The COVID-19 epidemic, hybrid learning environments, and distant learning models all have resulted in an increase in screen time among students throughout the school day. Because of this, it's more crucial than ever to limit your usage of devices during the day.
Why is it crucial to curtail kids' screen time?
If you're a first-time parent, keep in mind that screen
time has the most negative effects on young children, so it's crucial to set
limits right away. The Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics states
that for the development of their cognitive, verbal, motor, and socio-emotional
abilities, children under the age of two need a combination of social
engagement with their careers and hands-on exploration.
What's Recommended?
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued these guidelines
for screen time:
- Babies and toddlers up
to 18 months old: No screen time, with the
exception of video-chatting with family and friends.
- Toddlers 18 months to 24
months: Some screen time with a parent
or caregiver.
- Pre-schoolers: No
more than 1 hour a day of educational programming, together with a parent
or other caregiver who can help them understand what they're seeing.
- Teens and Adults: No more than two hours per day.
Excessive screen time have
been related to:
- Obesity
- inadequate sleep patterns, and sleep deprivation
- Behaviour issues
- Violence
- Attention issues
- Less learning times
- Language and social skill development delays
Parents are nonetheless responsible for their children's screen time even though more study is required to properly grasp its impacts. Adults are equally affected by screen time as children are. Everyone is at danger of becoming obese from too much screen time, which is also associated with sleep problems and has a negative impact on relationships.
Studies have been done on the detrimental impacts of screen usage on youngsters, especially teenagers, and how it correlates to anxiety, sadness, and attention span.
Here are a few smart ways that can help you reduce your child’s screen time.
Establish "Technology-Free Zones"
Create areas in your home where technology, including computers,
portable video games, and mobile phones, are categorically forbidden. One
instance is the dining room or kitchen in your house, which you may keep set
apart for family meals and chat.
Communication is essential:
Talk to your kids and find out what they
did with their friends, what occurred at school, and their favourite music. Discuss
with your child the effects of excessive screen time on their eyes and the
activities they lose out on as a result. Introduce sports to your youngster and
encourage long-term participation. It's crucial to keep your kid active in
tactile pursuits like colouring, playing, sketching, painting, reading,
gardening, and singing. Remember that a young child's growing brain benefits
more from unstructured playing than from electronic media.
Create a schedule:
Plan your child's screen time. Even if
your youngster attempts to escape it, stick to the routine and don't give up.
Make sure the digital media is of excellent quality and steer clear of solo
media use when introducing it to kids between the ages of 18 and 24 months.
Limit screen time for kids between the ages of 2 and 5 to one hour per day of
high-quality programmes that you may watch with them.
Additionally, keep young children away
from fast-paced programmes, violent material, and applications with a lot of
distracting information. Since young children have difficulty distinguishing
between advertisements and factual information, remove advertising from
applications.
Develop Your Electronics Knowledge
The youth of today are tech-savvy. Most
of them are more knowledgeable about electronics than most adults. Parents must
remain current on the newest social media platforms, applications, games, and
trends.
For instance, unless you are aware of the
risks yourself, you cannot teach your child about the perils of social media.
In the same way, if you don't know how particular media are graded, you won't
be able to stop kids from consuming it (like violent video games).
Use child safety measures
You may use methods to prevent your
children from viewing graphic material on TV and the Internet.
You can set up parental controls on the
majority of routers, web browsers, and TVs to filter or prevent objectionable
content.
There are also built-in options or
programmes you can download that let you build content filters if your kids
have cell phones. Additionally, many of them let you block particular
websites, web searches, or even terms.
Choose activities right for your toddler's age
Stick with games and apps developed for children under three. Quality is
important, too. Look for apps that:
- Have a clear and specific age range.
- Make your toddler laugh.
- Give your toddler achievable goals.
- Encourage mum and dad to join in.
Explain the reasons for limiting screen time.
Your children are considerably more
likely to abide by the limits you establish if they realise that you're
restricting screen time because spending too much time in front of a screen has
negative effects. Your children may be more inclined to rebel against or
disregard the rules you are attempting to impose if they believe you are just
"being cruel" to them.
Explain the dangers of violent video
games, TV shows, and movies based on what is age appropriate.
Make careful to talk to your children
about the risks of online predators if they use the Internet. Make sure that
every family member engages in the conversation about screen media and helps to
establish a set of rules that everyone can abide by.
Ask your kids for their passwords.
You might want to think about requesting
the passwords to your children's social media and online accounts. Children are
sometimes incapable of handling interactions online and are therefore susceptible
to cyberbullying.
The decision will need to be discussed as
a family, but ultimately it will be up to you as the parent to decide how to
best safeguard your child while yet giving them some privacy and autonomy.
Keep screens out of your child's bedroom
If your kids are allowed to use gadgets
away from you, you won't be able to see what they're doing on them.
For this reason, you might wish to
establish a rule prohibiting the use of TVs, video game consoles, and laptops
in your child's bedroom. This also applies to portable gadgets that your
children could be enticed to use after bedtime, which might disrupt their
sleep.
Promote additional activities
It's simple for youngsters to get
dependent on technology for enjoyment because to the abundance of applications,
games, devices, and material. Encourage your youngster to look for and
participate in non-screen-related activities. 8 A few suggestions include
playing outside, reading a book, or even finding an old boardgame.
Establishing (and enforcing) a household
routine that everyone adheres to might also be helpful. It will help to explain
your expectations and can assist to avoid fights if you make it obvious to your
children when they can use screens and when they cannot.
Set
Aside Time to Disconnect
All members of your family should set
aside time to turn off their gadgets. Two instances would be during dinnertime
or an hour before bedtime. Your family will have the chance to spend
meaningful, cherished time together when everyone agrees to put down their
gadgets.
Make to use a screen a privilege.
You may choose to treat screen time as a
privilege as opposed to a right. A child's phone, laptop, or video game may be
taken away as punishment if you utilise a kind of discipline that involves
deprivation of privileges.
But after you've established a cap on the amount of screen time permitted, don't let them earn more time as a reward. Stick to the daily cap instead and provide additional inexpensive or free gifts to encourage good behavior.
Other things to do instead of Screen Time
- Choose card games like Rummy, Hearts, or Uno.
- Try playing Tenzi or LCR, two dice games.
- Bring out the board games, including favourites like Sorry and Monopoly.
- Use two pizza boxes to make a Battleship game.
- Use coloured bean bags for the X and O on a floor-mounted tic-tac-toe board.
- Play Sudoku puzzles or do a word search
- For an excellent book, peruse your neighbourhood library.
- Establish a home lab and design some scientific experiments.
- assemble a miniature automobile.
- Solve a puzzle
- Examine picture albums or school records.
- Put your skills to work and produce a family variety show.
- Together, prepare a meal or make cookies.
- Take part in a dance party or karaoke.
- Every night, listen to a book on CD together.
- Play bowling
- Indoor laser tag game
- Play a game of Marco Polo by going to an indoor pool.
- Play a game of paintball to become dirty
- Try climbing a rock.
- Colored paper may be used to make paper aircraft.
- Newspapers may be used to cut out paper dolls and accessories.
- Use felt to make dollhouses and furnishings.
- Create skyscrapers out of Tinkertoys or Legos.
- Make kid-sized homes out of giant cardboard boxes that kids can decorate.
- Take the dog(s) for a stroll around the neighbourhood or go with a friend.
- Create a family of snowmen.
- Play a round of snow tic-tac-toe.
- "Snow art,"
- Scavenger hunt with ice cubes
- Teach your dog
needs a new trick.
- Make homemade suet or string popcorn for the birds.
- Gather blankets and towels for the animal shelter.
- Make your hamster a labyrinth.
- Make your cat a no-sew pet bed.
- Early Easter egg hunting
- Have a beach party or inside picnic.
- A summer sky can be painted with water colours.
- Create painted flowers with forks.
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