- It's a concern plaguing parents: is my child spending too much time online?
- Research has found time spent on devices isn't as damaging as you think.
- But, it doesn't mean there aren't negative effects to consider.
Parenting forums are awash with moms and dads lamenting their inability to separate their kids from devices and voicing fears that screen time might be scrambling their kids' brains and turning them into zombies.
But a study should set parents' minds at ease, to a certain extent. Researchers at Oxford University followed more than 300 000 teenagers from the UK and USA over a 10-year period and found just 0,4 percent of their wellbeing was associated with technology overuse.
"Our findings demonstrate that screen use itself has at most a tiny association with youth mental health," lead researcher Professor Andrew Przybylski says.
In fact, screen time has about the same negative impact as frequently eating potatoes or wearing glasses - in other words, not much of an impact at all. On the other hand, being bullied or smoking dagga are considered to be 2,7 and 4,3 times more dangerous to mental health respectively, the study found.
But the researchers don't conclude that there are no negative effects at all and emphasise it depends very much on what your children are doing with their screen time.
"We need to stop the debate about the effect of generic tech use on wellbeing and open space for more and better research about the kind of technologies people are using, who's using them and how," researcher Amy Orben says.
It's also worth considering that no two children are the same. The effects technology or social media may have on one child might be completely different on another. "Media and digital devices are an integral part of our world today," says Melanie Hartgill, an educational psychologist from Johannesburg.
"The benefits, if devices are used appropriately, can be great. But research has shown that face-to-face time with family, friends and teachers plays an even more important role in promoting children's healthy development."
Jade Brown, a counselling psychologist from Gqeberha, agrees that screen time has its pros and cons and that as technology progresses, so too will your child.
"Screen time helps with developing minds and allows children to cope with the fast pace of our technological age," she says. So what's a parent to do in light of this new information?
Don't throw caution to the wind
The new research doesn't mean you can give your kids free reign online. The crucial issue is what they're doing online. The harm caused by social media, for example, has been established in other studies.
Depending on the age of your child, the effects of technology and excessive screen time vary. Technology use is a serious consideration when it comes to childhood development, says Deirdre Caulwell, director at the Early Care Foundation in Johannesburg.
A child's brain develops twofold in their first two years, so this time specifically is crucial. Technology use is a serious consideration when it comes to childhood development, says Deirdre Caulwell, director at the Early Care Foundation in Johannesburg. A child's brain develops twofold in their first two years, so this time specifically is crucial.
"Gross motor development and socialisation are dependent on factors that technology inhibits," she says. While it might make your life easier to sit your child in front of a TV or tablet, children shouldn't be overexposed to technology at too young an age so they don't become dependent on it.
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Hartgill adds research has shown that frequent exposure to technology is wiring our children's brains differently. You can see this when observing something as simple as attention span, she says.
"A child's immediate environment determines the kind of attention they develop. The rapid growth of technology can hinder a child's ability to pay consistent attention.
"Screens flicker and change constantly as well as jump back and forth in time. They're visually stimulating and often educational, but they also limit the capacity for sustained focus. Memory is also affected as you can easily look up anything you need to know, removing the need to retain and recall information."
Of course, we have no idea how the world is changing and whether those things will be as critical in the future as they are today.
The fomo factor
The fear of missing out (fomo) is a big factor for kids who don't want to feel they're being left behind by their peers.
"They feel they're missing something when they're not on social media or are disconnected from their friends online after school," Hartgill says.
Research indicates the "happy hormone" dopamine is released during certain screen time activities such as gaming, Brown adds. "This results in a sense of happiness while using devices," she says. But there's a darker side to fomo.
Happiness can quickly make way for misery and terror if children are exposed to cyberbullying and scamming, Hartgill explains. Parents need to monitor what their kids are doing online and act if they suspect they might be in trouble.
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How long is too long?
Parents tend to find it easier to curtail screen time in younger children, Caulwell advises. Rebelliousness and peer pressure associated with teens make it tougher to monitor and control them.
Hartgill recommends adhering to screen time guidelines set out by the American Academy of Paediatrics. Children younger than 18 months should avoid use of screen media other than for video-chatting with a parent or grandparent.
Parents of kids aged 18-24 months who want to introduce digital media should choose high-quality programming and watch it with their children to help them understand what they're seeing.
The screen use of children aged between two and five years should be limited to one hour a day of high-quality programmes. Parents should view the media with their children to help them understand how it applies to the world around them.
For children aged six years and older, consistent limits must be placed on the time spent using media and the types of media, and parents must ensure that screen time doesn't take the place of adequate sleep and physical activity.
Apps such as Boomerang can monitor usage and allow you to remotely control your children's devices.
