that today our children will be less able to stay focused on anything, not just schoolwork.

I’m not advocating for parents to toss out the cell phones and computers but, rather, that parents should have a more balanced approach to these powerful tools necessary to compete and succeed in modern life. Media from television to the “new media” including cell phones and iPads, social media and gaming are a dominant force in children’s lives. Although television is still the predominant medium for children and teens, the popularity of the new technologies is  increasing annually. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, this is such a concern that pediatricians are encouraged to ask two media questions to parents at every well child visit: How much recreational screen time does your child or teenager consume daily?  Is there a television or Internet connected device in the child’s bedroom? They give parents the opportunity to limit the time their child spends on the screen.

 Studies showed that few parents have rules about cell phone use for their children. More than 60 per cent of teenagers send or receive text messages after “lights out” and an increasingly large number of children either send or receive a sexually explicit image by cell phone or Internet.

According to scientific literature, about one  in four school-going children suffer from developmental delays/deficits, such as difficulty communication, language problem, impaired motor skills, and emotional deficit. Excessive screen time is considered to be one of the crucial risk factors that can potentially hamper the early developmental processes in children.

So, how can adults limit their children’s screen time? Certain measures can be taken to prevent a child from excessive screen time. For example, in specific circumstances where screen time is unavoidable, parents are advised to watch the on-screen shows along with their children, as well as to interact with the children about the content of the shows. In this way, children can get the benefits of face-to-face interactions while spending time on screens.

It is important to select on-screen programmes wisely. Studies show that some high-quality educational programmes, as well as interactive media, can be beneficial in terms of improving the academic skills of preschool children. Parents can set a balance between online and offline time and should prohibit screen time while with family, or during mealtimes and at bedtime. Because children imitate the activities of nearby adults, parents should restrict their own screen time to set an example.

Subrina Hall-Azih is a Trinidadian Educator residing in New York