If you have children, chances are high that you have faced at least one or two struggles with technology time. Between the television, computer, and iPod, you and your kids might be facing too much screen time, and you might be facing confusing reports and information about how to use technology well with your kids.

Recommended Screen Time for Kids

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), 90% of parents report allowing children under the age of 2 to have some sort of media screen time, and by the time kids are 3 years of age, almost 1/3 of them have a television in their bedroom. These statistics seem alarmingly high when you also consider the guidelines for screen time for families with children. According to the AAP screen time is any television, computer based, or DVD programming and recommends the following guidelines.

• Parents with children under the age of 2 years are discouraged from allowing them any screen time.
• It is recommended that children over the age of 2 years be limited to 1 to 2 hours of screen time each day.
• Parents should avoid background television exposure, where the TV is on while a child plays nearby (even if the child doesn’t appear to be watching or listening to the programming).

The Risks of Too Much Screen Time

Technology can be a wonderful tool for education, development, communication, and innovation, but families need to find ways to strike a balance between passive screen time and active lifestyles. When children are allowed to watch television or play video games for hours upon hours, the side effects can be numerous.

• Children who have more than 2 hours each day of screen time are more likely to suffer from obesity.
• Research has shown that increased screen time is linked to emotional and behavioral problems in children, including difficulties focusing and paying attention to strings of tasks.
• Children who have televisions in their bedrooms are more likely to have poor academic scores.
• Sleep patterns are affected by too much screen time, resulting in kids who resist going to sleep and those who are unable to sleep soundly through the night.
• Each hour spent in front of a screen is an hour lost on active play time. Imagination, exploration, and creativity are reduced when television viewing and video games are increased.

What Should Parents Do About Screen Time?

Once parents understand the risks of too much screen time, these guidelines at first glance might seem very reasonable. However, it is understandable why parents are challenged to actually implement these in the home. There is a large difference between the exposure that children who are 4 years old might have when compared to the exposure that an 11 year old might experience. When that is combined with households that have several children of varying ages, school demands for technology use, and social norms for communication, monitoring screen time for appropriate length and content can seem like a daunting task. There are some steps parents can take in order to balance passive technology uses with beneficial life activities.

• Just spend one week calculating actual screen time for each family member. Include school time, family time spent watching a movie, and background noise time when the television is on but no one appears to be actively watching it.
• Create a goal with your kids that will reasonably reduce their screen time. If your tween is currently at 4 hours each day, try to reduce that by just an hour the first few weeks.
• Use a dry erase board in a central location on which everyone in the family can log technology time.
• Don’t keep televisions in the bedrooms.
• Make sure that for every 30 minutes your child is engaged in passive screen time that your child also logs the equivalent or more in physical activities.
• Set a good example. Make sure that the time you spend in front of screens is setting a healthy example for your kids.

Resources:

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/06/01/too-much-screen-time-may-harm-kids-fitness

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/children-and-tv/MY00522

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/10/12/peds.2011-1753.full.pdf

AUTHOR OVERVIEW

Lisa Shaw Senior Director, Child Online Safety and Protection at SpectorSoft

What do five kids ranging in age from kindergarten to high school, a Harvard MBA and years of protecting kids online get you? It gets you Lisa Shaw, COO of her very busy household, and a Senior Director at SpectorSoft, the number one leader in monitoring and protecting your kids online. She's an expert on the technology and trends that you need to arm yourself with to be the best parent you can be in today’s digital world.