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[ElectricBlanketFire]

Please note the bolded below. The amount of time consuming media hasn't increased, it's just shifting to mobile devices (which, duh).

Children 8 and younger spent about 15 minutes a day staring at a mobile screen in 2013 and now they spend 48 minutes a day, according to the report by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization focused on helping children, parents, and educators navigate the world of media and technology.

The report, released Thursday, also found that 42% of children 8 and younger now have their own tablet devices, a steep increase from 7% four years ago and less than 1% in 2011.

For the new report, 1,454 parents of children 8 and younger were surveyed online in January and February about how their children use media. The new survey built off of two previous surveys on children's media use that were conducted in 2011 and 2013.
The new findings, detailed in a report, showed that children 8 and younger spend an average of 2 hours and 19 minutes a day with screen media, roughly the same as in prior years.

"The report actually shows that kids' overall media use has stayed about the same since our 2011 report (2:19 versus 2:16). What's changed is how they're using it," Steyer said in the email. "Mobile is totally taking over -- it now makes up 35% of screen time, compared to 4% in 2011."

While this isn't exactly shocking news, it made me consider how much time our kids (4 and 1 1/2) spend looking at screens in general.

4 year old: We currently allow him to play 20 minutes of video games (if he's picked up his room) and 20-30 minutes on his LeapFrog tablet (which has educational games and lessons). He really doesn't watch a ton of television and my wife and I usually wait until kids go to bed until we do.

1 1/2 year old: I let her mess around with the Wii U gamepad for 10-15 minutes. I know it sounds silly, but we've been teaching her letters by creating folders and spelling out words (we use letter blocks and other things too). Aside from that, it's the occasional episode of Puffin Rock or Daniel Tiger.

 

[linkboy]

I'll believe it.

My son, if he can get away with it, will have his face buried in his 3DS or iPad. His mom and I are both in agreement (we don't live together) on restricting his time on video games and iPad.

We've got him enrolled in an after school program during the week, so he doesn't get to use his electronics at all much during the week.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

I'll believe it.

My son, if he can get away with it, will have his face buried in his 3DS or iPad. His mom and I are both in agreement (we don't live together) on restricting his time on video games and iPad.

We've got him enrolled in an after school program during the week, so he doesn't get to use his electronics at all much during the week.

Oh believe me, if we didn't limit it he could easily play all day long. There have of course been times we've made exceptions if it's a special day, as a reward or if he's sick.

 

[digitalrelic]

God, that's crazy.

We don't allow any mobile screen time to our 4 year old, and don't plan to any time soon.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

God, that's crazy.

We don't allow any mobile screen time to our 4 year old, and don't plan to any time soon.

Why? It's as essential as books are.

 

[digitalrelic]

Why? It's as essential as books are.

Can't say I agree with that at all. How is an iPhone as essential as a book to a 4 year old?

 

[sixteen-bit]

Why? It's as essential as books are.

u can even get books on them

 

[bionic77]

Why? It's as essential as books are.

Are you serious?

They don't teach you shit. They make you a dumb zombie.

We also strictly limit screen time for our kids and only let them play videogames on Saturday.

 

[Sambrez_]

My 1 1/2 year old daughter never watched a screen (TV, mobile) and we don't plan to show her one before she's 3.
Bascally we're gonna use the 3/6/9/12 year rule from Serge Tisseron (sorry don't find it in english https://sergetisseron.com/3-6-9-12/)

 

[bevishead]

Sadly my older cousins use their phones and tablets as the ultimate pacifiers for their kids. 3 of my little cousins ( 3, 3, and 4) use the phone or tablet to play games or watch youtube for 1 to 3 hours a day sometimes. The parents ( my older cousins ) are happy because it keeps their kids quiet and in one place. Not good for brain development at all.

 

[Akuun]

I'm really not sure how much exposure kids should have to technology these days.

Obviously you don't want kid to always be staring into a tablet all day to the exclusion of everything else, but at the same time I also don't want to hide the kid from technology either. I feel like a lot of my interest in technology stems from being allowed to screw around on my dad's PC as a kid, so I don't want to deny my kid that.

I guess limited and supervised use is the way to go.

 

[fanboi]

Are you serious?

They don't teach you shit. They make you a dumb zombie.

We also strictly limit screen time for our kids and only let them play videogames on Saturday.

Ehem, they teach you a lot if you make it so.

 

[sirap]

pffft, these kids need to step up. I spent every free time I had on my Gameboy.

Gotta catch em all.

 

[yuoke]

Thought it would be way more.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Are you serious?

They don't teach you shit. They make you a dumb zombie.

My son's leapfrog tablet has lessons on english, math and geography. He's not sitting around watching Russian YouTube cartoons.

Can't say I agree with that at all. How is an iPhone as essential as a book to a 4 year old?

I didn't say an iPhone. I gave specific examples in my OP. But you can use an iPhone for the same purpose.

 

[spock]

What are your thoughts on creative mode Minecraft in regards to time limits for kids. I'm torn because it does use their creativity, but its still screen time. The reason I ask is I generally limit screen time for both my kids (8 & 9) but do give leeway if I see them building stuff in Minecraft. They both also love cooking and craft shows. I don't give leeway here but wondering if I could be looser given the context.

 

[PandaShake]

Are you serious?

They don't teach you shit. They make you a dumb zombie.

We also strictly limit screen time for our kids and only let them play videogames on Saturday.

Phones are only what they are depending on the apps you put on them. Besides being bright, you can have all the children’s book in PDFs if you wish. I’ve worked for the school board once, and the iPads have plenty of educational software.

 

[DarknessTear]

Are you serious?

They don't teach you shit. They make you a dumb zombie.

We also strictly limit screen time for our kids and only let them play videogames on Saturday.

How old are your kids? Saturday sounds like the worst day to have set as a gaming day unless they're too young to go out and play.

 

[RDreamer]

Are you serious?

They don't teach you shit. They make you a dumb zombie.

We also strictly limit screen time for our kids and only let them play videogames on Saturday.

What? You can get a lot of learning games on iPads. I have some friends with a kid that gets in a lot of iPad learning games and he's developed far quicker than most other children I've ever seen. He finds solutions to puzzles on the iPad at an insane rate for how young he is. He's also learning words quicker from some apps. That and his motor skills developed pretty quickly, too, from having to manipulate the things on the screen.

Technology like that can be far more useful than books, depending on how you use it. If you're just turning on some cartoon on youtube for them, then yeah that might not be so good, but there's a lot there. Our society will be built around the expectation that these kids have interacted with these things for most of their lives. If you severely limit that, you may severely limit your child's ability to fit into that world.

 

[buttery fistful]

Sadly my older cousins use their phones and tablets as the ultimate pacifiers for their kids. My 3 of my little cousins ( 3, 3, and 4) use the phone or tablet to play games or watch youtube for 1 to 3 hours a day sometimes. The parents ( my older cousins ) are happy because it keeps their kids quiet and in one place. Not good for brain development at all.

This is the biggest problem I see, parents using mobile devices as a supplement or outright replacement to actual parenting.

 

[TheCochese]

My son's leapfrog tablet has lessons on english, math and geography. He's not sitting around watching Russian YouTube cartoons.

I prefer Afghanistanimation, myself.

 

[sensui-tomo]

probably just going to do what my parents did for me, with the exception of maybe more supervision when it comes to anything on the internet. (was able to play games when i wanted after i was done with homework and my grades had to be good (if anything i showed any decline games were suspended until the grades improved)

 

[LordGorchnik]

I'm a fan of letting my godson play for an hour or so. But we always ready books and/or draw and color for at least 1-2 hours as well. Also I'm a big fan of the below sign.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

And we do. Every day since they were born.

 

[digita1alchemy]

Our 4-year-old daughter has a kids Kindle Fire and while we do moderate usage, some days she is on it a fair amount. She probably plays games more than she watches shows and many of the games are educational and/or have her solving puzzles and working out problems. She still loves books, drawing and playing outside with other kids, so I don't see much of an issue.

 

[Random Painted HIghway]

Our kids 6.5 and 2.3 definitely get more screen time than we'd like but what are you going to do, we work incredibly demanding jobs and have zero familial support. If our eldest was struggling at school it would be a concern, but he finds homework to be way too easy as is. He does have an introverted personality which gets reinforced with the screens. But he is active after school and with soccer practice/games.

How much handwringing is just fear of change and tech evolution, how much is actually bad. Can you even quantify such things and apply it on an individual level. Or is it like most things where you do your best and hope that you don't screw tour kids up too much.

 

[digitalrelic]

My son's leapfrog tablet has lessons on english, math and geography. He's not sitting around watching Russian YouTube cartoons.



I didn't say an iPhone. I gave specific examples in my OP. But you can use an iPhone for the same purpose.

Alright, but suggesting that a Leapfrog tablet is every bit as essential as books to your children still is not true.

I'm sure the Leapfrog device is great, but you can get just as much of a positive learning experience for your child with communication, books, and pencils/paper. Not to mention much more social interaction and bonding time. It's not an 'essential' device in the slightest.

 

[Thelonelykoopa]

If this counted the Gameboy Advance than I most certainly exceded that as a child with Pokemon.

 

[PandaShake]

I'm a fan of letting my godson play for an hour or so. But we always ready books and/or draw and color for at least 1-2 hours as well. Also I'm a big fan of the below sign.

You can have your child on your lap as you read them a book from an app. No different than a kindle.

 

[CreepingFear]

I probably watched more TV than that as a kid and look how I turned out!

 

[ostrichKing]

Are you serious?

They don't teach you shit. They make you a dumb zombie.

We also strictly limit screen time for our kids and only let them play videogames on Saturday.

They don't teach you shit? Really? My daughter regularly uses our tablet (it is not the only thing she plays with at all, but we aren't paranoid about it) and we just had our first parent teacher conferences and she is well ahead of the curve and has been placed in advance lessons in all her subjects...these alarmist hysterics don't help this conversation...playing with a tablet or having screen time isn't going to make them a dumb zombie....

 

[RDreamer]

I'm a fan of letting my godson play for an hour or so. But we always ready books and/or draw and color for at least 1-2 hours as well. Also I'm a big fan of the below sign.

You could, like... read a book from an app, too.

Also, kids can color on iPads, too.

Seriously, tablets and phones are tools. They can be used very very poorly, but they can also be used very smartly by a parent to encourage their child to learn and explore in both new ways and the same ways children have been learning for ages.

 

[Steeped in a Sea of Games]

Ehem, they teach you a lot if you make it so.

Yeah, it's bullshit to say they can't learn anything from screens. With my reinforcement, watching kid music videos helped me easily teach my kids to count and learn the alphabet. Some of the educational games on the kid kindle have been helping my son to read. There's definitely garbage, but screens can be useful when utilized appropriately.

I usually limit TV to 45 min per day and tablet time to the same and both my kids are the highest performing kids in their school. My daughter was talking before she was 2 and all her playmates were still just babbling. We get constant compliments on how well behaved they are. There's no reason to demonize screen time in all situations.

 

[bionic77]

How old are your kids? Saturday sounds like the worst day to have set as a gaming day unless they're too young to go out and play.

6. They play games after they come back from whatever sport they are in for that weekend.

I sound a little like the unabomber but I am not a big believer in tech and education in young children. It can surely work (as can anything) but far more often than not I just see people just use it as a free babysitter and I hate seeing these kids just waste their time watching weird toy review videos or the other weird shit targeted at kids.

We have been big believers in reading and writing as much as possible for my kids so far.

 

[DonShula]

Are you serious?

They don't teach you shit. They make you a dumb zombie.

We also strictly limit screen time for our kids and only let them play videogames on Saturday.

I can’t believe you’re serious. That blanket statement about tablets just makes no sense. They’re tools that provide the apps you choose.

They’re also quite frankly the new tools of the professional world. Kids in our school district are assigned iPads in kindergarten. Tablets (remembering to charger and bring them) teach the responsibility on top of everything else.

At some point, keeping technology from your kids is doing them a disservice.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Alright, but suggesting that a Leapfrog tablet is every bit as essential as books to your children still is not true.

I'm sure the Leapfrog device is great, but you can get just as much of a positive learning experience for your child with communication, books, and pencils/paper. Not to mention much more social interaction and bonding time. It's not an 'essential' device in the slightest.

You're incorrectly inferring that he's not getting those other experiences.

 

[Snaku]

I usually spent way more than that per day straining my eyes trying to make shit out on my OG GameBoy's tiny piss yellow green screen when I was growing up.

 

[digitalrelic]

You're incorrectly inferring that he's not getting those other experiences.

I never inferred that. I just said that those other experiences have further benefits, and that you've still done nothing to convince me that a Leapfrog tablet is as "essential as books".

 

[TheCochese]

You're incorrectly inferring that he's not getting those other experiences.

People love telling others how to raise their kids. There's no one size fits all solution.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

I never inferred that. I just said that those other experiences have further benefits, and that you've still done nothing to convince me that a Leapfrog tablet is as "essential as books".

Because you can read books and learn how to use a computer at the same time?

EDIT: Yes, we also read actual books and he colors on actual paper.

 

[digitalrelic]

Our kids 6.5 and 2.3 definitely get more screen time than we'd like but what are you going to do, we work incredibly demanding jobs and have zero familial support. If our eldest was struggling at school it would be a concern, but he finds homework to be way too easy as is. He does have an introverted personality which gets reinforced with the screens. But he is active after school and with soccer practice/games.

How much handwringing is just fear of change and tech evolution, how much is actually bad. Can you even quantify such things and apply it on an individual level. Or is it like most things where you do your best and hope that you don't screw tour kids up too much.

It's still such extremely early days, but we're already seeing quantifiable evidence of the negative effects of constant mobile device reliance:

The Atlantic: Has the Smartphone Destroyed a Generation?

What happened in 2012 to cause such dramatic shifts in behavior? It was after the Great Recession, which officially lasted from 2007 to 2009 and had a starker effect on Millennials trying to find a place in a sputtering economy. But it was exactly the moment when the proportion of Americans who owned a smartphone surpassed 50 percent.

The results could not be clearer: Teens who spend more time than average on screen activities are more likely to be unhappy, and those who spend more time than average on nonscreen activities are more likely to be happy.

There’s not a single exception. All screen activities are linked to less happiness, and all nonscreen activities are linked to more happiness.

Eighth-graders who spend 10 or more hours a week on social media are 56 percent more likely to say they’re unhappy than those who devote less time to social media.

Those who spend an above-average amount of time with their friends in person are 20 percent less likely to say they’re unhappy than those who hang out for a below-average amount of time.

Eighth-graders who are heavy users of social media increase their risk of depression by 27 percent

Teens who spend three hours a day or more on electronic devices are 35 percent more likely to have a risk factor for suicide

Fifty-seven percent more teens were sleep deprived in 2015 than in 1991. In just the four years from 2012 to 2015, 22 percent more teens failed to get seven hours of sleep.

Two national surveys show that teens who spend three or more hours a day on electronic devices are 28 percent more likely to get less than seven hours of sleep than those who spend fewer than three hours

 

[ostrichKing]

What? You can get a lot of learning games on iPads. I have some friends with a kid that gets in a lot of iPad learning games and he's developed far quicker than most other children I've ever seen. He finds solutions to puzzles on the iPad at an insane rate for how young he is. He's also learning words quicker from some apps. That and his motor skills developed pretty quickly, too, from having to manipulate the things on the screen.

Technology like that can be far more useful than books, depending on how you use it. If you're just turning on some cartoon on youtube for them, then yeah that might not be so good, but there's a lot there. Our society will be built around the expectation that these kids have interacted with these things for most of their lives. If you severely limit that, you may severely limit your child's ability to fit into that world.

This! Completely agree...the critical thinking/math/reading/motor skills she's learned playing her tablet are amazing...It's not a replacement for being a parent (in fact most of our screen time is us playing or using apps together when we are using the table), but it definitely can be a great tool in letting them explore their passions and learn...

 

[RDreamer]

I never inferred that. I just said that those other experiences have further benefits, and that you've still done nothing to convince me that a Leapfrog tablet is as "essential as books".

It's pretty simple. A book is just a book. A tablet is a book and a way to learn words, sentences, puzzles, math, and social structures.

 

[Random Painted HIghway]

People love telling others how to raise their kids. There's no one size fits all solution.

Everyone's an expert on juvenile brain development these days.

 

[ChimpanzeeThat]

2 hours sounds about right. My 5 year old niece uses an iPad for educational apps but my sister (her mother) only lets her use it for an hour a day. She bans her from playing games and watching Youtube videos on it now because she spent a week at her grandmother's house (her father's mother) and came home practically glued to the screen because she didn't regulate her usage. I use to see those Spider-Man and Elsa videos that H3H3 use to joke about on Youtube but my niece was actually watching them and my sister hit the roof.

 

[balohna]

I used to watch like 5 hours of TV a day as a kid.

 

[digitalrelic]

People love telling others how to raise their kids. There's no one size fits all solution.

Please. I'm not telling anyone how to raise their kids in the slightest.

Because you can read books and learn how to use a computer at the same time?

EDIT: Yes, we also read actual books and he colors on actual paper.

Again, I never implied that you didn't read actual books or color on actual paper.

 

[theWB27]

Pretty ignorant to say electronics are bad for kids with the plethora of educational programs available at the click of a finger. As if keeping them away from electronics allows them to develop any better than those who don't.

The only thing they hinder is physical activity... Which books can do also.

 

[Kthulhu]

It'll be interesting to see how the post-smartphone generation develops. These kids now have access to the internet from just about anywhere from an early age.

 

[Lil'DigiOp]

I'm really not sure how much exposure kids should have to technology these days.

Obviously you don't want kid to always be staring into a tablet all day to the exclusion of everything else, but at the same time I also don't want to hide the kid from technology either. I feel like a lot of my interest in technology stems from being allowed to screw around on my dad's PC as a kid, so I don't want to deny my kid that.

I guess limited and supervised use is the way to go.

That's more so based on informing your child on what the device is capable of and having guidance with their interactions.


Most people just throw a iPhone at their kid and don't followup.