Screen Time: When Is It Too Much For Kids?

It is becoming worrisome about the amount of screen time children spend in front of their digital devices. They never appear to get tired of playing games on your phones, playing video games, or binge-watching movies. Approaching this excessive screen time issue is important and becoming so at an increasing rate – this is your job and it will not be easy to execute. As you the parents know, your children do not see this as a problem. To them, they are having fun, relaxing, and even keeping themselves busy.

However, with your help you can help them recognize this and work towards introducing effective screen time management techniques to them at an early start. 

Since we are all here, we have to accept that part of our parental duty is to monitor and manage our kids’ screen time. How do you as the parent control your children’s screen time now that school and every form of socialization are on hold because of the covid-19 outbreak? Because of this, the use of digital devices has now grown to be part of our lives. If we are to look at it, the transition is increasing, with families already creating more ways they can spend time together. 

Family screen time: The New Normal

Let us face the truth. The talk about family screen time has changed. More than it has been, parents and children are now seeing digital devices as an integral part of their daily lives; work, school, and play. We all agree to the fact that these devices have made life easy for us, it is nice sometimes when our kids sit by the television giving us the time to focus on our work.

However, if you want a balanced family, your time and effort should be invested in it. These gadgets cannot do it for you, and I am sure you would like to be the one to train your kids from a young age until they grow and not these devices.

The Harm of Screen time

Children are more vulnerable than adults when it comes to the amount of time they spend on these gadgets, and this can go on to affect other aspects of their life. It can be difficult to take these devices from them, but there are steps that can help limit its use. Once you as the parent can identify the harms of the excessive screen time, then you will definitely be ready to manage screen time for your kids.

According to research carried out by the US Center for Disease Control, an average child is said to spend about 8 hours glued to the screens of their digital devices. Attached to this behavior are some negative effects;

• Screen time addiction. Your kids want nothing else than just to be with their phones, on the computer, or in front of the television every time. 

• They begin to lack real-life social skills.

• Lack of focus in school work, and loss of interest in house chores.

• Lack of interest in physical activities. They would rather prefer to sit indoor playing games, than going out for exercise.

• The moment addiction sets in, they develop poor eating habits and lack of proper nutrition. Sitting in front of the television with no exercise can lead to obesity.

• Staying up late at night to use phones and watch movies results in irregular sleeping behavior.

• The blue light generated by these devices affects their vision.

• Getting too used to the virtual world results in the use of limited vocabulary and less in-person communication.

With the rise in digital devices and recent lockdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, your children will have around them television, computers, and phones. It is your duty to know when to draw the line and set boundaries, to avoid the excessive use of these devices from disturbing their development.