9. Screen Time and Children, Three Tips of Balancing Children’s Screen Time

7/31/2020

Have you noticed how many hours your children on-screen time daily? Do you use your smartphone to calm your children when they upset? Are your children can’t stop playing with digital devices or watch TV?

With screens virtually everywhere, limiting a child’s screen time can be a challenge. Research shows children who spend too much screen time activities during early age perform less well on reading test, scored lower on language and thinking test. Too much screen time activities make it hard for children to sleep at night, raise the risk of attention problem, behavioral problems, loss of social skills, anxiety, depression, violence and obesity. Today I will share with you three tips of balance screen time with your children.

The first tip is developing screen time rules. Avoid screen time for children younger than 18 months, with exception of video chatting. Children younger than age2 are more likely to learn and remember information from a live presentation than they are from a video. From age 18 months to 24 months you can start introducing digital media. For age 2-5, limit screen time to 1 hour per day and watch quality programming with music, movement and stories. For ages 6 and up, limit media use and device type and ensure media use does not interfere with sleep and physical activity. For older children, you may also set rules like no digital devices during family meals and during family fun night.  

The second tip is to ensure quality screen time. Interacting with computers improves both visual intelligence and hand-eye coordination. The internet gives children access to a wealth of information to help build their knowledge. I recommend caregivers to research games and apps before getting them for your child and be with you children during screen time and interact with them. Be with your children during screen time and interact with them. By watching together, you can help your child understand what he or she is seeing and apply it in real life. However, passive screen time shouldn't replace reading, playing or problem-solving.

The last tip is to set aside time without technology. It is important for children to have time to engage in activities that don’t involve their digital devices.Unstructured playtime is important for building creativity, so young children should have time to play away from screens every day. Family meals and bed times are also important times to put the screens away and interact with your children.  

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