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Report Finds Infants and Toddlers Using Screens in 'High Amounts' (axios.com) 45

Posted by msmash from the watch-out dept.
Children ages 1-3 years old are increasingly watching TV or using screen time in "high amounts," according to an analysis by the National Institutes of Health. From a report: The World Health Organization and pediatric societies have recommended that preschool-age children get no more than one hour of screen time a day and should spend time being active. The average daily time spent using screens increased from 53 minutes at age 1 to more than 150 minutes at age 3, per the NIH. Parents rely on digital babysitters and device-led playtime to entertain their children. Last April, JAMA Pediatrics published a report showing screen time for children ages 0-2 more than doubled from 1997 to 2014.
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Report Finds Infants and Toddlers Using Screens in 'High Amounts' More

Report Finds Infants and Toddlers Using Screens in 'High Amounts'

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  • So what??? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday November 26, 2019 @05:25PM (#59459844)

    I can't believe I have to keep replying "so what" to so many posts, but these days people just freak out about everything it seems, to the point of utter unreason.

    I personally never got the point of screen-time limits for kids or adults. I know personally that massive screen time, even as a kid, didn't hurt me at all, and I also know for sure it's made me way more adept with computers than the average person.

    Do you want adults that are more, or less proficient working digital devices? Why would you limit screen time and stunt their potential in life???

    Just give kids opportunity to enjoy the outside and the will. But also let them binge on the digital as well.

    • Because however hours a day of watching crap on YouTube is not healthy, educational, useful, or positive in any identifiable way. Except as a cheapo baby sitter replacement for bad parents.

      • Because however hours a day of watching crap on YouTube is not healthy, educational, useful, or positive in any identifiable way.

        That is totally bullshit. There it a VAST trove of really useful info on YouTube, a lot of which I have seen kids watching (we don't have kids ourselves as we prefer to be able to travel, but have a lot of nieces and nephews I help with).

        Even for my own use there is a lot of interesting and useful stuff on YouTube on pretty much any subject...

        Sure some of what kids will watch won

        • You don't have kids. You have no idea what you're taking about. When you're raising a child or two or three your take on it might mean something. "But I've seen my nephew n nieces a few times year!" Sure. Ok, whatever, bro. That's cool.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Not to be mean, but you grew into an unmarried man who posts to Slashdot 10-20 times as a day. Perhaps if you had less screen time and more socialization with other kids, you wouldn't be looking on a tech site for a social life.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Luthair ( 847766 )
      Because a link has been shown to delay development in communication, social skills, problem solving, and obviously motor skills.

      • Because a link has been shown to delay development in communication, social skills, problem solving, and obviously motor skills.

        No links I see.

        No REAL study has every actually shown that, only studies that attempted to prove that.

        I have personally seen in many people and kids it is simply false.

        Especially the motor skill one is utterly absurd if you put any thought into it.

        I will not allow you to dull children any longer with your fear-mongering, as much as you might need a class of stupid underlings for wh

        • "Especially the motor skill one is utterly absurd if you put any thought into it."

          The implication here was "Large motor skills" (running, jumpimg, balancing, throwing, catching etc.), not a subset of "fine motor skills" such as pressing buttons on a remote, using two thumbs on a screen.

    • Shut up.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Re Why? .... recall:
      "Steve Jobs Was a Low-Tech Parent"
      ..."... limit how much technology our kids use at home.”"
      https://www.nytimes.com/2014/0... [nytimes.com]

    • I can't believe I have to keep replying "so what" to so many posts, but these days people just freak out about everything it seems, to the point of utter unreason.

      You don't have to. Just stop.

      I personally never got the point of screen-time limits for kids or adults. I know personally that massive screen time, even as a kid, didn't hurt me at all, and I also know for sure it's made me way more adept with computers than the average person.

      You don't have kids, that much is obvious. How old are you now? Didn't hurt you at all? So just when did you really start with "screen time"? How much time did you spend outside?

      Do you want adults that are more, or less proficient working digital devices? Why would you limit screen time and stunt their potential in life???

      You could have less than 4 hours of "screen time" per month growing up and still be very profient with digital devices. The learning curve is super low for most stuff. We didn't have a computer in our house until I was 13, then there was still no internet. It was used primarily for homework relat

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ljw1004 ( 764174 )

      Let's unpack this SuperKendall brain dump...

      (1) anecdote that massive screen time didn't hurt SuperKendall at all, and improved SuperKendall's computer proficency

      (2) implied (unsupported but plausible) claim that lots of screen time makes people more proficient at working digital devices overall

      (3) implied (unsupported and plausible) claim that proficiency in digital devices increases potential overall

      (4) implied (unsupported and hard to swallow) claim that massive screen time won't stunt potential overall

  • Is this new screen time or replacing TV (Score:3)

    by bobbutts ( 927504 ) <bobbutts@gmail.com> on Tuesday November 26, 2019 @05:25PM (#59459846)
    Seems like interactive screen time is better than non-interactive but more screen time is worse.

  • I'm not sure if it'll beat a see 'n say or a speak and spell, at least there was more tactile interaction with those but preschool toys have come a long way.

  • I feel like it has unfortunately been the norm for many parents to plonk their kids down in front of televisions, the fact that it may now be an ipad with Netflix or Youtube doesn't seem much different.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Except for the part where parents don't take their TVs with them when the family leaves the house. The parents have to actually interact with their kids.

  • They need to start early if they want to have sufficient technical skills by the time they get to high school. I guarantee they will need them 10-15 years from now when their high school teachers give them home work.

    But I do find it funny when a baby tries to 'swipe' a magazine picture because they think it is a screen.

  • I used to play with screens all the time (Score:4, Funny)

    by WillAffleckUW ( 858324 ) on Tuesday November 26, 2019 @05:53PM (#59459984) Homepage Journal

    When I was that age I would lean up against the screen door and stick my tongue against it, the water would make fascinating patterns, especially when the light was at the right angle.

  • A lot of things involve 'screen yime' these days (Score:3)

    by rossdee ( 243626 ) on Tuesday November 26, 2019 @06:14PM (#59460060)

    Its not just video games and conventional TV, maybe those should be limited, but there's many other activities.

    For example, reading. It used to involve the product of dead trees, but now a book is just a data file that you read off a screen (or listen to (AudioBook)

    Also adult get their exercise while watching stuff on screen (on the treadmill or the exercise bike so why can't children. It also means you don't have to go out into hazardous weather which affects parts of the country at this time of year onward)

  • Parents don't care, they just want peace for a moment from their children. And they will do anything for that peace.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

  • Pretty soon computers will be able to be controlled with our thoughts. Keyboards and mice will become obsolete as will touch screen. We will be able to compose messages by thinking it on to the screen and the concentrating on the parts we want to edit. The whole point of sitting down to work at a computer will become quaint when we can visualize the transformation of information and then transmit that information without needing to touch a device. Google glasses will become a thing again. Will we sit in a c

  • Once a child gets screen time, they will expect it. I did as a child of the 90's and my daughter born in 2010's does, too. Taking it away and/or metering it is a fight. Increasingly, parents seem to be disinterested to engage in that fight. It's a babysitter with excellent short term results - kids are calm, entertained, and quiet for long spans of time when using screens. A child pulled away from their screens can often exhibit meltdowns of epic proportions. The lesson parents learn fast: Don't take away t

    • I feel you... seriously I have seen many of the same problems with my children ( and myself).
      I was basically raised with the television on and started coding when I was in 4th grade.
      I'm not sure I can fully enumerate the bad effects that much inactive time , feeding my brain 'junk food' has had.
      However, consider just 1 case. I started to see the light when I was playing a online game that logged 'minutes on line' as part of the time spent. I played for about 3 years when it college and the actual minutes

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