Professional Corner 'Parent Child e-Link' e-newsletter for Professionals

Screen Time for Kids: Guiding Parents on the Kind and the Time

Electronic products have become an integral part of our daily lives. It has become one of the usual media for children's learning. Children are exposed to different types of digital products for various reasons, whether to meet educational needs, to stay connected with friends and family through video chats, or as pastime, ‘screen time' is becoming an inevitable part of their life. International research has confirmed that these so-called ‘screen time' activities are mostly sedentary and excessive amount will have negative impacts on children. Health organisations from around the world recommend limiting the time children spend on screen. The Department of Health of Hong Kong follows the guideline of the World Health Organization and advises parents that there should be no more than 1 hour of sedentary screen time per day for children aged 2 to 5. For those of age 2 or below, avoid letting them in contact with any electronic screen products except having interactive video-chat under parental guidance.

At the same time, a growing body of research suggests that while infants and toddlers can learn through screens, it is far less effective without adults' face-to-face guidance. In general, children below the age of 3 have difficulty applying what they learn on electronic screens directly in real life. Such “Transfer Deficit” may be caused by the fact that some complex cognitive abilities are still under development in this stage. When children have to take part in screen activities, how do parents choose the right screen products and activities to maximise the learning benefits? You can explore the following three "C's" with parents to help them make decisions.

1. Child:

   Parents are suggested to select electronic products or screen activities according to their children's age, abilities and preferences. They may also review their children's interest and learning performance from time to time to determine whether the screen activity is appropriate for that specific child at that time.

2. Context:

   Caregivers are an important contextual factor when young children use screen products. Studies found that young children learn better if adults are involved in the screen activity with additional explanations, questions and application of the content to daily life.

3. Content:

   Parents may refer to the following suggestions for selecting screen activities of better quality:

   • Engage the child: content of the activity can capture the child's attention and arouse his interest. There should not be too many non-essential and distracting elements (e.g. sudden pop-up of images/ graphics) that may interfere with the child's comprehension and learning of the subject matter.
   • Promote mental involvement: content can keep the child in ‘minds-on' mode rather than doing meaningless operations such as repeatedly pressing the screen button. Content needs to have interactive elements, e.g. the character on the screen pauses briefly after asking a question to give the child time to respond, or directs the child's attention to the objects / activities in real life. Such content is mentally engaging and helps the child better remember what he has learnt.
   • Is meaningful to the child: e.g. content needs to be relevant to the child's life, has a coherent story theme, or be narrated by a familiar (cartoon) character. Content related to daily life (e.g. an e-book about brushing teeth) can better engage the child, and makes it easier for him to apply what has just been introduced into a familiar context; when revisited appropriately, these can help reinforce what the child has learnt.
   • Promotes real-life social interaction: content should encourage real life interactions, such as asking children to share what they have learnt with their caregivers. At the same time, by asking questions and responding, and explaining the images they view together, caregivers have already created quality social interactions that facilitates learning.

Among the vast amount of readily available screen activities, choosing quality ones based on the above suggestions is not an easy task. However, when parents co-view with their children, they can select better ones and have more interactions with their children, in turn enhancing the parent-child relationship.

In addition to selecting appropriate screen activities, through discussing the followings, professionals can work with parents to prevent problems in managing screen use at home:

1. Stay With Rules Without Overuse
   • Parents are recommended to set simple rules and conditions for using electronic products with their children, including when and where to use them, time limit and rules like "Ask Dad/Mom before using the gadgets", "Stop when the time is up", etc., in order to help children establish healthy screen use from the start. In addition, since preschoolers have not yet grasped the concept of time, parents can make use of tools like timer or hourglass, or cue the child, "I'll switch off the gadget when the programme ends", to give prior notice before the end of the screen activity.
   • Parents are advised to specify “screen-free” time and location, and substitute with other activities or entertainments to avoid conflict with their children.
2. Stay Healthy With Routines
   • Parents are suggested to reduce non-essential screen time if their children need to have online learning due to class suspension.
   • Avoid long hours of sedentary screen time. Parents should encourage children to be physically active on a regular basis; they may try the Parent-Child Physical Games with their children recommended by StartSmart@school.hk even when they are staying at home.
   • To protect their children's eyes during online learning, Parents are suggested to choose electronic products with larger screens, ensure the room is well lit, and maintain a proper sitting posture as well as viewing distance, angle and screen brightness. Parents may refer to the suggestions on Healthy use of Internet and Electronic Screen Products by the Department of Health for details.
3. Stay Away From “Electronic Pacifier”
   • Screen activities often have the magic of instantly calming a child and giving parents a break. But if children must rely on gadgets to cope with negative emotions and idling time, they cannot learn to regulate their emotions and develop self-control.
   • While discussing ways to establish proper screen use among their children, you may also guide parents to notice the circumstances under which they are more likely to offer screen products to their children – when they or their children feel upset? When parents are tired? When children are bored? Will the screen products often be used to settle or reward the children's behaviour?
   • If you find that parents are overly reliant on the screen products to manage their children's behaviour and emotional problems, you may review their ways of child discipline and find alternative activities and rewards that can replace screen activities; when necessary, encourage parents to seek parenting support from other family members or professionals.
   • If you and the parents want to know more about child discipline, you may refer to leaflets including Discipline Your Toddler in a Positive Way, Managing the Behaviour of your Preschooler I and II.
4. Set a Role Model
   • Studies showed that the pattern of parental use of gadgets not only affects the quality of parent-child interactions, but also causes children to imitate. You may guide parents to reflect on their screen use habits, for instance, do they often mindlessly scroll through their electronic products? Are they frequently distracted by electronic messages, thus keeping them from focusing during parent-child interactions or responding promptly to their children's needs?  You may encourage caregivers to put away their electronic products during parent-child activities so that they could fully engage with their children, and demonstrate healthy use of gadgets to their children.
   • Do parents often leave the TV on at home and expose their children to screen contents inadvertently, or watch programmes inappropriate for young children together? Studies have found that this may have negative impacts on children's development. Thus, parents are suggested to be aware of the patterns of screen use of the family members and avoid exposing children to screen unintentionally.
   • If caregivers hold different views on electronic products, you may acknowledge their frustration and tell them it is quite common. Encourage parents to try to understand other caregivers' attitudes on screen use, communicate among themselves with mutual respects to come up with acceptable practices for their children to use screen products.

References:

• AAP COUNCIL ON COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA.  Media and Young Minds. Pediatrics. 2016;138(5):e20162591
• Barr, R., & Hayne, H. (1999). Developmental changes in imitation from television during infancy. Child Development, 70, 1067-1081. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00079.
• Barr, R., McClure, E. & Parlakian, R. (2019). Maximizing the potential for learning form screen experiences in early childhood: What the research says. Zero to Three Journal, 40(2), 29-36.
• Madigan, S., Browne, D., Racine, N., Mori, C., & Tough, S. (2019). Association Between Screen Time and Children's Performance on a Developmental Screening Test. JAMA Pediatrics, 173(3), 244. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.5056
• Moser, A., Zimmermann, L., Dickerson, K., Grenell, A., Barr, R., & Gerhardstein, P. (2015). They can interact, but can they learn? Toddlers' transfer learning from touchscreens and television. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 137, 137–155, doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2015.04.002.
• Radesky, J.  (March 4, 2020).  Kids' TV Has Rules. It's the Internet's Turn.  Common Sense Kids Action.  Retrieved 3 Apr 2020 from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/kids-action/blog/kids-tv-has-rules-its-the-internets-turn
• Radesky, J. & Rosenblum, K. (2019). A relationship-based framework for early childhood media use. International Journal of Birth and Parent Education, 6(4), 7-12. Retrieved 6 Apr 2020 from https://www.early-education.org.uk/sites/default/files/Joint%20EE%20IJBPE%20Summer%202019.pdf 
• Report of Advisory Group on Health Effects of Use of Internet and Electronic Screen Products by the Department of Health. Retrieved from https://www.studenthealth.gov.hk/english/internet/report/files/e_report_wa.pdf 
• Survey on television viewing and use of electronic screen products among pre-school children.  (2017).  Hong Kong SAR: Family Health Service, Department of Health.  Retrieved from https://www.fhs.gov.hk/english/reports/files/tv_2017_survey.pdf
• Troseth, G. L., Saylor, M. M., and Archer, A. H. (2006). Young children's use of video as a source of socially relevant information. Child Development, 77, 786-799.
• World Health Organization (‎2019)‎. Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age. Retrieved 17 Apr 2020 from https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/311664. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
• Zero to Three (Oct 25, 2018). Screen Sense: What the Research Says About the Impact of Media on Children Under 3 Years Old. Retrieved 3 Apr 2020 from https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/2536-screen-sense-what-the-research-says-about-the-impact-of-media-on-children-aged-0-3-years-old