26 votes

The first ever World Health Organisation (WHO) physical activity guidelines for under-fives, recommend no screen time for one-year-olds and no more than an hour for two- to-four-year-olds.

7 comments

  1. [5]
    krg
    (edited )
    Link
    Phones are kinda the modern-day pacifiers for toddlers and up, it seems. The problem being that parents seem to rely on them way too much. While I'm not a parent, hypothetical children of mine...

    Phones are kinda the modern-day pacifiers for toddlers and up, it seems. The problem being that parents seem to rely on them way too much. While I'm not a parent, hypothetical children of mine would not be left to their own devices ... on devices. But, I'm also reminded of an interesting point the hosts on the "How it's Made" "Stuff You Should Know" podcast made in a particular episode...that, if denying your kids these experiences you might be ostracizing from the majority of children who would be exposed to "phone culture."

    10 votes
    1. [2]
      Gaywallet
      Link Parent
      And yet they are so much worse. Every minute that a toddler is spending looking at a screen is a minute they aren't interacting with people. Toddlers are very rarely by themselves, and thus they...

      And yet they are so much worse. Every minute that a toddler is spending looking at a screen is a minute they aren't interacting with people. Toddlers are very rarely by themselves, and thus they are almost always watching their surroundings. Listening in on conversations, watching people do mundane activities, or finding ways to interact with other people.

      There's a huge social component that's missing when they're playing with a machine. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good skills they are learning about tech and how humans interact with tech when they are using tech, but there will be plenty of time throughout their lives for them to get familiar with tech after they've learned the basics of human interaction.

      I personally think the key is to limit and reduce tech time to a level that is appropriate for the person's age. What these exact amounts are, however, are very difficult to nail down to a science. There's a good case to be made to limit screen time to almost nothing below a certain age, but after that it should be tailored - every person's development is going to be different, and if your child is struggling in social situations then they probably should have less screen time and more social time. If they're doing well in social situations, you can probably relax a little and leave them to their own devices.

      4 votes
      1. Catt
        Link Parent
        I have to admit, reading what you wrote, this is the first time limiting screen time makes sense to me. Both my husband and I are gamers, so we're caught between wanting to teach him video games...

        Every minute that a toddler is spending looking at a screen is a minute they aren't interacting with people.

        I have to admit, reading what you wrote, this is the first time limiting screen time makes sense to me.

        Both my husband and I are gamers, so we're caught between wanting to teach him video games and not hindering hid growth. We'll start with board games first and then guess we'll see.

        4 votes
    2. [2]
      clerical_terrors
      Link Parent
      I'm not familiar with the podcast so I don't know if they addressed this, but I'd be very wary of allowing children something just because their peers all have it. the article very specifically...

      if denying your kids these experiences you might be ostracizing from the majority of children who would be exposed to "phone culture."

      I'm not familiar with the podcast so I don't know if they addressed this, but I'd be very wary of allowing children something just because their peers all have it. the article very specifically makes room for small amounts of screen time so as not to isolate kids entirely, something which seems to be an adaptation of the "TV-time" or "Computer time" a lot of us probably had as kids.

      2 votes
      1. krg
        Link Parent
        I don't recall which episode it was in, but they mostly on board with the "mobile phone use is bad for kids" view. That just happened to be a counterpoint they considered. Oh, and I just...

        I don't recall which episode it was in, but they mostly on board with the "mobile phone use is bad for kids" view. That just happened to be a counterpoint they considered.

        Oh, and I just remembered the podcast is actually "Stuff You Should Know" presented by "How Stuff Works". I got a bit confused, there.

        Edit: I believe it was discussed near the end of this episode.

  2. duality
    Link
    As a father of 4 and a techie I can say that these guidelines are right on. Kids thrive when you engage with them. Bring activities with you to the restaurant or where-ever that engage them....

    As a father of 4 and a techie I can say that these guidelines are right on. Kids thrive when you engage with them. Bring activities with you to the restaurant or where-ever that engage them.

    Personally, I find the phone to be the least helpful in placating children. At best it seems to just "delay" whatever you were distracting them from.

    5 votes
  3. user2
    Link
    On what are these times based? I would think 1h is still a lot for a 4 year old child.

    On what are these times based? I would think 1h is still a lot for a 4 year old child.