To have judged? Awh feckit. Yes I judged, I VERY judged.

[Farkinell]

Was in slow moving traffic today.

Big fuck off black BMW (suv/mpv/hpv??? who the eff knows) was coming towards me on other side of road.

Saw what I thought was a TV monitor in front passenger seat angled forwards.

Strange, I thought. Surely a passenger would be holding it and it would be facing backwards??

But LO! It was angled towards the passenger.

A teeny baby in the carry part of travel system, backwards facing.

A tablet set up, plating a cartoon for a young baby to watch in the car.

Just

Goodness

Gracious.

Let's get them Oblong Addicted early, yeah?

I find it incredibly sad and worrying that some people on here find a screen more harmful than leaving a baby to cry

Quite.

I find it unbearable when my babies/children cry, it breaks my heart. I'd let Satan himself occupy them on YouTube if it meant calming them and stopping their upset.

If the baby did have neurological needs that required significant adaptations then fine. Obviously you can't tell from driving past. But there are plenty of studies showing that screen time before 3 is harmful to cognitive and linguistic development. And yet most parents dismiss this because screens are the easy option.

My baby hates car journeys. She seems to be growing out of it now but screamed blue murder in the early weeks. I couldn't understand it after using car journeys to send baby 1 to sleep when desperate!

It wouldn't have even occurred to me that the solution was a screen in her face.

@TJ17 it's not to do with the older generation. Modern life has screens -
I use them all the time too. But it's disingenuous to proclaim that they are harmless just because they are widespread. For young children's developing brains that is not the case. Think how prevalent smoking was before we discovered how harmful it was. We all just do our best and that's fine but you can't deny the evidence.

Of course screens are not harmless, why would you want a baby's brain to be so over stimulated

What evidence?! 🙄

Honestly how many kids are walking around these days that have been "harmed" by screens? How would you even know that.

A babies mind is supposed to be stimulated. They can be overstimulated by anything, doesn't have to be a screen.

So you're comparing smoke inhalation to a child watching a cartoon 😂

That's a shame as I always hand both of mine a ciggie to puff on whilst they watch back to back YouTube on long car journeys

Tj17, it's the dopamine hit that's harmful, I'm not saying ban them, just limit them

Try looking at all of the studies on Pubmed for a start. The actual research being done by scientists working in the field of neuroscience.

Smoke inhalation has a harmful effect on the body as does screen use in children. The effect is on a different organ- the brain not the lungs - and may certainly be of a different magnitude but a negative effect is there.

Those studies are all very well, but they wouldn’t have helped when I had to travel to my granny’s funeral hundreds of miles away schlepping 3 kids by myself and dd was howling.

So DVD and a screen it was.

Of course limit them. Just like you might limit sugar.

Putting your baby in a cot isn't harmful. But if you left it there all day every day then yes of course it is.

The point is people are slamming someone the OP mentioned passing in a car for using a screen. With no idea how often or how long that was for.

What exactly is the "harm". Do their eyes falls out? Brains explode? Does it cause brain damage?

Oh and a quick google found these results:

The UK's Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health insists there is little evidence screen use for children is harmful in itself.

The WHO advice is based on available evidence, but there is still a lack of definitive research into the harms and possible benefits of screen use.

So really there isn't really anything that bad is there. You can all stop flapping now every time you see a child enjoying some Peppa Pig whilst snorting cocaine.

I kind of judge someone who is such a bad driver that they spend their time peering into other cars whilst driving rather than keeping their eyes on the road

The biggest "harmful" thing I've found is it could cause obesity if a child is sat with a screen all day.

But that's obvious.

It is possible to watch some tv/use a tablet and also be active believe it or not

Still googling...

Decades of research on screen time has revealed associations with both positive and negative developmental outcomes (see below). But the evidence is far from conclusive and more research into the effects of screen time on children is needed. This mixed evidence base has led to unclear and contradictory recommendations around screen time for children.

The UK’s Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) criticised the American guidelines. They argue that they’re not all based on strong evidence.

Babies and toddlers learn when adults interact with them alongside screen time. See our screen time tips article for ideas. If parents choose wisely, apps could benefit children under five by fostering play and creativity.
Age appropriate screen content and activities might also encourage development. For example, there’s an association between toddlers using interactive touchscreens earlier and them being able to make small, controlled movements – stacking blocks – earlier. On the other hand, screen time has also been associated with delays in reaching developmental milestones between the ages of two and five years.
What appears to be important is having age appropriate content and context (where and who with) for how the screens are used.

By allowing appropriate access to technology, we’re encouraging children to learn important digital skills they’ll need throughout their lives and careers.

www.fatherly.com/health-science/screen-time-hurts-kids-dopamine-addiction/

You don't know the circumstances and you also don't know the age of the child as you never saw them.

Trust me when I say that I've judged other parents before, I'm sure we all have. There are so many more important issues to get worked up about, as long as the child is loved, happy and healthy then I don't see too much to worry about.

I wish I could have done this when ds was very small. He has autism and used to scream and scream in the car.

Dont judge

It's all designed to be highly addictive, why start them so young?

@Macncheeseballs

It's all designed to be highly addictive, why start them so young?

Because it’s better than them screaming the place down and covering themselves, their siblings and the car in vomit?

Slow moving traffic on this sight today.

Also on this site.

You dont know the situation so it's wrong to judge

It's nice to see that the 'are you jealous' line made it out before the end of the first page though. As soon as you mentioned a BMW I knew someone would be along to suggest you must secretly want their car.