By Carol Church, Writer, Family Album
Reviewed by David Diehl, PhD, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida
From the dentist’s waiting room to the backseat of the car, and even under your child’s pillow at night, televisions, computers, smartphones, and tablets are everywhere we go today. On average, American children between 8 and 10 get at least 5 hours of screentime a day, with older children and teens getting even more. Close to three-quarters of US children and teens have a TV in their bedroom, meaning they watch more television than their peers, and with less supervision. And 75% of kids over age 12 own cell phones, usually sending more than 50 texts per day. In a recent survey, more than half of teens admitted to continuing to text after their official bedtimes.
As much as we enjoy the entertainment and connection these devices can provide, families may struggle with knowing how much is too much, and with where and how to draw the line. Excess media use has been tied to childhood obesity, poorer school performance, aggression, and sleep and behavioral problems. Many parents also worry about sexual, violent, and drug-related content their children may encounter.
With these concerns in mind, parents looking for guidance may be glad to know that the American Academy of Pediatrics has recently updated its recommendations on media use for children and adolescents.
The Academy continues to suggest that parents limit children and teens to one to two hours of entertainment screen use per day, while discouraging all screen exposure for children under two. They reinforce that TVs and computers should not be placed in children’s bedrooms. In addition, they propose that families agree to turn off all devices during meals, and that parents set a “media curfew” well before bedtime. Moms and dads can set the example here by remembering to turn off or silence their own devices and focus on togetherness during shared family time.
But perhaps most importantly, these experts suggest that each family create a clear family media use plan, with rules that everyone knows and understands. The details will be up to you, but should cover appropriate content, daily amounts, safety rules, location of use, and what happens if the rules are broken. Since two-thirds of children and teens report that their parents have no rules when it comes to their media use, just having a conversation and beginning to set guidelines is a great place for families to start.
The AAP has more information available on family media use plans here. Check out their sample “Media Time Family Pledge,” too, for some safety and commonsense guidelines that the whole family can talk over. For more great, sensible suggestions on setting screentime guidelines and making a plan, visit How to Set Screen Rules That Stick at Common Sense Media, where you can find lots of other thoughtful advice on managing your kids’ screentime and understanding its content.
Further Reading
Making Good Decisions: Media in the Lives of Young Children (from UF-IFAS)
(Photo credit: kids on the iPad by Thijs Knapp. CC BY 2.0.)
References:
Council on Communications and Media. (2013). Children, adolescents and the media. Pediatrics. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-2656
Rideout, V. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8- to 18-year-olds. Retrieved from http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/8010.pdf
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