Screen Addiction Is Taking a Toll on Children

[cookiemdough]

“If kids are allowed to play ‘Candy Crush’ on the way to school, the car ride will be quiet, but that’s not what kids need,” Dr. Steiner-Adair said in an interview. “They need time to daydream, deal with anxieties, process their thoughts and share them with parents, who can provide reassurance."

Oh is that what endlessly asking me "when will we get there" is supposed to be? Daydreaming and sharing thoughts and anxieties? Ok

[eddy]

This article makes me feel nervous/shamed even though my kids just watch tv. When you have easy access to stuff it makes regulating it all so much harder. Yeah yeah that is part of being a parent. I feel like I am in a constant battle of no or feeling guilty because I am tired and give in to letting them watch "too much" tv.

[omgzombies]

Obviously twelve hours in front of a screen is bad, but I always roll my eyes a bit at these articles.

I'm fairly certain it was unfettered access to computers, and the ability to play on them without interruption that allowed me to become confident in my ability to use them. Those silly computer games taught me to be comfortable using a computer, which then translated to being comfortable using programs that I use today. I experimented with how to run things to get the best frame rate, how to change the settings to accommodate older programs on a newer computer, or newer programs on an older computer. I experimented with Word and Excel to figure out how to do many of the tasks that I would be taught later in school (and somehow many people still don't know how to do). I experimented with learning code, or even just how to ping an IP address. As a result I am much further ahead then many of my peers when it comes to computers. I know way too many people who aren't willing to just try a couple things to troubleshoot a problem once their computer stops working the way they expect it to.

I'm not saying you should shove a screen in your kids face every moment of the day, but there are definitely positives to using computers (and I'm going to assume tablets), apart from their value as an educational tool to teach reading or math. Those computers and tablets aren't going anywhere, being comfortable with tinkering around on them is a useful skill to have.

[MrsAxilla]

I read this article, forwarded it to DH, then handed my 21 month old the iPad to watch C is for Cookie on repeat. Bad, lazy mama, but I needed to distract her from jumping off the couch.

....and that lasted long enough to type this. Why won't she just watch TV for five minutes so I can pee alone?!?

[LoveTrains]

Jul 6, 2015 11:39:51 GMT -5 omgzombies said:

I'm not saying you should shove a screen in your kids face every moment of the day, but there are definitely positives to using computers (and I'm going to assume tablets), apart from their value as an educational tool to teach reading or math. Those computers and tablets aren't going anywhere, being comfortable with tinkering around on them is a useful skill to have.

I don't see how delaying screen time until they are over 2 says that you are denying them the use of tablets, computers and other screens in the future. 

I get it, I'm not a parent. I have no idea what I would do as a parent. But I'm not reading anything in the article that seems to say that children aren't going ot be comfortable tinkering around on electronic devices if you wait a little bit to introduce them to kids. 

[ttt]

This is a constant point of contention between me and H. I'm constantly trying to limit their screen time and he's constantly just handing over whatever screen will keep them quiet.

[rondonalddo]

I know this is a blog post, but...what is with this writing? Statement-vaguely-related sentence-anecdote-anecdote-tiny info from a study that isn't critiqued-anecdote-specialist-vaguely-related sentence = argument?

[eclaires]

I worry about this, because Jackson and MH love to play computer games together (along with some video games, but their favorites are specifically for computers and they play together). It rained here most of the weekend, so they played together a lot, and they both enjoy it.

It's also easy when the kids are occupied for me (esp Jackson) to get caught up in doing stuff and lose track of time and then I'm like - wait a minute, you've been doing that for TWO HOURS.

As we're coming off like a week straight of pouring down rain, I'm feeling especially guilty about this, lol. I've said no every time it's been asked today, and we're getting ready to head to the pool so hopefully we can detox a bit this week after last week's binge.

[jeaniebueller]

“The average 8- to 10-year-old spends nearly eight hours a day with a variety of different media, and older children and teenagers spend more than 11 hours per day.”

Who are these kids? I mean, really. My kids are at daycare or school around 9 hours a day. I am not trying to dispute their findings, but that seems like a lot. I do know a few teenagers whose parents let them play with video games or devices as much as they want and it has led to not good situations. DS spent a few hours playing Xbox yesterday, but he probably hadn't played it in over a month and we just came off of a 3 day weekend where he spent the majority of the day playing outside and in the water, so a few hours of xbox didn't bother me.

[MrsAxilla]

Jul 6, 2015 11:57:10 GMT -5 eclaires said:

I worry about this, because Jackson and MH love to play computer games together (along with some video games, but their favorites are specifically for computers and they play together). It rained here most of the weekend, so they played together a lot, and they both enjoy it.

It's also easy when the kids are occupied for me (esp Jackson) to get caught up in doing stuff and lose track of time and then I'm like - wait a minute, you've been doing that for TWO HOURS.

As we're coming off like a week straight of pouring down rain, I'm feeling especially guilty about this, lol. I've said no every time it's been asked today, and we're getting ready to head to the pool so hopefully we can detox a bit this week after last week's binge.

We had three nights of Dead shows, so we relied on the screen way too much this weekend.  I think I'll take the kids to the library this afternoon - lol.

[karinothing]

Jul 6, 2015 12:02:02 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

“The average 8- to 10-year-old spends nearly eight hours a day with a variety of different media, and older children and teenagers spend more than 11 hours per day.”

Who are these kids? I mean, really. My kids are at daycare or school around 9 hours a day. I am not trying to dispute their findings, but that seems like a lot. I do know a few teenagers whose parents let them play with video games or devices as much as they want and it has led to not good situations. DS spent a few hours playing Xbox yesterday, but he probably hadn't played it in over a month and we just came off of a 3 day weekend where he spent the majority of the day playing outside and in the water, so a few hours of xbox didn't bother me.

This is easily my SILs kids. They wake up and are on the TV for 1-2 hours before school. They use the phone or watch videos in the car. Then they come home from school and the TV is on non stop from 3-10pm or so. I think it is easy to get there, especially if your teenager has their own phone or tablet.

[karinothing]

Jul 6, 2015 11:51:46 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Jul 6, 2015 11:39:51 GMT -5 omgzombies said:

I'm not saying you should shove a screen in your kids face every moment of the day, but there are definitely positives to using computers (and I'm going to assume tablets), apart from their value as an educational tool to teach reading or math. Those computers and tablets aren't going anywhere, being comfortable with tinkering around on them is a useful skill to have.

I don't see how delaying screen time until they are over 2 says that you are denying them the use of tablets, computers and other screens in the future. 

I get it, I'm not a parent. I have no idea what I would do as a parent. But I'm not reading anything in the article that seems to say that children aren't going ot be comfortable tinkering around on electronic devices if you wait a little bit to introduce them to kids. 

Yeah, we did no screen time till 2 and did barely any until 3 and now he is almost 4 and it is still very limited. He is very adapt at technology from what I can tell lol. Plus, all the elementary school kids here get an Ipad and highschoolers get a laptop. So he will have plenty of time to learn everything later on.

[orangeblossom]

I saw this post the other day about a photographer who took pictures of kids as they watched tv.  Here's an example:



www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/10/donna-stevens-kids-watching-tv_n_7544888.html


"Television has changed the American child from an irresistible force to an immovable object," educator Laurence J. Peter once said. In the haunting images of Australian-born photographer Donna Stevens, these words come to life, as children morph into undead creatures before our eyes, captivated by the unknown happenings on the screens before them.



Stevens, who is now based in Brooklyn, spent years working as an art director in advertising, where her job consisted of, in her words, creating "images that offered up a false promise of perfection." She considers this series, titled "Idiot Box," her revolt against the picture-perfect images she was so often assigned to craft, capturing instead the ugly realities of everyday life.



"This particular series came about after watching my own son's interaction with the family iPad," Stevens explained to The Huffington Post, "which slowly somehow became his iPad." For the shoot, she enlisted local Brooklyn students from the same co-op preschool as her son. The children each got to pick their favorite show available on Netflix and Stevens began shooting soon afterwards.




"They say photographing kids is hard work but this shoot was simple," she explained. "I experienced first hand the power of the screen as it lulled my subjects into a TV-coma before my lens. None of them talked or moved during the shoot. I didn't direct them in any way. And even though I was positioned right in front of them with my camera, they barely noticed me."



The photographs are simple yet truly unsettling, as the camera frames the glazed over captivation in each child's eyes, the drooping residue of a smile, drool slowly accumulating in its corners and cracks. The images capture the children not as the curious budding humans we hope them to be, but comatose zombies, cast in the alien glow of artificial light.



"TV is just one of the ever present black screens through which we negotiate our lives today," Stevens concluded. "'Idiot Box' hopes to explore the darker side of our love for technology. Should we exhibit more caution about the role of technology in our children's lives? Is our techno-paranoia warranted? No matter what gadgetry we may possess and blame for our undoing, do our problems still just remain human?"

[downtoearth]

Jul 6, 2015 11:53:24 GMT -5 ttt said:

This is a constant point of contention between me and H. I'm constantly trying to limit their screen time and he's constantly just handing over whatever screen will keep them quiet.

Ditto. I'm thinking about banning all screens for one week per month - from me too at home.

[heyjude]

What I don't understand about these studies is that some ipad games for young kids (many in fact) are just replicas of non screen time kid activities and games. Is there something about the screen that makes the activity worse?

[karinothing]

Jul 6, 2015 12:22:22 GMT -5 @dontcallmeshirley1 said:

Jul 6, 2015 12:14:58 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Yeah, we did no screen time till 2 and did barely any until 3 and now he is almost 4 and it is still very limited. He is very adapt at technology from what I can tell lol. Plus, all the elementary school kids here get an Ipad and highschoolers get a laptop. So he will have plenty of time to learn everything later on.

You need to have both parents on board with the rules if screentime limits are going to work. If one parent is stricter about screentime than another, it leads to the kid whining constantly to stricter parent about shows, even when laxer parent isn't around.

Not that I know anything about that. 

how, well that is true. We are both on the same page about this. We also have been preparing DS that when the new baby is here the baby can't watch TV or use the ipad, so he won't be able to use it when the baby is awake. He (as in DS) seems okay with that but we shall see lol.

[omgzombies]

Jul 6, 2015 11:51:46 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Jul 6, 2015 11:39:51 GMT -5 omgzombies said:

I'm not saying you should shove a screen in your kids face every moment of the day, but there are definitely positives to using computers (and I'm going to assume tablets), apart from their value as an educational tool to teach reading or math. Those computers and tablets aren't going anywhere, being comfortable with tinkering around on them is a useful skill to have.

I don't see how delaying screen time until they are over 2 says that you are denying them the use of tablets, computers and other screens in the future. 

I get it, I'm not a parent. I have no idea what I would do as a parent. But I'm not reading anything in the article that seems to say that children aren't going ot be comfortable tinkering around on electronic devices if you wait a little bit to introduce them to kids. 

I never said you shouldn't delay until 2.  I just think these articles tend to promote more fear about screen time than what is actually warranted, and that they discount the positives of having regular access to technology.  When I read these articles all I tend to come away with is the fear that if I let my four year old play games on the computer while I'm cooking dinner, then somehow she's going to become addicted to screens, won't learn how to properly socialize with other kids, and will basically just be a vegetable in front of a screen.  

It's not new advice to suggest that early screen time isn't the greatest, and I was very protective of DD for the first two years when it came to any tv/tablet/computer screens.  DS came along, and I wasn't going to have the battle of not letting DD watch her morning cartoon because her little brother was in the room, and he wasn't allowed to watch it yet.  I'm sure there are some drawbacks to watching tv that early, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say they are fairly small in the grand scheme of things.  

[katfco]

Jul 6, 2015 12:21:18 GMT -5 heyjude said:

What I don't understand about these studies is that some ipad games for young kids (many in fact) are just replicas of non screen time kid activities and games. Is there something about the screen that makes the activity worse?

Sometimes, yes. A lot depends on imagery and the rapidity of changing images, but there are a lot of studies that show attention spans and brain development can be affected by certain screen imagery. 

[karinothing]

Jul 6, 2015 12:31:26 GMT -5 tillie said:

I'm sorry, but calling this an "addiction" is over the top.

Eh, I don't think that is true. How many of us aren't addicted to screen time or media. I mean we are on GBCN all day, most of us (I assume) have smart phones and are on them frequently. I used to sit in waiting rooms and read, now I get on my smart phone. I know that DS screams when he doesn't get TV and it is hard to break him away when it is time to turn it off. I mean I think screen addiction is a real thing for most Americans.

[heyjude]

Jul 6, 2015 12:25:03 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Jul 6, 2015 12:22:22 GMT -5 @dontcallmeshirley1 said:

You need to have both parents on board with the rules if screentime limits are going to work. If one parent is stricter about screentime than another, it leads to the kid whining constantly to stricter parent about shows, even when laxer parent isn't around.

Not that I know anything about that. 

how, well that is true. We are both on the same page about this. We also have been preparing DS that when the new baby is here the baby can't watch TV or use the ipad, so he won't be able to use it when the baby is awake. He (as in DS) seems okay with that but we shall see lol.

Do you think this plan could backfire? In that he may resent the new baby?

[cookiemdough]

I think there is a difference between playing an educational game on the screen versus endless hours of call of duty. Besides since it is taboo to let your kid go unsupervised to the park or play in the yard, what are parents supposed to do lol.

[litebright]

Sheesh, wasn't there just an article posted recently about how screen time probably isn't THAT bad?

Maybe this one: fivethirtyeight.com/features/screen-time-for-kids-is-probably-fine/

[LoveTrains]

Jul 6, 2015 12:31:26 GMT -5 tillie said:

I'm sorry, but calling this an "addiction" is over the top.

You wouldn't consider this an addiction?

From the first paragraph of the piece we are commenting on:


"The documentary “Web Junkie,” to be shown next Monday on PBS, highlights the tragic effects on teenagers who become hooked on video games, playing for dozens of hours at a time often without breaks to eat, sleep or even use the bathroom. Many come to view the real world as fake.
"

It seems to me that if someone does something for dozens of hours without a break to eat, sleep or use the bathroom that its a problem that warrants serious discussion.

Do I think all children are headed in this direction? No. Should we start discussing it as a society? Sure. 

[katfco]

Jul 6, 2015 12:31:26 GMT -5 tillie said:

I'm sorry, but calling this an "addiction" is over the top.

It seems like whoever wrote the title only read the lede and wrote a provocative headline for it. Bad copy editing, but screen addiction is a real problem for some kids, and a ton of adolescents and young adults in China have been dealing with it for a while. I certainly believe there are a lot of American teens who are addicted to their phones. I had a student who was in tears one day because a teacher had taken away her phone. She was completely focused on her phone and just kept repeating, "I need my phone." 

[jeaniebueller]

Jul 6, 2015 12:25:03 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Jul 6, 2015 12:22:22 GMT -5 @dontcallmeshirley1 said:

You need to have both parents on board with the rules if screentime limits are going to work. If one parent is stricter about screentime than another, it leads to the kid whining constantly to stricter parent about shows, even when laxer parent isn't around.

Not that I know anything about that. 

how, well that is true. We are both on the same page about this. We also have been preparing DS that when the new baby is here the baby can't watch TV or use the ipad, so he won't be able to use it when the baby is awake. He (as in DS) seems okay with that but we shall see lol.

Honestly, I wouldn't have gotten through maternity leave with an older child at home without screen time. He watched tons of PBS kids and played waaaaaay too much Disney Infinity. It was NBD once he started school and I went back to work and we reverted back to the regular rules of screen time. You do what you have to do. Don't beat yourself up if you need to give yourself a break by letting your older child have screen time once the baby arrives.

[IIOY]

Jul 6, 2015 11:13:22 GMT -5 @soudesafinado said:

Many come to view the real world as fake.

Jesus.

[heyjude]

Jul 6, 2015 12:25:03 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Jul 6, 2015 12:22:22 GMT -5 @dontcallmeshirley1 said:

You need to have both parents on board with the rules if screentime limits are going to work. If one parent is stricter about screentime than another, it leads to the kid whining constantly to stricter parent about shows, even when laxer parent isn't around.

Not that I know anything about that. 

how, well that is true. We are both on the same page about this. We also have been preparing DS that when the new baby is here the baby can't watch TV or use the ipad, so he won't be able to use it when the baby is awake. He (as in DS) seems okay with that but we shall see lol.

Another question. When your first child was a newborn does this mean you yourself didn't watch TV while your newborn was awake (and say nursing)? TV is how I got through the NB phase!! This is all non snarky. Just curious.

[chedifuen]

Jul 6, 2015 12:19:48 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

Jul 6, 2015 11:53:24 GMT -5 ttt said:

This is a constant point of contention between me and H. I'm constantly trying to limit their screen time and he's constantly just handing over whatever screen will keep them quiet.

Ditto. I'm thinking about banning all screens for one week per month - from me too at home.

We ban them completely one day per week and my husband and I try to honor that too. We also will only charge their iPads twice a week so once it's out of battery, they're out of luck. They use their iPads for TV almost exclusively. I think I got that tip from someone on this board. I love it because it's a built in stopping point, without having to constantly monitor how much time they're using. 

I absolutely think that you need to strike a balance. We live in a time where screens are the norm but it doesn't need to be constant for your kid to pick up the skills they need to use computers and tablets. 

[pescalita]

The documentary “Web Junkie,” to be shown next Monday on PBS, highlights the tragic effects on teenagers who become hooked on video games, playing for dozens of hours at a time often without breaks to eat, sleep or even use the bathroom. Many come to view the real world as fake.



Yes, this is clearly the same as an hour of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or the occassional iPad game while waiting for dinner out. 

[karinothing]

Jul 6, 2015 12:35:09 GMT -5 heyjude said:

Jul 6, 2015 12:25:03 GMT -5 karinothing said:

how, well that is true. We are both on the same page about this. We also have been preparing DS that when the new baby is here the baby can't watch TV or use the ipad, so he won't be able to use it when the baby is awake. He (as in DS) seems okay with that but we shall see lol.

Do you think this plan could backfire? In that he may resent the new baby?

I guess we will find out? But he gets very limited time, so only really 40 minutes on weekend mornings (and occasional weekdays, but rare), and only when we are still in bed. He never asks for TV if we are out of bed or if it is not in the morning. So while he does throw tantrums over it sometimes, he also gets over it quickly. Who knows, maybe I am delusional, but given how little he watches I don't see it being that big of a deal. He just has to learn that sometimes things change and he can get over it lol. Maybe that makes me mean?