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Screen time for adolescents: what is appropriate?

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If your family is like most, your teens have trouble putting down their screens at mealtime, bedtime, school, and just about anywhere! It’s a situation that is almost universal in our culture, but one that can lead to harmful long-term issues if they don’t develop some healthy habits. You can help.

According to the American Association of Childhood and Adolescent Psychiatry, screens can sometimes have negative consequences for a child’s or teenager’s physical, emotional, or psychological health. (Read the whole article here; it’s very helpful and informative.)

“Parents may not always know what their children are viewing, or how much time they are spending with screens. Children may be exposed to:

  • Violence and risk-taking behaviors
  • Videos of stunts or challenges that may inspire unsafe behavior
  • Sexual content
  • Negative stereotypes
  • Substance use
  • Cyberbullies and predators
  • Advertising aimed at your child
  • Misleading or inaccurate information

Too much screen time may lead to:

  • Sleep problems
  • Lower grades in school
  • Reading fewer books
  • Less time with family and friends
  • Not enough outdoor or physical activity
  • Weight problems
  • Mood problems
  • Poor self-image and body image issues
  • Fear of missing out
  • Less time learning other ways to relax and have fun”

You’ve likely seen or experienced some of these issues in your own family: your children upset because of being bullied on social media; negative stereotypes about looks and body image; a perceived need to answer every bling the phone makes or to constantly post pictures to Snapchat or Instagram. Being completely attached to a device is unhealthy, and there are some things you can do to help your teens strike a balance.

First, make sure you are modeling appropriate amounts of screen time. Do you seem to care more about a work email than about a moment with the family? Do you keep your phone with you every minute and read it constantly? Is the television on nonstop in your home?

This is a perfect subject for your teens to learn how to negotiate what’s important. Together in a family meeting (or a series of meetings) come up with a set of rules for everyone to follow. Rules might include: no devices during mealtimes; for every half hour on a device, spend a half hour in conversation or physical activity or a game; phones and devices are turned off 30 minutes before bedtime. Make sure your teens know that you have the right to monitor their activity on devices and social media, because you are keeping them safe even if they don’t like it.

Families that negotiate screen time can find that talking about it brings the family closer. Parents also probably need to focus more time on other family members instead of their screens.  Modeling appropriate use of devices is a gift to them, and also to you. More time not watching a screen frees up time to do things together. And, while the things they experience and see on social media are fleeting, the time they spend with you is absolutely priceless for all of you.

Screen time guidelines for elementary school aged children

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It’s an interesting time to have an elementary school aged child, isn’t it? You watch them grow and change so quickly, and it is sometimes difficult (for you and your child) to navigate all those changes. What’s the right diet? Are they getting enough exercise? How much sleep do they need?

One question that you may not have expected to have to answer is: What is the appropriate amount of screen time for my child?

Screens are everywhere, and they are not going away. Television, gaming devices, smart phones, tablets, computers. Sometimes there are even class sessions online, and if you’re a person who uses your computer for work, you may wonder what the harm is to let your kids hang out on the computer as much as you do. It’s a great question, and experts in the pediatric field are weighing in with helpful answers.

Too much screen time for children can impede social skills, cut down on physical exercise, and even harm sleep patterns. When children are on a device, they aren’t interacting in real space with adults or peers. Spending too much time watching television or gaming keeps children from important physical activity or from being outdoors in the fresh air. Watching a screen near bedtime has been shown to negatively affect sleep quality.

So, just what is the appropriate amount of time on a screen? How do you monitor use? The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry gives some guidelines, such as:

  • the whole family (including adults!) shutting off screens and phones during activities and at meals;
  • remove screens from bedrooms at least 30 minutes before bedtime;
  • learn how to use parental controls;
  • check phones and computers to see what your children are watching;
  • involve your child in other activities that don’t involve screens.

(You may find the entire article helpful and can read it here.)

How much time should your elementary aged child spend with screens?

Decide when is the right age for your child to receive a mobile device, and the right age for engaging in social media.

Pay attention and be involved in your children’s screen activity. Steer them away from violent images and content, and from sexual content or media that harms their self-image; steer them toward content that helps them connect with family, that is focused on learning, and that enables them to be creative.

Screens have made the modern world more accessible and more complicated for children. You can help them navigate devices and programs in healthy ways.

Screen time for young children

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Screens are a big part of modern life, from television to computers to phones to tablets. Every family must make decisions about how much time their children can or should spend in front of a screen. Like so many things, the right decision varies with the age of the child.

Does my child’s pediatrician have thoughts about how much screen time is too much for myEmily Sweigert, age 5 young child? Actually, yes.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology has these recommendations for children aged 5 and under.

  • “Until 18 months of age limit screen use to video chatting along with an adult (for example, with a parent who is out of town).
  • Between 18 and 24 months screen time should be limited to watching educational programming with a caregiver.
  • For children 2-5, limit non-educational screen time to about 1 hour per weekday and 3 hours on the weekend days.”

What we know about young children is that they need human interaction, face-to-face. Screens are not a substitute for that. We offer them no help, and may do them harm, if we teach them (even unintentionally) from an early age that screens are better than human contact. Age-appropriate games, singing and talking to and with your children, eye contact, reading to them daily—all these are more beneficial than setting them in front of a screen for hours at a time.

Remember that you are a far better teacher to your young children than any device can be. Educational programs aimed at very young children (under 18 months) are not helpful for the children to watch, because their brains can’t process the information. What you can do, though, is watch the program and mimic what the educator does as you interact with your child.

Here’s a quote from a pediatrician on the American Academy of Pediatrics website. You can read the entire blog here.

“A toddler learns a lot more from banging pans on the floor while you cook dinner than he does from watching a screen for the same amount of time, because every now and then the two of you look at each other.

Just having the TV on in the background, even if “no one is watching it,” is enough to delay language development. Normally a parent speaks about 940 words per hour when a toddler is around. With the television on, that number falls by 770! Fewer words means less learning.”

Your child learns more from you than you can imagine. Remember that as you consider screen exposure.