Reexamining the concept of screen time and technology usage for children in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a widespread impact on schools around the world from pre-primary to higher education. UNESCO hails this as “the most severe disruption to global education systems in history”. According to UNESCO, at the height of the pandemic, over 1.6 billion students in over 190 countries were forced to stay home due to school closures.
As a result, educators have been left little choice but to adapt quickly and transform the way learning happens, leveraging technology and digital media to ensure that learning continues for students despite school closures. Parents have also been forced to build new norms around how their children learn online and balancing recreational screen time for their children.
Herein lies the dilemma faced by many parents and caregivers – with classroom learning around the world switching online en masse due to the pandemic, parents and caregivers are challenged in their efforts to limit screen time for children. On one hand, they want to do what’s best for their children based on experts’ screen time recommendations, but on the other hand, they feel judged for exposing their children to increased amounts of screen time due to the pandemic.
While traditional views may have shaped parents and caregivers to think of all screen time as “bad”, children’s media expert Joe Blatt (as cited in Anderson, 2020), has advised against taking an over-simplistic view when it comes to considering screen time for children. Apart from quantity, it is also important for parents and caregivers to consider the quality and purpose of the screen time engagement.
This view is supported by Pappas (2020) in her article published on the American Psychological Association titled “What do we really know about kids and screens?” In Pappas’ article, she presents how psychologists are now researching other closely related factors influencing whether digital devices are beneficial or harmful to children – from the type of content being consumed to the environment that surrounds screen time.
The Screen Time Debate
Determining the ideal amount of screen time has always been a concern for parents who want the best for their children. The World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Department of Health of Hong Kong have published guidelines on the recommended amount of screen time for children by developmental age, which are by and large quite similar. They recommend the following as a guideline for parents:
- Below 18 months old: Use of screen media discouraged apart from video chatting, accompanied by a caregiver
- Between 18-24 months old: Screen time should be limited to watching educational programming, accompanied by a caregiver. Unsupervised media use is discouraged.
- Between 2-5 years old: Screen time should be limited to 1 hour or less per day of high-quality programming, preferably accompanied by an engaged adult.
- Between 6-12 years old: Recreational screen time should be limited to two hours or less per day.
- Between 12-18 years old: Should be trained to develop healthy habits and empowered to practice responsible digital citizenship.
Most of this research focuses mainly on the quantity of time, which in itself, has created further problems for parents. With the concrete recommendations issued by authoritative bodies like WHO and AAP, some parents may interpret these recommendations as screen time simply being dangerous for their children. To appear to be responsible parents, this may be why some parents are trying to cut down online lesson time for their children, even when they know it’s for educational purposes.
Not All Screen Time is Created Equal
In her article published on the American Psychological Association, Stephanie Pappas (2020) pointed out some of the challenges faced in conducting screen time research and indicated possible loopholes in the methods and definitions used in the research that screen time guidelines were based upon. Running randomized studies over a long period of time may prove to be a challenge especially if we consider lifetime tracking of the effects of children’s screen time use by ascribing different amounts of screen time. Surely the parents who were assigned 6 hours of screen time for their child won’t be too eager to participate. This makes it a challenge when we try to isolate the effects of screens from other experiences in a child’s life.
It may also appear that the definition of the types of screen time begs to be questioned. These screen time are often not differentiated by the actual activity, with playing video games online being attributed the same weight as video calling a loved one. While there may be longitudinal studies involved, Pappas cited critics who claim that “much of the research backing up the guidelines is correlational, cross-sectional or based upon self-report”.
In the Education Now webinar on Screen Time Sanity, Merve Lapus (2020) called out that “not all screen time is created equal”. It is important for users to consider what they are getting out of the screen time engagement and for differentiating between active and passive screen engagement. In an example of passive engagement, a group of friends may be logged on to Zoom at the same time for a virtual homework session where the participants each are engaged in completing their own homework but have the comfort of knowing that they have the company and support of their friends who are doing the same along with them online.
Lapus also calls for more parental understanding when it comes to managing their children’s screen time. Parents who complain about not understanding why their children seem to enjoy watching live streams of gamers playing on Twitch may benefit from understanding that it’s very much the same idea as an adult enjoying watching home improvement shows on TV. To the child, that is their world. The more important conversation parents should be having with their children is around digital citizenship and understanding how to balance screen usage in a healthy and responsible manner.
Conclusion
As parents raising children who are part of the digital generation, Jon Lasser and Mike Brooks (2018) recommend that parents take a “mindful approach to media”, warning that parents who restrict screen usage completely may need to be prepared to face the consequence of their scheme backfiring on them. Instead of controlling their children’s use of screen time, parents should inculcate in children the ability to self-regulate or they risk hindering the self-regulatory growth of their children.
Experts also advise taking a bigger picture view by considering the nature of the screen time as well as the results to be achieved when weighing screen time. Parents should consider the type of learning that is taking place, the level and quality of the engagement, the nature of the content as well as the context of the engagement. Rather than getting too hung up on screen time, parents should consider other factors like the happiness index of their children, whether they are getting along with friends in school, whether they are sleeping well, and their overall well-being and character development.
Developmental psychologist Brigid Barron and her colleagues (as cited in Livingstone and Blum Ross, 2020) encouraged parents to become “learning partners” to their children. Barron et al. suggested “seven ‘scaffolding’ roles for parents” to help in their children’s learning. These include: “teaching, collaborating on projects with, providing nontechnical support to, brokering learning opportunities for, providing learning resources for, learning from, and employing children to assist with technical projects.”
Undeniably, large amounts of screen time should still be a point of concern for parents, but the more pertinent question for us to consider during this pandemic, is not merely how much screen time is too much but rather “how do we embrace the benefits of digital learning and connection online, while reducing the harms of technological overload or disconnection”, as discussed by leading education experts in the Education Now webinar on Screen Time Sanity (Walsh, Ito, Lapus & Livingstone, 2020). Ito nicely sums up by calling for parents to “take a deep breath, worry less, and suspend judgment” about the online activities of their children and to instead “listen and use it as a point of connection”.
References
UNESCO. (2020, December 18). From COVID-19 learning disruption to recovery: A snapshot of UNESCO’s work in education in 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2021, from https://en.unesco.org/news/covid-19-learning-disruption-recovery-snapshot-unescos-work-education-2020
Anderson, J. (2020, November 2). A Nuanced View of Screen Time. Harvard Graduate School of Education. Retrieved January 24, 2021, from https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/20/11/nuanced-view-screen-time
Pappas, S. (2020, April 1). What do we really know about kids and screens? American Psychological Association. Retrieved January 17, 2021, from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/04/cover-kids-screens
Walsh, B., Ito, M., Lapus, M., & Livingstone, S. [Education Now: Harvard Graduate School of Education] (2020, October 28). Screen Time Sanity [Webinar]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/QBWTbiMdI0A
World Health Organization. (2019). Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Retrieved January 24, 2021, from https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/311664/9789241550536-eng.pdf
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2016, November 1). Where We Stand: Screen Time. Retrieved January 24, 2021, from https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/Where-We-Stand-TV-Viewing-Time.aspx
Surveillance and Epidemiology Branch. (2019, March). Growing Up Digital: Overview of screen media use among children. Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health, Hong Kong. Retrieved January 24, 2021, from https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/ncd_watch_march_2019.pdf
Brooks, M., & Lasser, J. (2018). Tech generation: Raising balanced kids in a hyper-connected world. Oxford University Press.
Livingstone, S. M., & Blum-Ross, A. (2020). Parenting for a digital future: How hopes and fears about technology shape children’s lives. Oxford University Press.
Great thoughts here! I appreciate the general over of the issue and then the distinction between “screen time” as whole versus really thinking about the value in any given activity. Further, your reframe of the issue from “How much is the limit?” to “How do we embrace the benefits of digital learning and connection online, while reducing the harms of technological overload or disconnection?” is so much more useful and productive for parents.
As you mention here, there is a certain shaming aspect of parents if their kids have too much screen time. I’m glad this article equips those parents with the knowledge that they aren’t “bad” for allowing screen time, especially in an unprecedented historical event.
This post is a clear and thorough explanation of an important issue facing parents and those working with children. I appreciated the nuance in an issue that is often over simplified to the phrase “too much screen time.”
The point “It is important for users to consider what they are getting out of the screen time engagement and for differentiating between active and passive screen engagement” tackles the idea of nuance and differentiation within the category of screen time and encourages reflection in the value of different activities. It also explains real-life experiences people have in the virtual classroom and parents have at home. For example, we release students from zooms to reduce screen time, but students immediately begin watching videos and playing video games. It makes sense that they see this screen time as valuable and use it as a break.
Also, as a secondary teacher, I deeply appreciated the point about twitch videos, which has always confused me. The analogy to adults watching home improvement immediately provided immediate clarity.
There are many facts and suggestions in this post that resonate with my experience as a teacher, and parent of two teens who are now spending a significant amount of time online. It is the quality and not the quantity that matters most, especially during the pandemic. Admittedly, I lean on the conservative side when it comes to screen-time, and make every effort to provide opportunities for my students, kids and family to learn and engage off-line. Nevertheless, learning about what kids are doing online has definitely helped make connections, and has improved relationships. I appreciate the balance approach that your bring to this topic.
Yanira Gale
Thanks for this insightful post! Able to understand and discern “not all screen time is created equal” is definitely key for all parents and tech educators. Parents with a growth mindset of fostering “active engagements” through use of digital devices will better equip their children in the coming decades. Creating “healthy habits” is the underlying principle for us to pay attention to.