Section 3:Screen Time

It probably won’t surprise you that most parents are concerned about their children’s screen time. The average household has 25 connected devices, a figure which doubled during the pandemic. At least 38% of children under the age of 2 years old and 80% of 2- to 4-year-olds have used a mobile media device, so it’s not surprising that 71% of parents with a child aged under the age of 12 say they are concerned their child might be spending too much time in front of screens. 

It’s a good concern to have - the dangers of allowing our kids to spend too much time in front of a screen are very real. 

The trouble with screen time

Sleep is one of the major concerns. In one study, 75% of parents reported their child sleeps with at least one electronic device. Yet, getting enough sleep is a non-negotiable part of a healthy lifestyle; it affects both our physical and our mental health, improves our productivity and overall quality of life. The trouble with using digital devices close to bedtime is that they suppress the production of melatonin, a natural hormone that’s released in the evening to help us feel tired and ready for bed. Screens keep our kids feeling alert when they should be winding down to go to sleep. In addition to taking longer to fall asleep, they’ll struggle to get the high-quality sleep they need to feel energized the next day. 

Another important danger associated with too much screen time involves our children’s physical health. Children who spend more time inside on their phones or tablets don’t spend as much time running and playing outside, which leads to increased obesity rates in children. The sooner parents teach their kids to substitute some of their screen time with healthy physical activity, the more likely they are to maintain these habits as adults.

Too much time spent on devices can also impact a child’s social skills. Face-to-face engagement is critical for teaching children to understand and use verbal and non-verbal communication, develop empathy and learn social manners. For example, recent research has shown that screen time is negatively associated with social skills development in toddlers.

How much screen time is too much?

In an attempt to provide some direction, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has published guidelines to help parents define how much and what kinds of access to digital devices are appropriate for children of different age groups: 

• Up to 18 months: Not much access to devices at all, with the exception of video chats with family members and friends. 

• 18 – 24 months:  Parents should co-view high-quality content with their kids so that the media experience is social, and children can talk about what they are seeing. Experts say adult interaction with the child during media use at this age is crucial. 

• 2 – 5 years: Parents should continue to co-view when possible and keep screen time to about an hour a day of high-quality programming.

• 6-10 years: AAP guidelines are less specific, but they empathize that families should talk about the media they consume, prioritize interactive types of screen time and be consistent about how they limit their screen time.

But it’s important, as you read through this advice, to remember that every child is different. You, as a parent, will know what works best for your child; some kids will need greater monitoring and stricter rules than others, while some will find it more intuitive to set and stick to their own limits. Perhaps most importantly, some children will use their screen time to engage in more productive activities than others, and this is exactly what we’re going to focus on next: the different types of screen time. 

Not all screen time is equal

While the guidance on the amount of screen time that’s appropriate for our kids is important to bear in mind, some types of screen time are better (or worse) than others. 

There are four types of screen time:

1. Passive Screen Time 

It helps to think of passive screen time as being more “consumptive.” It involves watching screens with minimal cognitive engagement. For example, watching TV, online videos, scrolling through social media. It’s true that some TV shows or online videos can be interactive and engage the viewer intellectually, but ‘viewing’ media for entertainment as an easy distraction is largely considered passive.

In one study, experts found that passive screen time is the most detrimental to human beings; there is zero physical benefit, it worsens our social skills and reduces our resilience.  Others believe this type of screen time reduces children’s creative imagination because instead of living real-life experiences, the screen is doing the work for them. As a result of too much screen time, one out of every three American teenagers has not read a book for pleasure in a year, and in the UK, a new study reported that young children are spending twice as long looking at screens as they do playing outside.

Passive screen time is the most detrimental to human beings

2. Active Screen Time

Active screen time involves cognitive or physical engagement when using digital devices. It includes activities like playing educational games, researching information, or editing images, for example - using the digital device to learn, or move in some way. Even some video games are considered forms of active screen time, as they can have a similar effect to walking, skipping, and jogging. Kids can actually derive a similar benefit to physical exercise when they play active video games like Nintendo Switch, Xbox Kinect, or Pokemon Go, for example. 

In contrast to passive screen time, active screen time is a much more productive way to use technology. It stimulates children’s cognitive side of the brain and can even encourage them  to get active, improve their hand-eye coordination or use their logic. 

3. Creative Screen Time 

Creative screen time is the most positive type. It involves making things, either individually or collaboratively. It includes making music, creating digital art, making online videos, or even coding a website. Researchers have shown this type of screen time has positive associations with educational outcomes, and they encourage teachers to introduce interactive elements in their lessons as this would have more positive effects on learning. 

Using new technologies creatively not only helps children develop their creativity, it encourages them to collaborate, problem solve and solidify experiences into memories, helping them remember information they learn long-term. 

4. Communicative Screen Time 

Communicative screen time involves connecting with family members, friends, or on social media platforms, through digital devices. Some studies have found that, in moderation, communicative screen time can assist children in developing social skills. Tools like FaceTime and Skype, for example, are a great way to connect with loved ones, especially those who they wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to see every day. 

“My family is spread around the world, so it’s been amazing for my kids to spend time with them on video calls. It’s nowhere near as good as seeing them in real life, of course, but it’s certainly better than not seeing them at all.”

Elizabeth Tweedale, CEO, Coco Coders

But it’s key to remember that any kind of screen time displaces the time our kids spend interacting with people face-to-face, which is a key ingredient in helping them develop communication, cognitive, and social skills. Too much social screen time can lead to poorer health and worse socio-emotional outcomes in children, including toddlers. 

How to manage your child’s screen time effectively  

As parents, we need to encourage children to engage in creative, active, and communicative forms of screen time, and dissuade them from spending too much time on passive forms of screen time. We’ve put together a few actionable tips below to help you with this: 

1. Keep conversations about digital issues open and make decisions collectively

In Section 2 of our guide, we spoke about the concept of “hybrid,” to explain how important it is that, as parents, we help our kids embed technology into their lives as part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Key to this is to communicate openly with your child about how and how much they use digital devices. 

Co-author of Tech Generation: Raising Balanced Kids in a Hyper-Connected World, Dr. Lasser, explains that even very young children can start learning how to recognize when screen time is interfering too much with the rest of their lives and thus self-regulate their use. By communicating your thoughts, your concerns and your reasoning behind the rules you want to impose, you can teach your child how to set their own rules in the future.

“Kids are also less likely to balk at limits if they have a role in creating and establishing them.”

Dr. Lasser 

2. Build skills to mitigate the risks of engaging with poor quality content

Websites like Common Sense Media, PBS Kids, and Sesame Workshop can help parents decide which apps and programs are best for their children. But whilst it’s important that we monitor the content they’re consuming, it’s even more valuable to empower our kids with the knowledge they need to understand how to maximize the value of their screen time for themselves. A good way to do so is to show them how to filter poor quality content and find good quality content. 

This way, you’re offering your support, but you’re also fostering their independence. Something that’s especially important in older children and teens. 

The World Health Organization recommends using the “SHARE checklist”: 

• Source: discuss the credibility of the source with your child. 

• Headline: explain that headlines don’t always tell the full story, so it’s important to read, listen to, or watch the whole piece of content before drawing conclusions. 

• Analyze: analyze the facts together; question whether they seem believable. 

• Retouched: Watch out for misleading pictures and videos that are likely to be edited.

• Error: Look out for typos and errors, as these could mean the information is false and point to an unreliable source. 

3. Keep an open mind about new technologies 

It’s normal to be skeptical of the things we don’t understand. As parents, we’re bound to hear about a lot of new technologies and digital trends for the first time through our children, and this dynamic can feel a little unsettling. But it’s important not to jump to conclusions and make decisions based on uninformed assumptions – keep an open mind and find out what they’re about, because the benefits to be derived from new technologies are many. 

“Both young people and digital technology are better than their reputation.” 

Urs Gasser, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

As we mentioned in Section 2 of our Guide, teachers can use interactive tools to make it easier for children to understand and retain new concepts. They can give children the chance to experience things they wouldn’t otherwise have had the chance to, and engage in active, creative, and communicative types of screen time that promote their creativity, problem solving and collaboration. 

A lot of kids engage in communicative screen time to interact with friends outside of school. Banning or limiting these activities isn’t a decision that should be made lightly; your child could struggle to keep up with conversations that the rest of their friends are having, or even miss out on certain plans. It could have a serious effect on their sense of belonging, which could render them more prone to feeling isolated, suffering from anxiety, and weakening their ability to manage stress. 

This being said, Susan Stiffelman, author of “Parenting with Presence” explains: 

“Children grow into resilient adults by living through disappointment. It’s OK for your kids to be mad, bored or anxious about missing out on what their friends are up to online.”

Susan Stiffelman

The key lies in setting healthy boundaries and leading by example. 

1. Engage with tech yourself as a credible role model 

A recent survey conducted on more than 1,700 parents found that 69% of those with kids under 5 feel guilty about their own use of screen time and 68% wished they used their phones less. So, as we work on setting healthy boundaries for our kids, it’s important to check our own screen time too. 

Question whether you really need to reply to that email right now, or whether the call can wait; whether you’ve scrolled through your phone enough, or whether there’s something else you could do to relax besides watching TV. You setting boundaries for yourself will help your child understand that using technology in a healthy way is not only important for them, but also for everyone. 

According to Harvard-affiliated psychologist, Dr. Steiner-Adar, a few particularly important times to stay unplugged include: 

• When picking up or dropping children at school, as this is a transitional time for kids, during which they download their day. 

• After coming home from work, as it's a time to reconnect with your family.

• During meals and outings like trips to the park or zoo, or vacations when the focus is on family time. 

• 1 hour before bedtime. 

2. Participate in your child’s screen time 

Being involved in your child’s screen time is a good way to introduce a creative, interactive, or communicative element into the mix, as well as a good opportunity to monitor what they’re doing and encourage them to use technology collaboratively. 

You could consider cooking together by following a recipe from an online video, compiling the photos from your last family holiday or outing into a video, setting up your own Roblox avatar and playing games with your kids, or even commenting on the things you’re watching on TV. 

Screen time that’s active, creative AND collaborative

We’ve designed our online coding lessons to be a great mix of interactive education, creativity and collaborative problem solving. We teach children aged 6-12 how to code through a series of creative themes - such as space, sport and ocean conservation - and get them working together to build their own games and animations.

For 60 minutes each week, you can be confident they’re getting some high quality screen time, and learning some key skills to help get them future-ready.

Sign your child up for a free coding lesson to see what it’s all about.