This week the American Academy of Pediatrics released new recommendations on screen time.
They now recommend that children younger than 18 months “avoid digital media use (except video-chatting),” but kids 18 months and older can use digital media. They also say that children 2 to 5 years should limit their time to one hour a day and for youth 5 years and older they now don't really have a recommended cap on screen time.
This is a big change from their last set of recommendations back In 2013 that urged parents not to let kids under 2-years old engage with screens at all. Children 2 years and older (all the way up to age 18) were advised to limit exposure to two hours a day.
I am concerned about some of the age guidelines in these newly revised recommendations:
I am happy that the guidelines specifically encourage families to regularly talk to their kids about the many issues around screen time. This is exactly the point of our Tech Talk Tuesday (TTT).
For today's TTT let’s talk together about what we think about these recommendations.
Photo by NI QIN/iStock / Getty Images
October 24, 2016
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
This week the American Academy of Pediatrics released new recommendations on screen time.
They now recommend that children younger than 18 months “avoid digital media use (except video-chatting),” but kids 18 months and older can use digital media. They also say that children 2 to 5 years should limit their time to one hour a day and for youth 5 years and older they now don't really have a recommended cap on screen time.
This is a big change from their last set of recommendations back In 2013 that urged parents not to let kids under 2-years old engage with screens at all. Children 2 years and older (all the way up to age 18) were advised to limit exposure to two hours a day.
I am concerned about some of the age guidelines in these newly revised recommendations:
I am happy that the guidelines specifically encourage families to regularly talk to their kids about the many issues around screen time. This is exactly the point of our Tech Talk Tuesday (TTT).
For today's TTT let’s talk together about what we think about these recommendations.
Photo by NI QIN/iStock / Getty Images
October 24, 2016
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
Are you co-parenting kids? Do you find that one of you focuses more on establishing rules about screen time while the other is less concerned? You don’t need me to tell you that answering yes to that question is incredibly common, and it can be a major stressor in homes. I look at the challenge and seek solutions in today's blog.
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One phrase I’ve often used over the years is “fighting fire with fire,” and when it comes to managing screen time, this idea can really come in handy. Incorporating parental controls into your family’s screen time routine can make things run more smoothly at home. And summer is an ideal time to consider this approach.
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A topic I hear from parents regularly is regret—regret about saying yes to a tech device too soon. Maybe it was a smartphone, a smartwatch, a gaming console in the bedroom, or allowing social media. Today’s post is about how to reverse course on a tech decision for your child thoughtfully — and possibly prevent even deeper regret down the road.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
