To think current concerns over screen time is bordering hysteria

Agree. 2/3 hours is a lot for a 2 year old. I would see a big difference in the behaviour of my children if I let them on screens for 3 hours...even my 5 year old doesn't get 3 hours a day. Exception when we're ill. Then there's no limit.

The WHO recommends no more than 1 hour at a time for 2 year olds, but less is better.

I'm in Germany where zero screen time before 3 is recommended then 30 minutes a day from 3 years old. I do think that's very strict but I can also see where they are coming from...

Of course it's the parents.

But the reason children and screens is talked about more is because it negatively affects their development, which will affect their future as adults. And it's not their fault if they have feckless parents that would rather shove a tablet in their face then actually talk to them.

2/3 hours is a lot, especially at 2 years old. That's a good chunk of their waking hours.

You wouldn't have had to teach them to read at all - that's the school's job, if they were going to struggle as you did 'starting early' would have made little difference.

If your claim is true that they were so far ahead by the time they started reception then that is really further evidence that they were on it too much. There's very little to be gained from sacrificing their preschool childhood to race them ahead so dramatically - when they will be starting in reception anyway like everyone else.

Yes but what are the parents doing themselves ? Reading novels or sat scrolling. The screen addiction starts with parents. You see it everywhere. Adults in pubs sat on phones next to each other not talking. Workmen stood leaning on a spade with a phone in their hand. Adults are setting the example then everyone points the finger at the children.

I suppose my gran was a prescreen mum as they like many others bought there first TV in 1953 when my mum was 6. Well her way of keeping her two DDS in order while she worked, cleaned, cooked saw to elderly relatives well she would turf them out for the day roaming about and when they were silly and giggly she would smack their legs with a wooden panel. When my mum was disobedient and wouldn't eat her meat , well gristle as my grandad got all the meat she would get her arm twisted round her back till she ate it or gagged then maybe have those 'screaming ab dabs' a pp mentioned then she'd get smacked and sent to bed till the next day. Then it would start again. When my Grandma had to take my mum to school she would leave her youngest DD at home alone twice a day as it was too much faffing about to take her too. When visitors came my gran would make my mum play piano and if she missed a note she would get the wooden paddle out again. And my gran would never have seen herself as a child abuser she was just a mum coping, bringing her kids up.

No. A lot of the behaviour problems we see in school relate back to screens. And a lot of parents either excuse this behaviour or moan about it but don't do anything about it. Your child's acting out at school because they're overtired? Take the bloody phone away so they're not up all night! It's really not that complicated but they'd rather avoid the parenting part of being a parent. It's not just a few anymore. It's a significant proportion of parents.

I read lots of parents of NT and ND children saying they need a screen to ‘self-regulate’. They mean ‘regulate’, not ‘self-regulate’. It’s literally the opposite of self-regulation. It’s using a device to regulate them.

Absolutely this. It teaches them nothing about how to manage their nervous system.

Not really a lot of time 2/3 hours a day. All interactive nothing where they just sat staring.
And I realise that your response regarding school is interactive - but as I'm dyslexic teaching maths and reading was not something I could do easily, and it was something I wanted them to start to learn early so they wouldn't be like me and leave school not being able to read!
I'm glad they won't have the struggles that I've had to live with all my life!

It’s been a long time since there were no screens at all - I have no doubt people coped in the same way people coped without electric lights, ovens and the internet, but if you don’t have to because screens have been invented, why make your life harder when you could allow your children short periods in front of the tv so you can operate at maximum efficiency on a busy school night?!

To be fair @Nevermind17 why don't you was utter shit. The only reason. I ever watched it was because I couldn't be bothered to get off my backside and do something less boring instead. But invariably I soon would have to as my stepdad or older brother would turf me out of the living room when the Test Match would come on and out we would go.

What that parents don't want to come off their screens?

But I think the reason so many people believe it's "hysteria" over the damage they can do is because they don't give them tablets for hours on end so they don't see this behaviour.

Which to be honest just backs up the argument that moderate use is fine.

You need to be teaching them to help with cooking. How do you think mums coped before screens.

I’ve seen it loads - my nephews and niece go hysterical! They’ve been on iPads constantly since they were babies. I’ve also seen friends’ children do it. I’m not talking about children who have a tablet for 20 minutes a day. These are children who spend hours every day on one.

As an ex-primary teacher (left in July), seen it plenty. But even more so, it's one of the biggest excuses/moans we hear from parents when we have to have behaviour chats.

Same for tablets here though. I've never once had a meltdown from DD when we turn it off. Or seen a friend or family members child have one.

How often do you actually experience this happening? Or is it just something you read about?

They would send them outside to play with their friends all day or sit them in front of the TV.

Fair enough but how did parents manage BEFORE there were games and tablets etc

Well considering we are both gamers I am going to say no we didn't.

I am referring to the supposedly good old days when children didn't act up that people hark back to.

I think some screen time which is age appropriate. There is a huge difference between the children who are constantly glued to ipads, phones and TV vs ones that aren't; imagination, social skills, concentration, language.
It drives me mad when my MIL comes and her go to is to switch the TV on and let them play mindless games on her phone. She is a different generation, and it is just lazy.
I agree with TV when cooking, especially as a single parent, but not when children are always on devices.
Our kids have ipad for flights. Games on phones is educational in someway.
I think limited use forms the basis of them not becoming obsessed with it as teenagers.
I also agree with the ban on social media for under 16s.

You’ve misunderstood. PP are saying that tablets and phones are no different to children watching TV. I don’t see children becoming hysterical when the TV is turned off, in the way they do when an iPad is withdrawn. Not all ‘screens’ do the same damage. I think it’s disingenuous to say that using an iPad is just the same as watching Grange Hill.

The other point that seems to be lost in the TV vs screens argument is that you had no choice around TV. You watched Will o the Wisp at the same time as your friends and class mates and chatted about it next day. Same with Family from One End St or the Edith Nesbit adaptations. Even George Best's football skills programmes! TV now doesn't bring people together in the way it used to.

It's isolating. And I see the "screaming abdabs" from non divergent family members (ie niece/nephews largely, my DCs are adults and grew up before screens were a thing). My house, my rules and when I say put the phone/tablet down now, I mean it. I don't see it from the DCs who are not allowed screens or where screen time is strictly managed.

I think it's gone beyond being a parenting issue and it's a societal issue now.

I’m talking about a meltdown, not exclusive to ND children. I read lots of parents of NT and ND children saying they need a screen to ‘self-regulate’. They mean ‘regulate’, not ‘self-regulate’. It’s literally the opposite of self-regulation. It’s using a device to regulate them.

Whilst I have sympathy for those parents (my autistic son is in his 30s now, so I do understand the horrors of constant meltdowns and the impact on the rest of the family), I don’t think the answer is to get them addicted to a tablet, just so you can use it to pacify them.

Screens are addictive. Half of all teenagers report being addicted to their phones. Why would you expose your toddler to that? You wouldn’t give them drugs, get them addicted and then give them a hit of heroin or Benzos to calm them down so you can make dinner or have five minutes peace. I’ve seen 4 year olds watching TikToks who are able to navigate an iPad like a seasoned pro, whose parents think it’s something to be proud of. It really isn’t.