Category Archives: Screen Time

“The American Academy of Pediatrics tells parents that children’s total entertainment media time should not exceed two hours daily. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, average kids watch at least twice that much television. They also spend more than an hour per day online and another hour on video games. These activities, collectively called “screen time,” are widely blamed for the tripling of obesity rates in children since the 1980s” (Sanghavi).

Below are the AAP counsels that may be familiar to many parents.

The American Academy of Pediatrics “recommends limiting a child’s use of TV, movies, video and computer games to no more than one or two hours a day.” According to the Mayo Clinic, Too much screen time has been linked to the following conditions (Mayo Clinic).

Despite over a decade of warnings about TV and media use for our children, “In the U.S. today, television, videos, DVDs, and computers with games and web access are a household staple for most families. In fact, over 50% of children live in a home with at least three televisions. The average child is exposed to at least seven hours daily of media programming flashed to them through a screen” (Stephens). The thought of 30% of a child’s day spent in front of a screen is concerning to any adult, even those who understand the academic potential of digital devices.

Karen Stephens continues in Parent Exchange that time spent in front of a “screen” sidetracks children from playing with their family and other children.  In a world full of television and other media that claim to be educational in nature, “Even good media excessively watched steals valuable time from children — time they need to develop and practice social skills, thinking strategies, and physical abilities, such as strength, coordination, and stamina” (Stephens).

There is no doubt that media overexposure can lead to the areas listed above. But, in 2012, more falls into the media category that TV, movies, and video games. The world of 1999 has changed drastically, but many people still come back to the American Academy of Pediatrics definitions and follow them devotedly.  Today, though, “screen time” has no accepted, standard definition and, as it has been used in the literature, implies inactivity. As a concept, it needs differentiation and refinement to encompass active vs. passive media use” (Ahern, Phalen and Le). I believe this is one of the sources of conversation that has led me to very closely examine active vs. massive media.

TV is one focus of the screen time debate. The TV itself, though, is not the only factor to consider when looking at the effects of media and obesity, behavior problems, violence and the other elements cited by the AAP. “While the correlation between passive TV use and overweight/obesity exists and should not be ignored, other compelling influences (SES, race/ethnicity, family patterns of exercise and food consumption) mediate children’s BMI and weight. Therefore, eHealth interventions addressing obesity in children should not be discounted simply because they are technology-based” (Ahern, Phalen and Le).  The conversations, then, need to expand beyond “screen time” and a child’s time on a digital device. Instead, so many different factors must be considered in this entire screen time conversation.

Spending time watching the media from the TV in the family room has shifted with the introduction of devices small enough to fit into a child’s hand. Even the video game remotes of 1999 can send children on more than just an avatar starred adventure. Children watch digital media- movies and TV shows- on hand held devise such as Kindles, iPods, iPads and Android tablets. The media just looks different because it is not coming to the children through antennae, but instead through wireless routers.  “The divide along a demographic line reveals the effect of Internet videos, social networks, mobile phones and video games — in short, all the alternatives to the television set that are taking up growing slices of the American attention span. Young people are still watching the same shows, but they are streaming them on computers and phones to a greater degree than their parents or grandparents do” (Stelter). While they may be watching the same shows, the commercials children were exposed to are different in a world of streaming television.

Time watching a show is shorter with commercials removed. While short videos may fill time for a car ride or waiting for dinner to be delivered in a slow restaurant, many parents are actively aware of the time spent directly in front of the classic TV in the living room. Since awareness has been around for years, parents may have a better handle of this traditional passive screen time.

So, how are handheld digital devices changing the way our children interactive with media? In Screen Time, Young Kids and Literacy: New Data Begs Questions, Guernsey questions how Skype sessions with grandparents compare to this original definition of screen time? Do e-books fall into a different category?  “Anyone who has watched YouTube videos of babies playing with iPads will probably be a little unsatisfied… If “edu” apps on iPads qualify as screen time, does it help that Moms and Dads are usually interacting with their children at the same time that their tots are pressing their pudgy fingers against the screens? Today’s new data do not go deep enough to answer these questions” (Guernsey). Right now, there is very little evidence as to how screen time needs to be outlined in 2012.

Lisa Guernsey says that parents and the community need to look closer to what students are experiences when they are exploring digital media. She explains, “ The next trick is to tease out what I call the Three C’s: the content, context and the individual child. What kinds of media — what TV shows, which online games? Who’s with them as they read and play, and how is that experience integrated into what they are learning or interested in? And what ages and dispositions of children are drawn to what kinds of media for what reasons? Until we can answer these questions, we will continue to be in the dark about the impact of media and its complicated connection to literacy among the next generation” (Guernsey).  It is evident that we do not how the new modes of media will affect this newest digital generation.

Studies often ask students about their digital media usage. The question that I am attempting to tackle is how digital tools in the educational setting compare to the original TV/video game screen time. The American Academy of Pediatrics article “Influence of Limit-Setting and Participation in Physical Activity on Youth Screen Time” states, like in many studies, “Children were asked: ‘How many hours did you watch TV, play video games, or play computer games yesterday?’ Children were instructed not to include time spent doing homework on the computer.”  Where does the time on the computer, on digital devices, and other forms of media fit into the screen time debate? That is what we have yet to delineate.

The Minnesota Department of Heath states in their resources regarding Television/Screen Time and Health:
Information for Health Professionals: “There has been little research published to date examining other screen time activities than television. We look forward to more research being completed in these areas” (Minnesota Department of Health).  This calls for ongoing research may contain more answers for us… sometime in the future. For now, understanding the differences between passive TV and video game playing and using digital tools for learning and academic tasks is something that we need to come to understand.