Should Parents Limit Screen Time for Children?

Nowadays, screens are incorporated into the everyday lives of both adults and children due to technology's unprecedented advancement. Smartphones, tablets, computers, and television screens form part of our daily lives. Undoubtedly, technology is a useful tool that provides extensive educational and entertainment facilities, but in recent years, there has been a tremendous concern related to children's screen time. This has resulted in ongoing discussions on when and how parents should restrict their children's screen time. Some people believe that it should be limited as much as possible to guarantee children's health and their correct development. On the other hand, others argue that screen time can be useful when it is controlled properly. Therefore, this paper argues that parents should set rules regarding how much time their children spend in front of a screen, which is essential to supporting children's development and enhancing family bonds.

First, experts have voiced concerns over the increase in children's screen time, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that 8-10-year-old children spend 6 hours on average in front of screens, while 11-14-year-olds are glued to the screens for nearly 9 hours (Bird, 2020). Surprisingly, these numbers are way beyond the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation, which states that children above the age of 2 should spend no more than 1-2 hours in front of screens (Eyimaya & Irmak, 2020). In the course of the COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures, screen time significantly increased for many children even more.

Additionally, the overuse of screens could lead to multiple adverse effects on children's health and well-being, as well as problems with cognition and social skills. According to Eirich et al. (2022), excessive screen time is associated with issues such as high obesity rates, sleep interruptions, inattention, and delayed language development in learning children. There are also issues of fear regarding the loss of valuable activities such as gross motor movement, face-to-face communication, and artistic expression. Also, children who are exposed to unpleasant or violent content through screens can act violently and possess negative perceptions of the world.

However, the parents are not helpless in such a situation, and they can work towards reducing the hours spent in front of screens. Parental moderation, content selection, and screen-free family time should be within the reach of most families. Alternatively, more modest improvements regarding children's conditions and development may speak volumes. For instance, setting boundaries regarding when, where, and how often children can watch screens may aid in limiting screen time. Parents can also emulate healthy use of technology and recommend other activities. Recommendations for changing practices include avoiding screen use in bedrooms and during meals, restricting the use of screen devices by children, and allowing children more screen time as they grow up (Eyimaya & Irmak, 2020).

Those who advocate for more stringent restrictions believe that most children cannot adequately control their screen time independently. With screens and apps designed to be more and more captivating, the simple solution of willpower often does not suffice. Therefore, by establishing and maintaining a specific set of rules, parents will be able to guide a child into a healthier way of using media in their formative years as well as in the later years of their lives. They may also limit family conflicts regarding screen use and provide more chances for non-screen-based family activities.

On the other hand, excessive limits on screen time might be unproductive and even detrimental. Opponents claim that negative attitudes towards screens do not account for their positive aspects and do not equip children for the world they will grow up in. Screens can enable meaningful learning, creativity, and socialization if properly applied. In fact, some of the applications can be used as a source of additional information and materials for the class, and video calls can be used to communicate with relatives who live far away. Social networks and online groups may become essential for communication and finding like-minded friends among adolescents and youths.

In addition, some scholars argue that negative effects linked with screen time could be either overstated or even attributed incorrectly. Indeed, a more recent meta-analysis revealed only minuscule positive associations between screen time and behavioral issues in children (Eirich et al., 2022). According to the authors, other causes, such as family stress or parental neglect, can be more decisive. However, COVID-19 data suggest that the observed increase in children's screen time among families resulted largely from changes in childcare and school disruptions (Hartshorne et al., 2021). This indicates that lower pre-pandemic screen time rates were due to better-stimulated parenting than better-informed parenting decisions.

In a nutshell, although completely banning screen time is not feasible or even necessary in contemporary society, parents should ensure that children spend a reasonable amount of time on screens and adhere to specific healthy practices. The goal is to enhance positive affordances as much as possible to reduce negative affordances. This is particularly true regarding children's screen use, where an appropriate approach should involve considering the content, context, and quality rather than merely the quantity of screen time. In this sense, parents should practice honesty when communicating with children, set good examples, and guide young people in critical thinking regarding social networks.