Kids’ Screen Time: Tips and Resources

Have your kids entered the age where technology use has become one more thing to think about each day? I recently read a statistic that said the average child in the US engages in 4-7 hours of screen time per day…per day! Think about how often we use technology for learning, then add entertainment, interaction as in phone calls and, bam, you have a lot of screen time! Kids screen time is a big parenting issue these days.

I could not believe the stats of kids and cell phones that Krissy, of B-Inspired Mama, shared in a recent article she wrote on the subject. An interesting infographic regarding how much and how young children are using technology and getting their own cell phones amazed me!

How is this monitored and protected by mom and dad? My husband and I have started to talk about what age we think will be appropriate for our kids to have their own phones. It is a security and safety issue in some homes. How did we manage in our childhood with no cell phones?

“Too often children are given screens to pacify and occupy them when it’s not an emergency or special occasion. Instead of learning how to live in the real world of communicating with people and occasionally feeling bored, they are given a screen world for their entertainment pleasure. More and more studies demonstrate the adverse effects of screen time on the brain and your child’s social and emotional development”  (Growing Up Social, pg. 28).

 

 

 

 

There is a new resource to help answer these questions and more!

Karyn, of Teach Beside Me, reviewed the book Growing Up Social on her blog, and said some great things about it. While I have not reviewed the book, I have 1 free copy to give away! I encourage you to read Karyn’s review whether you are interested in entering the giveaway below or purchasing the book for yourself.

We parents have to educate ourselves and set an example of constructive screen use. It does our family-building harm if we are always staring at a screen rather than interacting face-to-face. Families are not really experiencing time together if each member is on their own device at the end of the day.Limits need to be in place. I am still trying to find that balance in my home, but we err on the side of less. Sometimes we have to say “no.”

The online medical information site Medline Plus, run by the National Library of Medicine at The National Institutes of Health, has a great article entitled “Screen time and children” that sums up the effects of screen time on our developing young children…and not so young children, if you have teens in the house. It is not a simple problem or simple parenting issue, but their are strategies for keeping screen time in balance.

We all have to teach our children about technology and screen time. How do you teach self-discipline in this area?

 

 Some things I have done to use my phone and screens less are:

-Let the kids use the devices with time limits…even if the apps they are using are educational.

-Set time limits for technology use, and enforce them. Use a kitchen timer to keep everyone accountable and give kids a concrete ending to their screen time.

There are many activities we can do face-to-face with our infants, toddlers, preschoolers and older kids; they do not need to be using technology every day. When my children are infants and toddlers we do not have them use technology much or at all since their brains are much less mature and their attention spans are still developing.We still have movie days here and there, and allow our kids time to use technology under our supervision, so we are not a “tech free” house by any means. Use your discretion as the parent.

I mentioned in my post about Free Preschool Online, that we set the limit of 15 minutes for each of our children on a portable electronic device most days. Of course when we are traveling long distances on a road trip with kids, we relax on that rule a bit.

Making a plan about technology use in the home is a great start for keeping a balance for all family members when it comes to screen time.

How do you monitor your kids’ screen time? Do you limit it?