How Much Screen Time Should Children Have?

Addiction may arise as a psychological problem due to the ineffective use of smart devices, which are the benefits of technology. When there is no time limit on the use of technological devices, from adults to children, problems ranging from mental problems to eye diseases can affect patient comfort. Screen addiction, especially experienced by children, is an addiction that needs to be controlled by parents and requires reducing increased screen time before it causes permanent problems. A study conducted in America showed that each child has access to 5 different smart devices at home (1). In this respect, the addition of televisions in children's rooms in addition to computers and phones is a major source of screen addiction. Many diseases, especially digital eye fatigue, can be prevented by setting screen limits for children. Parents should support their children in this regard before the interaction with digital devices that started during the pandemic period becomes increasingly uncontrollable.

screen-time

SUBJECT TITLES

Children and Screen Time
Reasons to Limit Screen Time
At What Age Can Children Start Using Phones and Tablets?
Harms of Using Tablets for Children
How Screen Time Affects Intelligence for Children
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Children and Screen Time

Time spent in front of the screen from morning to evening can affect many systems in the body, especially eye health. Especially in the preschool period, children are in the most active period to get to know the environment, develop physical skills, acquire motor skills and acquire cognitive competencies. At this age, they should receive support for useful activities such as spending time with peers, exploring outside with their parents, learning new games, and starting to acquire reading habits. The smartphone does not have a supportive role for children in this age group. Because when the time they spend alone is accompanied by a smartphone instead of physical games and books, attention deficit and mental problems may develop. Due to all these factors, screen time for children is a responsibility that must be implemented under the control of parents. The time spent with digital devices for all children, especially in the preschool period, should be within the range recommended by experts. At this point, certain screen times are recommended for certain age groups, accompanied by child health and disease experts, pedagogues and guidance counselors (2):

Not using anything other than video calls for those under 2 years old,
2 hours a day for adolescents and adults.

Smart screens may negatively affect children during their developmental periods. For this reason, it is necessary to impose screen restrictions according to expert recommendations, support children by explaining their requirements, and explain the reason for screen time without hurting them.

Reasons to Limit Screen Time

Creating screen time can be difficult for children born into the technology age. Parental control is important both because there was no such restriction before and because children are very open to what they hear from their environment. Before imposing a sharp and abrupt rule on screen time for children, it may be motivating to explain why this is necessary and what problems the constant use of computers that emit blue light will cause in the future. In order to limit screen time, the following reasons can be explained to the child in a way that he can understand and asked to support this decision (3,4):

Long-term screen use and gradual decrease in physical activity may lead to consequences such as weight gain and obesity. It may also lead to heart diseases, early diabetes, and eye diseases in later ages.
The screens of smart devices emit blue light. This light is harmful to the eyes and brain when exposed to continuously and can disrupt a person's circadian rhythm. In addition to eye diseases, it also has negative effects on sleep patterns.
Children who need to spend time with their families at home after school or have fun with their peers outside of school may spend limited time in social interaction in a closed area due to screen addiction. During these hours, wasting time with smart devices instead of useful activities can disrupt cognitive development.
Spending excessive time on games and social media gives a relaxing effect at those moments. However, since addictions arise from this comforting feeling, it can also be a sign of a dangerous process in the future. Spending time playing games and social media for a long time depletes the dopamine reservoir in the brain, creating addiction.
Constantly focusing on a point other than the natural point of view of the eye in the same position causes the perception of time and space to be out of date. Especially for eye health, looking at distant points at the normal viewing level every few minutes while looking at the screen can correct this perception.
Attention deficit, hyperactivity, loss of sense of self, and disruption of intelligence development are the consequences of screen addiction.
Content and advertisements produced on social media and in every game may not be suitable for children. Inappropriate content is a great danger for children, especially on smart devices without parental control.
One of the factors that most affects school success is smart device and screen addiction.
Social media is generally not a suitable environment for children. . Spending too much time here may have negative effects on children's body and image perception.

Educational practices can be used under parental control to ensure that children in the developmental period grow healthy and do not experience psychological and mental problems. If screen addiction continues as a progressive problem, parents can get expert support.

At What Age Can Children Start Using Phones and Tablets?

Screen time should be zero in the first 2-3 years. During this period, the child is most open to the stimuli around him, questions what he sees with curiosity, and learns the fastest. Although the use of smart tablets and phones seems to support development, children of this age should learn from their families and peers. Moreover, for physical development, it may be necessary to avoid screen addiction that ties the child to a single point.

screen time in children

Harms of Using Tablets for Children

Tablets can be found in the hands of children today as a means of passing time. Tablets, which families need to allow for use while taking digital health into account, can only be part of development in this way. Depending on the duration and the rules set by the child, tablet use may cause more harm than good. The most common reasons for this are as follows (4):

The tablet turns into a harmful device when internet security is not ensured,
Inactivity during tablet usage hours,
Causes eye fatigue and diseases,
Deprivation of peer education,
Causes irregular sleep,
Causes behavioral problems,
Disrupting the child's sense of identity,
Preventing the development of motor skills,
Failure to develop social skills.

Suggestions supporting controlled and periodic use reduce the harmful effects of tablets and computers. may restrict. At this point, it is very important for families to take a role.

How Screen Time Affects Intelligence for Children

Having a constructive attitude when using smart devices is among those that directly affect cognitive, spiritual and physical development. Intelligence development is a multidimensional event that continues from birth until the end of human life. Especially in early childhood, when they are most open to learning, there are millions of connection points called synapses in the child's brain. Every new information learned spiritually and physically helps to establish new connections by increasing the synapses in the child's brain during this period. If preschool children, whose sense of touch, hearing and vision are clear, learn this from the social environment instead of tablets, computers or phones, this may positively affect their intelligence development.

Families' knowledge may be insufficient in combating screen addiction and the problems it brings. Expert support may be required to manage this process correctly and approach the child with a supportive language. In addition, support should be sought from experienced physicians to solve the problem of eye fatigue in children who are exposed to screens for a long time.

Source

Tarih: 04/08/2023