Blackburn South kindergarten teacher's tips and tricks to shift your child's screen time habits

According to a report from Western Sydney University’s Institute for Culture and Society, the amount of time children spent in front of screens jumped by 52 percent during the COVID pandemic.

Parental guilt and the question of whether devices are harming young people’s development and social skills has been at the forefront of parents’ minds for a number of years, with a 2021 poll from The Royal Children’s Hospital finding 90 percent of parents considered it a big problem or somewhat of a problem in the community.

How bad is the problem of screen time for young children?

The University of Wollongong (UOW) released research last September that revealed only 14 percent of children aged three to four years old across 33 countries met global recommendations for physical activity, sedentary screen time and sleep. 

Research from the Australian Institute of Family Studies found only 17 to 23 per cent of preschoolers meet the Australian guidelines of up to one hour of screen time per day.

Excessive screen time has negative impacts on weight, motor and cognitive development and social and psychological wellbeing in children younger than five, with self-esteem and psychosocial health impacts found in children between five and 17 years old, according to researchers. 

Sarah Gunn, a kindergarten teacher at an early learning centre in Blackburn South and children’s author, said she recognised children “struggle to have a long attention span” when technology is a significant part of their lives. 

“In the wake of COVID, I've had a parent say to me that their child was basically raised on technology, and it showed because they were really struggling to speak with other children and connect with them and didn't know how to play with anything else other than an iPad because they just weren't used to it,” she told the Eastern Melburnian.

“If a child relies on technology to engage them when they're bored, they're never going to learn that creativity of coming up with games and to be creative and to reuse the same toys that they've had for a long time, in new ways.”

Is there a missing piece to the screen time puzzle?

Researchers from UOW said not all screen time is bad and have added to calls for analysis of the contexts around screen time, expanding on existing research focusing solely on the amount of time spent looking at a screen.

The university published a review of 100 studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) last year analysing the impacts of screen use contexts on children up to six years old from countries around the world - including Australia.

Analysis found more program viewing, caregiver screen use and background television exposure during child routines and interactions were found to worsen cognitive and psychosocial outcomes for children involved in the studies, while age-inappropriate content was found to negatively impact psychosocial outcomes.

On the other hand, sharing screens or “co-use” was found to improve cognitive outcomes.

“This finding reiterates the importance of parents modeling healthy screen use habits to young children while also interacting with the child during routines,” the review read.

What media is best for young children to consume?

Gunn agreed the “types of media and the contexts of use are highly relevant when determining whether screen usage has a detrimental or positive effect on a child's learning and development”.

“Advice for families should include that content is age-appropriate, pre- or co-viewed by an adult, and has a purpose,” she said. 

Gunn said apps including Early Learning Languages Australia can be “fun and educational” and TV shows such as Bluey can be “positive,” “well themed” and “educational”. She recommended parents ask children questions during screen viewing to “provoke deeper or critical thinking” about content. 

“Even something as simple as questioning why a character did something can help a child develop emotional literacy, understand cause and effect, and consider a variety of problem-solving strategies that they can then use in their everyday lives and social interactions,” she said. 

“There are many different social scenarios, conflicts and challenges that can be portrayed through screens and most children's shows aim to highlight both the attempts to resolve them that don't go so well as well as the strategies that are more effective, helping to build up a child's repertoire of social skills and solutions.”

What is the best approach to screen time?

UOW recommended caregivers share screens, pick age-appropriate content that promotes play, make quality time with children without using a screen and switch the TV off in the background. 

“The consideration of a broad scope of screen use contexts and outcomes presents new opportunities and actionable targets for intervention and public health messaging,” the review concluded.