To think to much fuss is made about 'screen time' and that most people must be underestimating their use of it

[lecce]

Surely most dc are going to have jobs that are largely screen-based and being familiar with technology from a young age is not going to stand in their way and can only be beneficial.

And it must depend on what they are doing on said screens - Wii is interactive, can be played with others and involves movement (I am totally out of breath after the Let it go dance sequence). How bad can it be? Ds2 would be on it all day if we let him, but he has learnt several of the dance routines and can perform them without the music - it's a skill, no? I am a bit of a technophobe myself so learning with my dc really and have little knowledge of the other stuff that's out there, but I'm sure it all develops skills of some sort or another.

Is my ds1 spending hours hitting a ball against a wall really so much more worthy than the other boy doing his dance routines just because the latter involves a screen? I know as parents we need to encourage our dc to have a range of interests - mine do 2-3 activities each and we do outings quite often, as well as boardgames, reading, craft for ds2, musical instrument learning for ds1 etc. Is it really so bad if most of their 'free non-parental involvement time' is spent on screens?

I seem to remember a fair few hand-wringing reports over the years about children watching 3 hours of tv a day, but if they are up for 12 hours and doing other stuff the rest of the time, is that really so much?

What do others, honestly, do?

I don't think its hysterical at all. Lots of parents are just not doing bare minimum stuff like talking to their child, using books together, spending time playing together every day. And lots have no idea what level of development to reasonably expect at various stages, either expecting way too much or way too little. TV adverts might be a great way of reaching people

Toys and books bought when younger aren't going to have much pull for a streetwise 10 year old.

my girls are 12 and 14 - DD14 is a "Goth" with an unhealthy interest in the colour black, heavy metal, tattoos and piercings - she'll still build a den with a box and try to decapitate dolls with a meccano grabber...

Different kids like to do different things, and I think tarring them all with the "screen addict" brush is daft. I don't see many screens at our park where the football tournament is going on this morning - about 200kids all playing (the parents are all on their bloody phones though - maybe looking at the wrong generation!)

But those kids may be out for half an hour and go home for a 4 hour Xbox fest.

Sorry but I don't think your kids speak for the maj.Do you work with children,do you have experience of boys and do you have experience of social groups beyond your own?

I'm not saying all kids are addicts.I'm saying too many kids spend far too much time on the wrong type of screen activities,it is having an impact and more boundaries need to be set.

I think it's much easier to regulate screen time when kids are younger. I have found it very tough since DS turned 11. I would be much happier if he could self - regulate, but he seems to have lost that ability. He is 12 now and could spend 12 hours a day on one screen or another, at weekends. To be fair, I spent between 8.30-11.00, 13.00-14.45, 16.00-02.15 on one screen or another yesterday. I had the house to myself, no chores to do, no money and it is freezing and icy outside.

I think most of us underestimate how much time we spend on screens.

Mine just self regulate

What kind of house spends all their money on screens so they can't afford the cheap (and often free) things mentioned by somewhereIbelong?

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear this morning. I know that watching TV counts as screen time. But what if they're not watching it? If it's just on in the background?

But those kids may be out for half an hour and go home for a 4 hour Xbox fest.

It's a tournament - goes on til 4 - lunch provided (I'm helping with that since my girls are playing).

I don't work (as such) with kids any more (I used to and I often volunteer), have no boys, but do mix widely outside my immediate social circle I refuse to believe in the bleak screen staring zombification model that people go on about - because that is not what I am personally seeing.

Life is too busy for screens sometimes...

Cream many do.

Companies are clever,the continual updates,new models,apps that will only run on newer versions,newer games not working on older models.....

Books,craft stuff and toys aren't a high priority for all.If it is between between being able to get and use the latest Xbox game and the former in many cases the latter wins out.

I doubt there are many families that have an ipad but do not provide those things

Doubt all you like,there are.

Maybe not in your circles.

That small children are familiar with technology isn't itself worrying though bake off and catrin. Why shouldn't they experiment with things to see if they react like other things they have seen?

I also think some parents react a bit hysterically to this. Dd is watching octonauts as I type. She is exclaiming at the screen, counting sea urchins and explaining how peso has treated the lemon shark. I dont really see what is so evil abouf it. We have already been to the park and are going to the farm later but it is properly chilly outside and there are a lot of hours in the day.

There are obviously families like that under social services, but average working class families there aren't. I know middle class on here so maybe more prevalant.

Studies have shown 4 in 10 children have no books in the house.

Not owning books is not a reason to be under ss.

My hypothesis for why that might be is due to, in general, the middle classes being more risk averse so children have not got the same freedoms so harder for them to regulate screen use.

I believe it is not necessarily screens, but that some children have such restricted lives. They have no chance to explore the outdoors, socialise with their friends and so become obsessed with screens.

Dd is 6 and like most children enjoys the wii, typing on word and tv, however she has been out in the park since 10am today as she would rather socialise with real people.

CreamBun and Somewhere - LePetit is right. I think this is another situation where people look at their own dc and their own social group, and think all the world is the same.

I work with several hundred children each year, so perhaps a wider range of people. Time and time again, we have dc start their funded Nursery hours with absolutely no idea how to play, and with very, very, limited language skills. Unpicking it a bit, over and over again these dc have been given a phone or tablet to play with, and left in front of a TV.
Now, those who are saying it's the lack of interaction not the screens per se that are the issue, are right. But the discussion isn't about if 'screens' are good or bad, it's about if 'limiting screens' is good or bad.
From my evidence, year on year (and you can add into that all the experience of the rest of my Team), the use of screens to replace interaction is causing a massive problem for a considerable number of children.

BackForGood You've not begun to establish that anyone uses "screens to replace interaction", all you've established is that completely disinterested parenting often uses screens. If those groups instead of using screens just stuck the kid in the corner with some books if they'd be any better off.

It's all pretty irrelevant, focus on the lack of parental interest (for whatever reason) rather than screens which might happen to be a proxy.

You are definitely wrong about my experiences.

Agreed fredfred

I don't think that limiting screens = better interaction unless you are using that for a proxy for better parenting.

Yes I mean some of the examples eg watching a dvd on a long journey or playing on a phone in a queue. Are children really missing out on a rich life experience in these situations? I know people will say children have to learn how to be bored but really, I find it hard to judge a mum that wants to save that particular life lesson for a moment other than the frazzled supermarket queue after a long day.

A nursery in Londonderry has had to bring in therapists to help toddlers whose speech is not developing normally due to ipads/a lack of parental interaction. One therapist said these kids are taking things like wooden blocks and swiping them - they're puzzled by them.