Increasing screentime for children

[HardyEM]

Schools are implemented online only access to homework without parental consultation or risk assessment (in our case Sparx Maths). Is it always in the childs best interest to increase their screentime? What about children struggling with, or vulnerable to, excessive screentime (gaming, social media etc) Do other parents think homework should be a place where our children can have the option to have a welcome and necessary break from a screen?

I don’t think all screen time is equal. Unless they are putting the hmk on Facebook or tiktok I dont see how social media is an issue. I would be more worried about the lack of ‘poverty proofing’.

Personally I have no problem with children having screen time. My dc has unlimited access, had no damage done to him, actually did great instead. Only thing we implemented was no screen after 8, and not in the bedroom.

I think children having uncontrollable screen addiction is up to the parents, not because they are assigned work from school.

Our children are growing up in a very technology driven age. It's in their interests to get comfortable with computers.

As others said, all screen time isn't equal and educational work is different to mindless watching.

I know for our school there is a number of tablets that are available for loan to families that are unable to acquire their own. They just need to ask and tbf I suspect school are already aware of which families they are.

Will be interesting when the research has been done on the effects of increasing screentime (irrespective of content) on brain development/function (specifically frontal lobe) during adolescence. Schools are neglecting their duty of care. Many children are all ready struggling with an unhealthy relationship with tech. Can't we teach them that there is a life away from behind a screen (like the childhood we were lucky enough to experience).

Yep and that is the parents job. If you don't like screens, keep them for the school work.

You don't have to increase screen time just because school work in on a computer.

Primary schools often set homework as it's popular with parents and is seen as the mark of a good school.
I suspect that setting an app assignment is cheaper than printing out worksheets and schools are under budget constraints which means that the cheapest methods will be used.

I wouldn't like all homework being on a screen, in my opinion, from my own experience, learning sticks more when you're actually writing with pen on paper than inputting on a computer. I'm glad they don't do much screen stuff at my DD's school, just a bit of typing lessons and learning to use the school tablets and occasional maths games on them. Mostly they use text books and workbooks, and homework is in their workbooks or notebooks. I don't know how it'll be at upper school though, perhaps they'll be more screen based but I hope not.

Secondary School are pushing computer based homework. Meaning all children will be required to increase their screentime to access their homework. It is not for School to dictate how much or what type of screentime children are exposed to. Big profits for Edtech companies. Convenience for teachers. What about what is in the best interests of children?

I think you’re right unfortunately.

I have a DC currently going through y7. All homework is set online, virtually all to be completed on some app or other. I'm very against it. They already do plenty of screen time in school as part of their classes. One of the issues I have is the fixed distance of a lit screen - it's terrible for the eyes ( I know, I taught EFL online for a year to I could take it no more). Another is lack of consultation/engagement with others. Thirdly, online work seems to be done for the ease of the teachers rather than the explicit benefit for the children. Finally, inspiration: anyone who's learnt a language on Duolingo knows how dull this method is - now my DS is learning English and maths in the same fashion. How better to put children off learning for life!

How much computer based homework do your dc get? Does it involves hours of work on screen everyday?
If not, I really don't think is a big deal.
Teacher having more time because they don't need to mark is actually good for children, I think. They can spend more time planning. Also the site my dc's school use can pin point weakness of each children. I was quite impressed when they had the printout of what part of biology/chemistry/physics/whatever the dc needs to revise more at the parent's eve.

I've since made Freedom of Information requests to dozens of Secondary Schools/Academy's. Asking if online learning platforms have been implemented. If so, has a formal risk assessment been carried out. Can School provide homework without the need for a screen if requested by parent/carer. When asked formally Schools realise that they must also provide homework withoutout a screen (as the vast majority haven't even carried out a risk assessment). This is something parents can push back against we don't have to just accept that this is "the new normal". My youngest daughter will start at the same school next Sept and she will not be sitting at a computer screen to do her homework.

100% delighted to hear this.

My SEN child does everything on a laptop anyway and it makes it much easier for her and others if all homework is on apps and online.

Do you want your child to be able to succeed and function in the real world? It is normal to use tech these days.

Why are you so hung up about screens? Why do you want your child to be the odd one out?

Ideally Primary Schools would ensure that all children are able to touch type by the time they leave.

Good for you Hardy. It's outrageous. In China there is a myopia epidemic (60% of school age children). The muscles of the eye are meant to move not stare ahead at a fixed distance for hours. Not good for adults either but surely worse for developing children.

Thank you BlooDeBloop. I knew there must be more of us out there who are wide awake and paying attention.

All the best to you and yours!

Not all screen time is equal. My child’s school has recently switched over to Sparx for maths homework. You can’t replace it with a paper based solution. It’s adaptive, so it supports the child if they need it and avoids pointless repetition of questions on things they already know. Having had excruciating battles over the years to encourage my child to complete maths homework that we both knew was a bit pointless for them, Sparx has been great. The questions are challenging enough to be interesting, but not so hard that they damage confidence.
Yes, it’s 30 min to 1hr a week of additional screen time, but without a good personal tutor, you couldn’t replicate the way it targets the questions to the specific abilities/knowledge of each child.

Thank you RockyOfTheRovers for your comments. I am pleased that Sparx Maths is working well for your child. I completely agree not all screentime is equal. My issue is that not all children are equal either. I worked with children already struggling with excessive screentime. What is in the best interests of these children? If online homework policies can be implemented without a risk assessment, then what's to stop all homework going online only. Will it stop at an extra 30mins/1hr a week or will it be every night for 2 hours. What will be the limit and will parents have a say? Will parents care?

What will be the limit and will parents have a say? Will parents care?

Of course they parents have a say. And of course parents care.
You keep talking about children who already have issues with excessive screen time. It's not the norm, at least on MN. Those parents who won't care and let children be on screen without any restriction won't be on MN talking about screen time issues with fellow parent here. That's the reason you won't get much sympathetic response on here. Because we all care, that's why we are on MN, talking about this in the first place.

When it comes to screentime what is healthy or normal for child development? When does a little too much screentime become a problem and how will it manifest? Will it be too late to cut back on screentime after children's brains are fully developed (frontal lobe at around 25/26 years). If the last couple of years has taught us anything it is to do our own independent research (which interestingly becomes more difficult if your frontal lobe hasn't developed properly!) Any intervention that is presented as convenient or even beneficial could quite easily be the opposite. Remember Edtech is making tons of money out of this. Do you think they give much thought about what is best for children?

Do you think they give much thought about what is best for children?

Maybe not, but that's why what's best for children mainly falls onto parental responsibility. And I think the level of screen use atm is ok at my dc's school. Any parent who aren't ok with their own children's school should speak to the school.

Thats good. Parents do need to keep an eye on it as it's only likely to increase. Hopefully parents will realise they don't have to just accept it.