Don’t deprive your child of screen time, but make sure to limit your child’s exposure time with supervision
Release date – Friday, July 23 at 12:30
By Dr. Garima Rajan and Aparna Gupta
“Screen time” includes activities that involve screens. For example, watching TV, using the computer, and playing video games. Spending time sitting in front of a screen is considered sedentary behavior. Screen time is very energy efficient. Monitoring your child’s screen time can be challenging due to the near ubiquity of monitors. The fact that some screen time can be instructive and helpful in children’s social development just makes things more difficult. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under 18 months should not use media, with the exception of video conferencing.
According to a study published in Indian Journal of Pediatrics (2022), 53% of children reported that they spend an average of less than two hours of screen time per day, and about 37% of parents believe that children’s excessive exposure to media has a negative impact on their behavior, social skills, and social skills. impact, academic performance and eating habits. Indian toddlers and preschoolers spend more time on devices than required. Children today are exposed to information and entertainment through screens that permeate every aspect of their lives. Assessing the effects of screen time during this period is crucial because children’s social and intellectual development is plastic during this time. In addition to psychosocial effects, too much screen time has been linked to delayed language and motor development.
Stunting
When starting school, many children are underprepared for the academic challenges. This is mainly because children may face developmental delays between the ages of 6 months and 4 years. These may be delays in language, communication, social-emotional and motor skills. Varadarajan et al. (2021) found that 89% of children in India were exposed to screens before the recommended age of 24 months. This suggests that children in India are exposed to screens at an early age, and more research is needed. There was no difference in screen time between weekdays and weekends.
According to a study by Madigan et al. (2018), a child’s development is critical during the first five years of life. When young children are addicted to screens, they may miss out on important opportunities to develop social, motor and communication skills. For example, looking at a screen that didn’t involve an interactive or physical component showed a lack of growth in their gross motor skill development due to less walking and running.
Screen time also reduces opportunities for verbal and nonverbal social communication, which is critical to promoting the best possible growth and development of children and relationships with caregivers. Since screen time is prevalent among Indians, it is important to limit screen time. Plus, unsupervised screen time can negate positives like skill acquisition.
positive side
According to Madigan et al. (2018), although screen time may limit a child’s ability to learn and develop, children who are delayed may receive additional screen time to help manage challenging behaviors. For example, research shows that kids with low self-control watch more TV than their classmates. According to the Canadian Pediatric Association (2017), exposure to screens also promotes imaginative play and favorable racial attitudes as additional cognitive developmental elements.
Interactive media, especially programs that ask adults to respond to what children say or do, may help students retain information, according to preliminary research. This responsiveness, along with age-appropriate content, timing, and intensity of action, helps 24-month-olds learn new words. Learn to Read apps and eBooks encourage early reading by providing letter recognition, phonics and word practice.
parent’s job
Another study by Putnick et al. (2023) explores the importance of replacing games with screen time. Reading aloud to children at home in their early years can develop their communication and problem-solving skills. Peer play is great for developing social skills. Because play is so central to childhood development, peer play may be especially important because children are inherently more similar to each other in terms of ability levels.
Children’s social skills can also be helped by greater exposure to peers because they are in the child’s microsystem. Along with them, the companions are also in the same system, which has a great influence on the level of adjustment of the language and the game. They also offer exceptional opportunities to learn social skills in horizontal relationships.
Madigan et al. (2018) also suggested that, in order to optimally promote children’s development, screen time should be used responsibly, in addition to high-quality caregiver-child interactions away from screens. Face-to-face interaction and family time should not be replaced by screen time. Healthcare providers can reach out to parents and develop a media plan, which may include creating screen-free areas and device curfews at home, balancing and allocating time for online and offline activities, and defining rules and boundaries based on media use. the age of the child. Ensuring that young children have enough time to play with other children may break the negative relationship between screen time and a child’s development.
All in all, kids shouldn’t be completely deprived of screen time. Parents need to understand the concept of healthy screen time and abide by it with their children. Limited supervised access to digital videos and programs should be encouraged. For example, eating meals under parental supervision. This will benefit both children and their parents. Conversely, completely depriving children of screen time stunts their development compared to peers who get enough screen time. Therefore, parents need to create and implement a proper plan for their children’s screen time.
