It Australia is on school holidays and it is raining and freezing cold in many parts of the country. This means a lot of kids are stuck indoors and many parents may be grappling with how much “screen time” their kids have.
As a childhood researcher and parent of a four-year-old, this is a question I get asked a lot. How Much Screen Time Is Too Much? Should I worry about how much my child is watching?
If I had the power of magic, I would get rid of the concept of screen “time”. We need to talk about screen quality instead.
Parents find it very difficult to follow guidelines
there are international And National Screen time guidelines based on children’s ages.
In Australia, no more than an hour of screen time a day is recommended for children aged two to five. For children ages five to 17, this amounts to no more than two hours of sedentary screen time per day (schoolwork not included).
but research indicates Many Australian parents find it difficult to follow the current “time-based” rules. Royal Children’s Hospital 2021 Child Health Survey Too much screen time was the number one concern for parents about their children’s health. More than 90% of parents surveyed said it was a “big” problem or a “somewhat” problem.
But the idea that we need to focus on the “time” aspect is out of date. It only measures the quantity, not the quality of what the child is watching. This isn’t meant to suggest a free-for-all (sorry, kids!). Instead, we need to look at what our children are seeing and how.
Moving beyond ‘Screen Time’
long-running research Highlight Significance of the first years of life, with clear links between children’s early childhood experiences and their continuation mental and physical health,
We also know that sports and physical activity are important for development and therefore, if you are using a screen, it should be only a part of a child’s life. But let’s consider the following scenarios:
- Jenny (aged 4) watches Spider-Man with her older brother. She only watches for a few minutes but during this time sees a dramatic fight scene.
- Lucas, a friend of Bryce (aged 5), has moved interstate. Bryce regularly does 20 minutes of video chatting with Lucas. They talk about toys, play hide and seek and sometimes send emoji.
- Leo (aged 6) and his Aunt Sing are watching. They watch the movie for over 60 minutes while singing along to the music. Leo actively talks about the characters for days after watching, remarking that Mina (a character with stage fright) had to keep trying to be brave.
Each of these examples, out of all the examples that occur in Australian homes every day, show different uses of “screen”. Yet, as researchers, we often put these in the same bucket, which is referred to as “screen time.”
researchers are how am i looking kids can best use screen In our rapidly growing digital world. But we also need popular discussions to move beyond inflexible views that only encourage parental guilt.
What does quality screen usage look like?
There are two main strategies for focusing. The first is to connect with what your child is watching or playing.
research calls it “co-watching” Or “co-attractive”. The idea focuses on using children’s engagement with television and games as an opportunity to talk, promote language, and build understanding.
After or during the viewing, parents can ask children to explain what they saw. For example, “Wow, you saw some PAW patrol today, what were you watching?” or “I see you’re loving Hey Duggi, what parts do you like?”.
It also gives us a chance to say if something doesn’t match your values: “They fight a lot in Ninjago, it’s better to fight about their problems than you talk about them”. It also allows you to teach your children to be critical of the media they watch.
You choose what your kids watch
The second strategy is to make proactive choices about what your children see. This means we can choose content that supports learning and matches our values. This doesn’t mean that every show is explicitly educational, but there are plenty of programs out there that can help kids grow and develop their skills.
For example, in my household, Numberblocks has sparked interest in elementary arithmetic and Bluey promotes physically active play, emotional resilience, and self-regulation. Dino Dana and Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures engage kids with prehistoric worlds, and of course Play School remains a favorite.
Other families report video games such as Mario Kart promote fine motor skills and teamwork. Of course, a “dose” of Peppa Pig or something just for fun is sometimes fine, in the same way that adult audiences might freak out with Bridgeton or James Bond movies.
The message here is that parents and caregivers can make quality conscious choices. This means that instead of just turning on the TV or iPad and walking away, we need to engage in what our kids are watching and playing.
Senior Lecturer, Deputy Head of School (ACT and Regional NSW), Australian Catholic University
This article is republished from Conversation Under Creative Commons license. read the original article,
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