To be really worried now about screen time

I'm trying to get to this. I've been completely strict on it up till now (especially as up until we recently moved the children were regularly getting 'leisure' screen time (like watching cartoons daily) at school as well as educational) but it's starting to feel too impactful to avoid it 100% of the time. Like right now the adults want to watch the winter Olympics and the six nations, we enjoy nature documentaries and stuff like Sort Your Life Out. So, we're trying to be a bit more 90's about TV at home. We watch Gladiator's together for example, and on a day where the weather is grim or we're all knackered we put a dvd on. It feels so much more relaxed and nice. But have also found that as I've relaxed the rules the demand for more and more and more screen time has increased. We've now started to have requests for Minecraft and Xbox's. Maybe that would have happened anyway but it felt easier to hold a black and white boundary, no screen time at all is easier to understand than screen time sometimes and only certain types.

But, no tablets in the house, minimal cartoons with a short refresh rate (or flicker rate whatever it's called), DH and I trying to lead by example and leave phones at the front door. Definitely no TV before school and rarely afterwards. It's more a weekend evening, bad weather, poorly people sort of a tool. Much rather have a book and boardgame evening for as long as possible!

And yes I’m willing to bet this is strongly correlated to the number of children now being diagnosed ‘ADHD’. Yes there have always been people with ADHD. But not in these numbers, or exacerbated to this level.

I’m honestly surprised that people are only just starting to realise this. The amount of unsupervised internet access children have is truly beyond me. I’d bet that many parents don’t even know what their kids are searching for on Google, who they’re talking to while gaming… So many people also seem blind to how overstimulating a lot of children’s shows are. Sometimes it’s hard enough for an adult to tolerate the high-pitched voices, flashing visuals, and nonstop fast pacing. Everything is so loud and intense 😵‍💫

Screens definitely have their time and place, but the constant scrolling and watching
, toddlers in buggies glued to phones, iPads everywhere…. No wonder so many children struggle with attention

People like to bury their heads in the sand.

There was a recent thread calling the worry about screen time hysteria. So many teachers commenting that they are witnessing the effects day in, day out and it's getting worse year on year. Other posters just dismissing concerns because it's easier to stick a screen in the child's face then get them to join in with cooking/cleaning/read/play.

We fucking should judge them. Same as if the kid was sitting in the pushchair smoking a fag.

I can’t help but judge those parents. I used to walk and walk on maternity leave because the sights and sounds memorised both of my children. Why on earth would you hand a toddler in a pram a tablet?

I used to teach primary. The effects on kids are horrifying. You used to be able to tell which kids weren't read to regularly. You still can but below them now are the kids with years of too much screen time behind them. It is massively affecting development. We've all seen the toddlers in pushchairs staring at a screen rather than observing and interacting with the World around them. It's fucking obvious that it will be detrimental.

Parents, who are often addicted to devices themselves or just want a quiet life, cannot be trusted to limit their exposure. I would back a smartphone ban for under 16's.

This is where I have a real problem with all the noise about screen time. For some people it is entirely unavoidable and it leaves us fretting over our children. Without screen time, my daughter would really have struggled to pick up a lot of skills young children build through play. Apparently my choice was to have her not learn those skills, or ruin her brain for life.

Like everything it’s all about balance.

My son has a little TV when he's at the end of a lot of play and fun - e.g. a little before his nap or bedtime. But we never use it out and about (one upcoming plane as an exception), and we always take a "doing stuff first" approach.

I KNOW the weather is awful recently, but it's still really disheartening how few kids are out in the park unless it's brilliant sunshine. And on threads on here, you hear about people keeping kids in all day and practically bragging that they hate the outdoors.

Thing is, kids are used to what they're used to. If you never got them used to going out in all weathers then they won't. And kids hugely benefit in so many ways from going outside - as do adults. It literally reshapes our brain patterns.

100%. I am not an anxious parent and believe most things in moderation. But screen time in heavily monitored and limited in our home. My thinking is simple, there are much better things for kids to be doing with their time. Sports, homework, games, helping make dinner. Pretty much anything!
Our oldest has a switch but it’s locked down and shuts off once he has reached 60
mins. He is allowed that twice during the week (sat/Sun).
Incidentally, I do not get why people default to tablets during dinner out. Seeing small children with tablets, wearing headphones on holiday every night is a really worrying trend.
I’m sure people will be screaming ‘neurodiversity’ any minute now, but the majority of children are not ND, and it feels like the majority of children get plugged into a tablet.

We've always taken the stance of what could you be doing instead. If you could be doing artwork or building something or reading then no screens. If you're vomiting in a mess off school then fine, whack on a bit of telly.

There’s screen time and screen time. My kids watch CBeebies. Days like today, when the youngest is ill and we can’t do anything or go anywhere, he’ll watch quite a lot.

But we have a strict no phones and no tablets rule, and monitor what they’re allowed to watch - we prefer things with real people/animals, some kind of educational content and not Cocomelon or Bing.

We heavily restrict screen time (aka none) before school/nursery and we make sure the kids spend 90% of their time at least not watching TV.

Oldest’s teacher says she has brilliant attention span in class and good imagination for coming up with new games. She said you can tell which children are on tablets and which aren’t.

Completely agree with the first post. I’m amazed people are so blase about it all.

A little bit of screen time is fine but a lot of kids have far more, and it can only be negative.

If they’re in a restaurant or it’s a family meal, they shouldn’t be on screens unless there is some kind of medical issue. They should be present and engaged with the people they’re sitting with, learning to act like an adult.

You'll have people along soon saying we don't need to worry, but having seen the impact of high screen use on kids around me I think we would be crazy not to be worried. Rates of anxiety, unfit kids and young adults who don't know how to socialise are through the roof.

A little bit of screen time is fine. But thats not what many are having. I found it hard work getting it in place, but having strict screen times has been the easiest in our family in the long run. My DC are neurodiverse and if left their devices (pun not intended!) would have done nothing else.
So many of my kids' friends are on them all day every day. They don't want to do anything else.