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Screen Time Matters

Why would screen time matter when relating it to social media?  The majority of the time spent on screens usually involves social media in some way.  When trying to control how we manage our children's social media networking, I think screen time needs to be evaluated.


First, I want to share with you some statistics I found about what the average screen time is here in the United States.

  •  Average time spent in front of a screen

Age Teen
7 hours a day

Age 8-12
 4 hours 36 minutes

Age 0-8
 2 hours 19 minutes


This is the Recommended amount:

  • The recommended amount of screen time for Children: AAP Recommendations

  • For children younger than 18 months, avoid the use of screen media other than video-chatting. Parents of children 18 to 24 months of age 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. 
  • For children ages, 2 to 5 years, limit screen use to 1 hour per day of high-quality programs. Parents should co-view media with children to help them understand what they are seeing and apply it to the world around them.
  • For children ages 6 and older, place consistent limits on the time spent using media, and the types of media, and make sure media does not take the place of adequate sleep, physical activity and other behaviors essential to health.
  • For school-aged children and adolescents, the idea is to balance media use with other healthy behaviors.


I am a little surprised at the amount of screen time children are spending on electronic devices is about 3 times the recommended amount.  This seems to be a problem that might contribute to the behavior of children and the way they feel about social media.  I think that children these days are spending too much time in front of the screen.  This issue brings bigger problems.  Not only are they wasting time in front of something, but they are being exposed to things that aren't real.  From games to youtube, to Instagram or Netflix, children are living in a world that seems to create an unrealistic idea of life.  I think this is how it ties into social media and the negative effects it has on our kids.  I also think that parents are probably a big contributor to the problem.  Parents can lead by example.  They can say NO!  I think we need to evaluate the screen time for our children before we can say that social media has a negative effect on them.

Thanks for reading!
Sara      


Reference:
https://www.verywellfamily.com/what-kids-miss-out-on-when-on-a-screen-4106100
http://www.readykidscville.org/category/reading/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/childrens-health/in-depth/screen-time/art-20047952
https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/American-Academy-of-Pediatrics-Announces-New-Recommendations-for-Childrens-Media-Use.aspx
https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/multimedia/infographics/getmoving.html?
https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/multimedia/infographics/getmoving.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fnccdphp%2Fdch%2Fmultimedia%2Finfographics%2Fgetmoving.htm

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