It is no surprise that children spend more time watching screens due to the school holidays.
Managing their children’s screen usage during the winter break may be difficult for parents and caregivers, especially those who work from home. When you have a full and hectic weekday, screen time may be a welcome reprieve.
Global studies, on the other hand, have discovered that young children, as well as older children and adolescents, are getting more screen time than ever before. Concerns about how this would affect their social development and mental health have been raised. Screen time can instil bad habits in children, which may be challenging to break.
How much screen time is recommended for children?
The World Health Organization recommends no screen time for children under the age of two, one hour or less per day for children aged two to five, and less than two hours (of sedentary, recreational screen time) for children over five.
How to help your child ditch the screen time habit
Here are some helpful pointers when it comes to screen time and children:
The importance of content: It is vital to monitor what children are watching or playing on screens to ensure that they are exposed to information that is age-appropriate and useful to their overall development.
When possible, spend time together: In terms of development, the advantages of in-person contact outweigh those of screen usage, particularly for younger children. Interactions between a caregiver and a child are essential for cognitive, social, and emotional development. Talking and singing provide fantastic possibilities to encourage growth and build nurturing bonds without using screens. To establish a better balance, aim to match screen time with time spent together with older children and teenagers.
It’s alright to set limits and rules: Despite their complaints, children flourish with healthy boundaries, even if they don’t realise it. Simple screen time regulations may make a major difference in obtaining healthy screen time levels and also have a good influence on family ties. Some examples include no electronics at mealtimes, a weekly screen-free day or a day off from social media or a family screen time ban on specific days.
Turning off the lights: The harmful impact of screen time on sleep is widely known. The most essential barrier is probably to limit screen time as sleep approaches. As much as screens appear to help children sleep, the amount of stimulation given by screens is often too high for them to “power down” for the night. Furthermore, the blue light generated by screens signals to their minds that it is not time to sleep. Screen use might have a detrimental influence on their sleep quality and duration. Given the numerous advantages of sleep for children, this is not a resource to be skimped on.
