Screen Time – how much is too much?

This is a really common area of discussion between teachers and parents/carers. As with everything, there is always a balance. The way children (and adults!) use technology is now crucial to their social relationships; however, there are aspects of screen time which, without any shadow of a doubt, affect children’s behaviour and concentration – both at home and at school.  

Children and adults alike are spending more time with their devices – phones, tablets, chromebooks, PCs and consoles.  Like it or not, computer based entertainment is here to stay, but what are the advantages and disadvantages, and more importantly, how does it affect our children?

What is screen time?

A study by Common Sense Media grouped screen time into four categories:

• Passive consumption: watching videos or shows, reading, and listening to music
• Interactive consumption: playing games and browsing the internet
• Communication: video-chatting and using social media
• ​Content creation: making digital art or music

There are a lot of differences between the activities in these groups and each of them has a place in the lives of our young people.  

What are the risks associated with screen time?

Research shows that allowing children to spend too much time with their screens can cause a host of negative effects. These include:

• Obesity: When children are inactive, staring at their screens, they are not burning calories. This sedentary lifestyle can cause them to gain weight.
• Sleep disturbances: Looking at screens before bed can disrupt sleep cycles. The blue light from those screens interferes with the brain’s sleep cycle and can cause insomnia.
• Difficulties with behaviour: Children who spend over two hours per day on their screens often have attention problems.
• Academic problems: Children who spend too much time on their screens have also been shown to do worse on academic testing.  The brain’s “white matter” is also damaged from too much screen time. This means the brain’s network connections may misfire, causing children to act erratically. The brain’s cortical thickness may also be reduced, which can impair thinking
• Propensity for violence: Children who are exposed to violent media, such as movies, music and video games, can become desensitized to violence. They may imitate what they see on TV, or even try to use violence to solve their problems.

How do we manage screen time in our house?

Pay attention to how your children act during and after watching TV, playing video games, or hanging out online. There’s no need to worry if they’re using high-quality and age-appropriate media, if their behaviour is positive, and if their screen time is balanced with plenty of healthy screen-free activities.  

If you’re concerned about heavy media use, consider creating a schedule that works for your family. This can include weekly screen-time limits, restrictions on the kinds of screens children can use, and guidelines on the types of activities they can do or programs they can watch. Make sure to get your children’s input so the plan teaches media literacy and self-regulation, and use this as an opportunity to discover what they like watching, introduce new shows and apps for them to try, or schedule a family movie night – remembering to balance this with lots of outdoor activities, playing with toys that develop fine motor skills and problem solving abilities (such as lego) and games which involve children using their imagination.