There are a million different ways to parent and as technology continues to evolve, there will likely be millions more.
Back when television first became ubiquitous in family homes, I’m sure parents were excited to have something they could plop their kid in front of and stay entertained while Mom or Dad got some chores done or even just a chance to rest.
I’m also willing to bet that screen time was overused at first, until parents figured out how much was too much.
Fast forward to now and not only is there still television, but there are computers and game consoles and tablets and smartphones. The sheer number of screens in a person’s life is staggering.
Heck, I’m writing this at a desk with three monitors in front of me.
Opinions vary wildly between parents, teachers, doctors, and pretty much everyone else, about how much screen time kids should get.
The quality of that screen time is also in question. Like if the child is playing an educational game is it better than “Baby Shark” on repeat?
It’s certainly better for the parents’ sanity.
Most frazzled parents probably agree that a smartphone is a godsend when you’ve got a cranky toddler in the checkout line for groceries.
But a new study from Canadian Researchers has found a troubling correlation between screen time and behavior.
The study found that screen time was the strongest predictor of behavioral problems in five-year-olds.
The study included a number of risk factors.
They included things like parental stress, how much sleep the child got, and socioeconomic factors.
But it was found that screen time increased the likelihood of things like inattention, lack of focus, and other issues often associated with ADHD.
It looked at about 2,300 kids from Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto.
The data came from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) project, which has parents of five-year-olds across Canada fill out lengthy questionnaires about their child.
Current Canadian guidelines set a limit of two hours per day for a five-year-old.
Co-author of the study Piush Mandhane, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Alberta, said that their data shows 30 minutes or fewer would be best.
Of course, correlation is not causation and this study should just be one factor in deciding what’s best for your child.
Pediatrician Michelle Ponti, who chairs the Canadian Paediatric Society’s digital health task force told The Globe and Mail that only 13% of those studied reported more than two hours of screen time per day and that it didn’t differentiate between types of screens or how they were being used.
She said:
“A child that’s left to their own devices on a mobile device to click, click, click through inappropriate types of websites is different than a child sitting with a parent and working through an educational app.”
h/t: The Globe and Mail
