Many parents struggle to get their children off technology and feel unsure about how much time on technology is good for their kids. Many parents have the feeling that their kids spend too much time but don’t know how many hours their kids actually spend on technology and the recommended guidelines for safe use.
Quick quiz:
Do you know the actual number of hours your child spends watching screens?
Do you know the recommended guidelines for safe use of technology by children?
If you answered no to one or both of those questions then here’s what you can do
Step 1 is to do a screen time audit, say over a week. When you add up the hours your child is on screens, make sure you include: television, videos, phones, tablets and computers – including how much time they spend on a tablet or computer at school. Research studies have shown that parents tend to underestimate the hours their children are on technology. Perhaps you’ll be the same when you work out how much your child actually engages with screens on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis and how much you thought it was.
Step 2 is to find out about the recommended guidelines so you can make informed decisions about how much time your child is spending on technology. The challenge is that the recommendations are not clear cut as there are differences between recommendations across different countries and the research is still emerging on technology and kids and the experts are still learning about the harms that can occur as our children engage with more and more technology.
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