Screen Time and Little Minds

Parents today have a challenge that parents of past generations didn’t have. Let’s talk screen time.

Screens are everywhere. While most of us grew up with one television, and maybe a computer in our homes, children today are growing up with smart T.V.’s in multiple rooms, a desktop computer, a couple laptops, smart phones in parents’ pockets, kindles, tablets, and iPads. I remember having to log off the dial-up computer so that my mom could make a phone call on our landline! Now, I can see 4 screens connected to the internet all from the chair I’m currently sitting in. How do we navigate screens while raising children in today’s world?

If you search for the answers to screen time questions, you will likely find many opinions, judgement, and confusion. You’ll hit differing views, mom-shaming, more questions than answers, and arbitrary numbers of minutes. Does it make you a bad father for putting Coco Melon on while cooking dinner? Are you afraid your 8 year old is officially addicted to video games? Does an iPad affect their brains differently than a movie screen? And does educational content make a difference?

First things first, you’re not a bad parent. There is so much to navigate. It’s very easy for others to judge when they have no idea what it’s like to be a parent today. You’re really going to tell me that the parents that shut the door and said, “Don’t come inside unless someone’s bleeding!” wouldn’t put Paw Patrol on so that they could get work done if they had the option? I bet my mother would’ve bought 4 tablets and sold her soul if it meant my brothers and sister and I could do a long drive in the minivan without fighting! Add in being a working parent, or going through a tough time, or coordinating with daycares and sitters, and it’s nearly impossible to not lean on technology at times. It’s not the end of the world if your child gets more screen time than you’d like. You’re not bad parents for feeling a little overwhelmed and looking for opportunities to have your lives run smoother. The fact that you’re reading this shows how much you care.

That being said, there are some tips/guidelines based on evidence and research, not arbitrary internet judges, that parents may wish to keep in mind. But it can be helpful to think of screen time recommendations like food and dietary recommendations. Your child isn’t suddenly unhealthy because they have extra sugar and no vegetables for a few days on vacation. Just like with healthy eating, there are guidelines to keep in mind and work towards on a regular basis, but you won’t “melt your child’s brain” if some days are “less healthy” than others.

Here are the recommendations we give to parents looking for answers:

  1. Under 2 years, and especially under 18 months, avoid all screens except video chatting. There’s a reason for this: Children under these ages are still understanding the physics of the world. Their eyes are learning how to focus, track objects, understand time and space, recognize depth perception, and more. It doesn’t really matter if they are watching something educational and seemingly good for their brains - if there are cuts, multiple camera angles, time lapses, zoom-ins, etc, then it has potential to interrupt your child’s development. Watch any children’s show and note how often the camera angle changes and cuts. If little eyes are tracking a ball fly through the air on a show, and the camera cuts to a new angle, those little eyes are going to get confused. Not only are they developing physical understandings of the world, but these young minds are also developing important social understanding and social reciprocation. Even if you’re watching a video with no cuts and no commercial breaks, one long shot with a single camera angle and no zooms, they are seeing a face that isn’t interacting with them at all. Usually, a child gets social feedback in real time during all of their interractions. This is why watching a video of Grandma is not helpful, but video chatting with Grandma is totally fine. When the child smiles, Grandma smiles too. When the child looks to the side, Grandma asks about what he sees. But a video of grandma smiling and talking to the baby doesn’t interract socially with the baby in real time, affecting social-emotional development.

    Now, is watching Hey Bear for 30 minutes at your in-law’s house going to undo all the other physical and social development that your child is learning the other 23 hours and 30 minutes of the day? No. Is your child going to lose all depth perception because their older cousins were watching Moana in the same room they were swinging in? No. These are guidelines, and as long as most of the time you’re avoiding screens besides video chatting, your child’s brain is going to develop just as it should.

    Key Takeaways: Shoot to avoid all screens except for video chatting under 2. When that’s not possible, look for options of shows that involve only one camera angle with no cuts/zooms that feel similar to video-chatting while you watch them, like Ms. Rachel.

  2. Ages 2-5, limit unsupervised screen time and shoot for less than 1 hour per day. Many doctors note that if it’s educational, children can be unsupervised and can have more time, but as a speech language pathologist, I have to make some important clarifications.

    A. What counts as educational? Shapes, colors, numbers, and the alphabet are not the only (nor are they the most important!) things that your child is learning at this age. “Educational” content includes feelings, social emotional interactions and regulation, playing with others, solving social and non-social problems, learning about music, learning about food and cooking, body movement, impulse control, learning about art, fine motor skills, and more. “Academic” and “educational” are not the same thing. And to be honest, while under 5, academic skills can often take a back seat when compared to the others listed above. Your child can thrive in preschool even if they only know half of their ABC’s going into it, but they will likely struggle if they are behind on impulse control and emotional regulation.

    B. Are all screens equivalent? Nope! Interactive educational games can be more stimulating than watching an educational video. They also can be overstimulating, so be aware of how much stimulation your child needs and benefits from, and how much might be causing stress or “addiction” to overstimulating environments.

    C. What exactly is unsupervised vs. supervised? Ideally, you and your child can enjoy some screen time together to increase the effectiveness of positive content. For example, you can make a surprised noise and demonstrate joint attention of the show, you can talk about how Daniel Tiger solved the problem and how it reminds you of a time you solved a problem, or you can pretend play by “eating” the pizza they made on their cooking game. However, you are likely using technology and screens when you’re really needing time to do something else, not supervise and interact. That is ok! You can still supervise by listening from the other room, setting up parental controls, peeking in the rear view mirror, or using a baby monitor near the TV. You can talk about what your child played or watched later to help practice memory, recall, and story telling. Win-win!

    D. Are all days equal? No. Weekends may be more challenging, and the American Academy of Pediatrics even says that 3 hours is ok on weekends. Some days you might need to lean on a little extra screen time and some days you might not need any. What works for one day, or for one family, isn’t always going to be identical for the next.

    Key Takeaways: Shoot for less than 1 hour of screen time per day, but recognize that not all days are going to be the same. Shoot for positive content that feels beneficial for your child, whether it’s academic, social, encourages body movements, or other important developmental needs. Be aware of what screen types are the best level of stimulation for your child, and do your best to monitor/supervise and get involved in little ways when it’s possible.

  3. If over age 6, consider what works best for your family. There is no agreed upon, evidence based number for how much screen time is “good” or “bad” for your child. Instead, consider what your family needs, what your goals might be, and what feels best for your child. We still recommend monitoring screen usage in various capacities, such using parental controls, checking video game ratings, and being aware of the content your child is viewing/playing on their screens.

    Key Takeaways: At age 6, guidelines become more customizable to your family’s needs as your child is passed some of their most critical years of brain development. While your family’s approach may look different for an 8 year old and a 14 year old, there isn’t a magic formula or hard and fast recommendation the way there are for children aged birth to 5. Consider your own family’s goals, values, and needs.

  4. At all ages, be aware of overstimulation. It’s easy for children to become overstimulated with screens. They are bright, colorful, loud, and full of motion. If you suspect your child may be overstimulated, or if you suspect that they are needing higher levels of stimulation because their baseline is raised due to screens (ie: they are no longer reading books because books are no longer stimulating enough), we highly suggest intervening to ensure that your child doesn’t become accustomed to and start to crave higher levels of stimulation than what is readily available “in real life.” Our next blog post - “Screen Time: How To Reduce Your Child’s Need For Screens” will take a deeper dive into these suggestions. To start, consider reducing or muting volume, having the child move back from the screen, turning the brightness down, or switching the videogame/tablet to black and white mode only. Even as an adult, I find myself going through bouts of “addiction” to apps like TikTok. I’ve found the fastest way to take away it’s power and hold over me is to put my phone in black and white mode. Suddenly, it’s not quite as stimulating and it’s grip on my attention is significantly less powerful. It’s a little silly, but we all have brains that crave stimulation and adjust to different baselines of stimulation! Your child (and you!) should not feel shameful for craving tech and it’s stimulation…it’s actually quite natural. And there are ways that we can address it without kicking and screaming.

    Key Takeaways: Be aware of the stimulation (and overstimulation) that screens and technology can provide. Adjust the stimulation levels as needed.

  5. At all ages, avoid using screens as a tantrum-stoppers/mood boosters. Similar to sugary foods, screen time is not bad, can be super fun, and can give our brains a lovely “hit” of dopamine. But it’s problematic when we rely on it to avoid negative emotions. It’s normal to get a little mood boost when eating a cookie, and it’s normal to get a mood boost by watching a fun show. It becomes a problem when we avoid learning skills like emotional regulation or healthy ways to lift our moods because we train ourselves to eat a cookie whenever we get sad instead of process the sadness and/or lift our moods in a variety of other ways. Staying relatively neutral with screens (and food for that matter!) is the best bet. Acknowledging that screen time is fun is totally fine, but avoid giving it all the power over your child by using it as a way to block your child from ever feeling frustration, sadness, anger, boredom, or other emotions that are normal and important to feel and process. It’s a bad habit to see our crying child and panic and say “let’s just go eat cookies and feel better!” just as it’s a bad habit to say “no crying, let’s just put on Bluey!”

    Key Takeaways: Avoid using screens as emotional supports and instead ride the waves of occasional sadness, boredom, frustration that are part of life.

Our final tip: avoid comparing yourself, your child, and your family to others. Read these tips and recognize that they are non-judgemental, evidence-based recommendations based on brain development. But also recognize that there is more than one way to live and navigate screen time that can work well for your family and child. If you’d like more information or are curious to how recommendations change for neurodivergent children, and you live in Northeast Ohio, feel free to call Top Sail Therapy for additional recommendations and information.

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Screen Time 2: How To Reduce Your Child’s Need For Screens

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Dyslexia: What Does Good Intervention Look Like?