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A parents' guide to screen time
In the digital world, finding the right screen time balance is a major concern for most parents. Here's what to consider.
Screen time is a major concern for most parents. Balancing children's connected lives while avoiding the dreaded tech tantrums that come with device removal can be a minefield. If you've ever encountered a similar situation with your own children, you're certainly not alone! A recent report found that 66% of parents believe parenting is more difficult than it was 20 years ago, with most suggesting technology as the reason.
So how much is too much? The bad news: there is no definitive answer. The good news: there is no definitive answer! However, the one thing most agree on is that not all screen time is created equal. The World Health Organization's most recent guidelines state that children aged under two shouldn't have screen time at all, two to four-year-olds should aim for less than an hour a day, and those aged between five and 17 should only be spending a maximum of two hours per day on their screens. It's important to note that the report's recommendations apply to recreational screen time (gaming, watching television, or messaging friends) and don't account for the screen time requirements for education, such as homework or apps that promote learning.
Accordingly, it's also useful to consider the passive versus the interactive nature of what our children do online, rather than just counting the minutes or hours. A passive activity is one where information flow is directed one way (towards your child!), whereas an interactive activity is where information is more like a conversation with two or more contributing parties. As is the case with real life activities, children are more likely to learn if their online experiences encourage them to be active, creative participants.
Depending on how we quantify the issue, several age groups are vulnerable to different aspects of device use. Research has shown that the majority of parents provide toddlers and preschoolers with unsupervised access to screen time. Children are commonly given their first personal device before they enter secondary/high school; therefore, the difficulty of managing screen time without parental supervision increases. Teenagers display the highest level of screen use, and one of the greatest concerns with this age bracket is the impact of late-night device use on sleep quality.
Arguably, today’s generation of digital natives receive access to devices earlier and earlier. A study conducted by The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, showed that 50% of toddlers and preschoolers use devices on their own without supervision. In the same study, half of the parents of teenagers and a third of the parents of primary-aged children stated that they did not enforce screen time limits.
While we know that screen time is not unequivocally bad, one thing we can discern is that a lack of screen time limits and healthy boundaries around where and for how long screen time is happening can lead to excessive screen use by children and teenagers. Given that the part of a child’s brain that’s in charge of self-regulating behavior isn’t fully developed until age 25, unfettered and unsupervised access to devices increases the likelihood of screen time issues and exposure to inappropriate online content.
Here are our three top insights direct from our leading online safety experts.
01
Emerging research has indicated that the quality of screen-based activities should guide the quantity of screen time. As a parent, it’s important to stay aware of the type of activities your children are participating in online, so that you can make informed choices about screen time limits. The simple rule here is that anything that has more quality to it, for example, an educational video or a socially shared activity such as watching a family movie, can render more quantity or time.
Think of it this way, cartoons may be fun to watch, but they don’t provide much in the way of educational value. Watching a small amount doesn’t do any harm, but binging for 5 hours won’t be doing our brain (or body) any favors!
02
Using technology with your children is also a great way to understand what they are doing, and who says you can’t enjoy it too! Co-viewing and co-gaming can ramp up the benefits and reduce the negative effects of any kind of screen time. Regardless of quality, it’s important to remember that issues occur when media use displaces, rather than enhances, real life.
03
Physical activity, adequate sleep, social interaction, hands-on outdoor experiences, and face-to-face interaction should be the primary activities undertaken by your children, balanced with moderate screen time, as these activities enhance life quality rather than detract from it.
If you want to set up healthy and balanced device habits for your child, here are the steps we recommend you take:
This will allow parents to supervise what children are accessing online, and will be especially helpful when they are gaming. It will allow parents to see or hear if strangers are engaging with their child, or if banter between friends is going too far. It should go without saying that we don't recommend headsets, even though this may be a little annoying at first!
In a recent survey, 68% of teens questioned indicated that they slept with their phone within easy reach at night and over one third checked their phones in the middle of the night. To promote healthy sleep habits, we recommend devices stop being used at least an hour before bed and that they not be allowed in bedrooms during sleep time. If teens argue that they need their phones for an alarm or music on Spotify, help them find an alternative to the phone alarm (amazingly, analog alarm clocks still work perfectly well!) and suggest they listen to their music on a device that isn’t internet-connected (for example, they can download their music and listen to it while on airplane-mode or an old-school mp3 player).
When engaged in screen-based tasks, childrens' brains are still actively consuming and processing information. This is particularly true of games, which result in an increased level of cognitive arousal. While children can fall asleep straight after screen time, sleep experts say that not providing a no-screen buffer negatively impacts sleep quality. Being clear on an 'off' time is great for sleep, and helps children let their friends know they won't be available for messaging or playing after a given time.
We are surrounded by technology so much that it can be difficult to manage adequate off-time. It's essential for parents to model healthy screen habits for their children, to help them learn self-regulation when it comes to their own technology use. Therefore, we recommend having a technology-free area in your home and/or a technology-free time-period every day, for example, 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm, around dinner time. It is vital, however, that this applies to everyone in the house, including parents! Screen-free time is so crucial, because it promotes a space for direct face-to-face communication and bonding. If you yourself find it difficult to stay away from your phone, we encourage you to share this discomfort with your children and open up a conversation about how both children and adults feel without their devices, which will increase empathy and understanding within your household.
https://anderson2.onlinesafetyhub.io/web/ysafe/parent/rules-agreements/screen-routines
Quite simply, good digital parenting begins with boundary-setting.
https://anderson2.onlinesafetyhub.io/web/ysafe/parent/deep-dives/fortnite
What parents need to know.
https://anderson2.onlinesafetyhub.io/web/ysafe/parent/blogs-articles/taming-tech-tantrums
How to tame the techno tantrum in 3 simple steps.