To wonder how the Hell you limit screen time on this day and age

[ThePassionOfHoneydragon]

Obviously other than the obvious

"You've been on XYZ long enough, do something else"

As long as dcs are not totally sedantry and passive how important is it?

Eg, if you have a strict two hours a day only rule, and their homework on the pc takes 2.5 hours is that it for the day? No tv, no pc, tablet, kindle or whatever it is you might have in the house?

Does a child happily absorbed in say, Percy Jackson, for 3 hours on an ereader/tablet count as reading a book or screen time?

On here and in RL I find some people really unnecessarily snotty and judgemental about other people's children apparently having too much "screen time".

So what is too much for you and what do you class as screen time?

Cardibach - you asked: 'Why are books automatically better, Cocktail? I'm an English teacher, so massively in favour of children using books, but they are not necessarily better for research/homework. I got a PGD using only internet resources as I live in a very rural area with no useful libraries less than 30 miles away.'

Both have their place but I think it's much easier for kids to Google and use the first appropriate-looking site they come across, copy chunks of text, paste it into a Word doc and - bang - that's their homework done, instead of reading an appropriate chapter in a book, understanding it, and rewriting the facts they need in their own words. Using the Internet makes it too easy to be lazy. IMO. Plus, we have an excellent library in town 10 mins walk away.

I learn better from hard copies, not reading off a screen, and want them to learn good habits now.

I'm a copy-editor and sometimes proofread students' essays/dissertations. Just yesterday I had one to edit and did a quick search for some phrases the student had used, as they sounded different from his own words, to find he'd basically copied and pasted (plagiarised) the whole essay from various articles on the web. And that's common among students - IME.

I'm not dissing the Internet for research - at all. Just saying you have to be careful, esp. with dc. Well done on getting your PGD! :)

I agree with you about the ease of 'copy and paste' and the dangers of plagiarism, Cocktail. I have to gatekeep A level coursework for that kind of thing. I think what is needed is better teaching of how to research using the internet - reliability of different sites, note taking etc. I also find hard copies easier to deal with - I certainly can't proof read effectively until something is printed out!
I think we basically agree, but have a difference of emphasis!

We have dc aged 9,8 almost 7 and 2. They watch one film per fortnight, if the weather isn't great. Otherwise they use no screens at all and don't ask to. The 9 and 8 yr old are my dsc and have unlimited screen time at their mum's, but never ask for it here. My eldest is competent in using my iPad and enjoys it on the rare occasion she's tried it but generally doesn't have time to fit it in as she prefers playing outside, trampolining etc.

I bought DS a minecraft construction guide on the way home from the park this morning. He read it cover to cover, chose the "fortified wall" project and is following the instructions on how to make crenellations. In parallel we're looking at a book about different types of castle.

I think in this day and age it's quite difficult to treat "screen time" as an activity rather than a tool.

(And to give another strange crossover example which I found out about this morning and which made me laugh: DS and his friend both like the TV show "storage hunters". Apparently on the last sleepover he had at theirs, the boys and an older brother played storage hunters - the game, where the mystery bins consisted of the fridge, the video cabinet and the brother's closet. They had to bid for the contents and then looked up prices / values online (used items valued using eBay). Clearly they didn't realise the educational value of the activity or they would have run a mile..... )

Retropear if you were to buy all the books on your amazon account and link the kindles to that you could have them on multiple devices. I do between my actual kindle and ipad and iPhone kindle apps.

Hello, just wanted to share this little video about a report on Screen Time from Children in Northern Ireland - I think it raises some really interesting points. You can watch here: youtu.be/rhI_F3X2Oa0