Ways To Navigate Screen Time With Your Children
Screen time is an issue for anyone living in the 21-st century. Men and women, young and old, married and single, it doesn’t matter who you are, everyone is bombarded with a gazillion digital devices on a daily basis, most of which involve gazing for hours on end at a screen.
Children are certainly not immune to these effects, either. Particularly with so many students engaged in long-distance learning due to the COVID-19 crisis, kids are spending more time than ever plunked in front of a screen.
It’s important for parents to acknowledge the issues this may pose and actively look for ways to structure and limit screen time within their homes.
How Screens Affect Our Children
Studies on the (typically negative) effects of screen time are becoming more common every day. For instance, the average age for a child to receive a smartphone is a staggering 10.3 years old. Not surprisingly, this has led roughly one out of every two parents to both think their kids are addicted to their smartphones and that their cellular devices are negatively affecting their health.
In addition, the simple use of using a screen for more than seven hours a day (a feat that is easier than you’d think) has been shown to create “significant differences” in children’s brains. Even a mere two hours a day has led to lower scores on language and thinking tests.
Compare that to the fact that American children 8-12 years old tend to spend between 4 and 6 hours per day using screens — with teens push the number north of 9 hours — and it’s clear that a crisis is at hand.
Ways to Navigate Screen Time with Kids
If you’re nodding in agreement, but you’re not sure how to curb the screen time in your home, here are a few simple steps that you can take in order to change the status quo without upsetting everyone in the process.
Remember, Balance Is Key
First off, remember that you don’t want to eliminate all screens from your home. Technology is part and parcel of modern life, and it’s important that children are exposed to it in due time and measure. Often screens are used for inherently good things like school and communicating with loved ones, too.
However, it’s important to teach your child that the essential nature of something doesn’t mean it should be used recklessly. Rather than using screens any and every time it seems reasonable, they must strive to regulate and choose what they do and how much time they spend gazing into an electronic device.
By far the best way to provide a sense of balance for your children comes in the form of demonstrating it yourself. In other words, children follow their parents’ lead, so start by working on your own screen usage before you begin to fix your family’s bad habits.
Set Up Routines
Routines are an excellent tool that can help with naturally reducing screen time. For instance, blue light has been shown to have a negative effect on sleep, which can, in turn, affect your child’s grades. Avoiding television, tablets, computers, and smartphones an hour or two before bed can help everyone sleep better at night.
In addition, try setting up a morning routine that ditches electronics in favor of quiet time, a peaceful walk, eating a healthy breakfast, and other activities to start your day off with something other than a dose of screen-induced dopamine.
Invite Kids in on the Process
Rather than making less screen time a punishment, use the opportunity to invite your kids in on the process. Not only does this help them use screens less, but it also encourages them to take ownership of their own digital health.
Come up with routines together, set screen limits as a family unit, work together to find balance, and keep one another accountable. If you work on the problem together, it increases the odds that your efforts will collectively pay off in the long run.
Make Other Activities Enticing
Finally, look for other activities to replace screen usage throughout your child’s day. This will help them stay busy and avoid boredom — both of which inevitably lead to whining and begging for more screen time. There are many other activities that can take the place of screen time, such as:
Reading a book.
Going for a walk.
Riding a bike.
Doing a puzzle.
Playing a game.
Whatever particularly works for your family, consider looking for other activities that can help you and yours unplug on a regular basis.
As was already mentioned, screens are an irrevocable part of modern life. They’re integrated so deeply into how the modern world works that it’s nearly impossible to eliminate them entirely.
However, as a parent, it’s your job to foster a sense of appreciation and respect towards the almighty screen. Take your child by the hand and help them begin to understand the pros and cons of using screens. If they can begin to develop a healthy sense of understanding now, chances are they’ll be able to better navigate the digital temptations of life when they’re a full-grown adult.