According to a recent article titled, “Pediatricians to tweak ‘outdated’ screen time recommendations for kids,” the American Academy of Pediatrics, that esteemed organization charged with protecting the health and well-being of children, has decided that their recommendations of limited screen time—basically no screen time for children under 2 years old and only two hours a day for teenagers—need to be updated.
Expected in 2016, updating old policies can be a good thing as a way to keep current and consistent with the latest thinking and research. But, according to the article, all indications are that the changes are heading in the wrong direction. “Dr. Ari Brown, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ group investigating media use, explains, ‘Look at our world. It has changed … and so we have to approach the world as it is and figure out ways to make it work.’”
No doubt times have changed since the AAP originally offered their guidelines back in 1999, an eternity in technology years. According to a survey from Common Sense Media, 30% of children use screens before they’re even potty trained and almost a quarter of teenagers are connected almost all of the time. Technology has become an almost inseparable appendage to most young people. Adds Brown, the original limits are “just not the reality of what’s happening and so we really need to kind of address our world as these kids are growing up as digital natives.”
I appreciate the AAP’s desire to align their recommendations with the current reality. But the direction that the organization appears to be going is the exact opposite of where it should be going given the growing body of research demonstrating the increasingly harmful effects (along with some benefits) that screen time is having on children’s cognitive, emotional, social, and educational development.
Dr. Brown recommends how parents should use technology with their children, “And so you would sit down in the real world and play with your child, you would pretend and have a tea party. Well the same rules apply. You don’t just park your kid in front of a screen and make them go play by themselves. If you sit down and play with them on that screen, on that technology, they’re going to get more out of it.”
Here’s the problem. Parents don’t park their children in front of a screen because they want to engage with them to promote their healthy development. Rather, the single biggest reason parents put their kids in front of a screen is because it’s expedient; it frees parents to focus on their own needs.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s no harm in doing that periodically; parents need time to bathe, read the newspaper, and connect with friends. But this practice seems to be the rule, not the exception, in many families these days.
Dr. Brown further explains: “What we learn is that we as humans are very much social beasts and we are really learning by engaging with other humans and so the more that a digital technology can approximate that, the more a young child can get out of it.” My question is why should parents have their children “engage with other humans” through a medium that might “approximate” real human engagement when they could actually engage with other humans directly?
Increasing the limits allowed for kids’ screen time or not offering time limits at all, either of which seem to be directions that the AAP is considering, flies in the face of the fact that kids these days are already way out of balance in their use of technology. Attesting to this, the Kaiser Family Foundation has reported that kids spend, on average, more than 7 ½ hours a day in front of non-school-related screens. It seems pretty clear that kids need limits on screen time placed on them.
Suggesting that the guidelines need to be changed because they are out of touch with current use is akin to increasing what is deemed a healthy amount of sugar because kids are consuming more sugar these days than in previous generations. Times change, what is healthy for kids doesn’t.
I’m no Luddite. I recognize that kids will use technology. And there is no doubt that technology can play a positive role in children’s lives. But it’s pretty darned clear to anyone who observes kids these days that the last thing they and their parents need is permission to use technology more than they currently are. Moreover, another message that came through the article was that it’s okay to spend a lot of time with technology as long as it’s educational and social. Here’s another problem. Most of the time children spend in front of a screen is neither educational nor social.
Dr. Brown further asserts that, “No parent should feel guilty about their choices, we just want them to make educated and informed choices.” The AAP shouldn’t relax its guidelines because they make parents feel guilty about plopping their children in front of a screen. Educating and informing parents is a vital role of the AAP, so it needs to ensure that parents are educated and informed with information that supports healthy choices, not appeases or enables them.
The AAP shouldn’t change the guidelines because most parents won’t follow sensible time limits; most parents still let their children eat tons of junk food despite knowing how unhealthy it is.
The AAP should stand on the principle of what is best for children—isn’t that its job?—however out of touch with reality it is. The AAP should follow the research, not popular sentiment or practices, because, if the organization goes down this rabbit hole, they will lose their integrity, relevance, and ability to positively shape how children are raised.
