In mid-2019, The World Health Organization shared that if your kid is under 5 years old, they should be getting between 45 minutes to 1 hour screen time maximum per day. If your kid is under a year old, they should be getting no screen time whatsoever.
Of course, this was before the pandemic! No one knew how difficult this would become for parents and children alike. It placed a lot of pressure on families dealing with kids that have upwards of seven, eight, nine hours of screen time a day. Parents complain that kids are addicted. Kids complain that parents are too restrictive. And somewhere in between the two, there is a compromise that well, neither party is ever happy with.
There are strong associations between increased screen time and headaches, obesity, addiction, and grumpiness. Mood disruption is a big one: this includes less curiosity, lower self-control, more distractibility, more difficulty making friends, less emotional stability, and inability to finish tasks.
The reason for this association with addiction is because there is a hit of dopamine to your child’s brain every couple of seconds. When we are rewarded in life (affirmation, a favorite food, etc) we get a hit of dopamine each time.
What we’re looking to do is help your kid come back to a normal, real-life conversation without getting those rewards of dopamine every couple of seconds, like we do through gaming and social media. It’s hard work to return to “normal” life after screens that flood dopamine levels – that’s why you often hear, “I’m bored. I want to play Minecraft.”
What can we do about it?
Try to reduce screen time by 10 minutes every week. That’s all we’re looking for – to start really small. Remember, this is an addiction. You wouldn’t say to someone who is an addict “oh, just put that drink down. There are so many other things you can do instead.” You’re asking your kid to do something that can feel physically impossible for them to do. That’s why they don’t listen and put it away, and why you’re having to repeat yourself so many times.
When you take away those 10 minutes, you need to add something back in. You’re looking for going for a walk, ride a bike, play another game, or spend some one-on-one time with your kids doing what they love.
How to use screen time positively:
If you need screen time to get by as a family, I totally understand that. We all do! Make it most helpful by trying to make it interactive. Try to help your kid by getting them to tell you a little about what they watched, or what the fun or not-so-fun part of the video was. What you’re trying to do is engage with them around the content they saw!
Research has shown that the more interactive you are with your kid around screen time, the better the outcome for your kid. That’s why there are so many questions around whether screen time counts if you’re doing online schooling – this screen time is much more interactive. The more interactive it is, the better it is.
