Parent Magazine St. Johns September 2018 | Page 10

Better balance screen time:
Simple tips for a happier family
by Christa
Melnyk Hines
W
ith mobile devices readily available anywhere and everywhere, striking a healthy balance
between online and in-person interaction is difficult for today’s families. How do we find a
happy medium between quality family time and the siren song generated by the
pixelated forest of apps, games and social media?
According to Common Sense Media, mobile media use among children, ages zero to eight, has doubled
from 38 percent to 72 percent since 2011. On average, kids spend a little over an hour a day on the devices -
downloading apps, playing games and watching videos.
“Perhaps my biggest concern about the overuse of technology in families is ‘opportunity cost,’ which is an
economic term that means that time spent in front of a screen is time not spent engaging in healthier and
more meaningful activities such as family time, exercise, faith, cultural, education, et cetera,” says Dr. Jim
Taylor, psychologist and author of Raising Generation Tech.
Find your middle ground.
Overexposure to media can lead
to poor school performance,
obesity, sleep deprivation and
invasions of privacy. But, banning
kids from technology can
effectively shut down conversations
about appropriate media use,
spurring kids to sneak around,
create accounts and play games on
friends’ devices where you have
no oversight.
“Technology use becomes
unhealthy when it hurts physical or
mental health, relationships, school
work or healthy avocations like
sports, music and charity,” Taylor
says. “The bottom line is that
technology should be the exception
and not the rule: a tool, not a toy.”
The amount of screen time among
children has tripled in the past three
years. A 2011 study conducted by the
Kaiser Foundation found that kids spend
an astonishing average of seven hours a
day in front of screens.
8 | S T. JOHNS
parent
MAGAZINE
Use time wisely.
Make the most out of the time
your child engages with
technology by choosing
educational apps and games.
Although kids may be attracted to
games featuring casino-like
sounds and colors, these weren’t
developed for kids and they can
be addictive.