The Conversation: 4th May 2016

One of the most frustrating issues modern parents face is how to manage children’s screen time.

Official guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics say:

But in a world dominated by tablets and mobile phones, these limits are proving to be virtually impossible to uphold.

A recent online poll of 18,000 Australian children Behind the News found that 56% of respondents exceed that two-hour daily limit.

A survey of 2,620 Australian children aged eight to 16 years had similar results. The study showed that 45% of eight-year-olds to 80% of 16-year-olds exceed the recommended less than two hours per day limit.

We tend to justify children’s “overuse” in terms of the irresponsibility of youth. But a different and very plausible explanation is that the guidelines we use to benchmark how long children should spend on a screen are out of date. They were actually developed years before tablets and the many devices we use today were even invented.

Read more of this article on revising screen time recommendations for children.