Report Finds Infants and Toddlers Using Screens in 'High Amounts' (axios.com) 45
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.
So what??? (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re: So what??? (Score:2)
That is false (Score:1)
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
Re: That is false (Score:2)
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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.
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Fake News (Score:1)
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
Re: Fake News (Score:2)
"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.
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Shut up.
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"Steve Jobs Was a Low-Tech Parent"
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/0... [nytimes.com]
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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
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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)
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well they're certainly more entertaining/educational but still motor skills and social interaction are extremely important at an early age.
Re: Is this new screen time or replacing TV (Score:1)
Why not have children work at the Amazon warehouse to gain those important skills?
Re: Is this new screen time or replacing TV (Score:2)
Naw, they need to work in fast food at least a year before they're ready for that.
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Make sure they don't work too many hours per week, we don't want them to qualify for health insurance.
Re: OK, Boomer (Score:2)
Re: OK, Boomer (Score:2)
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Dont forget about all the lead water pipes in the usa:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/l... [cbsnews.com]
Well (Score:2)
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.
Is This New? (Score:2)
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Sounds perfect to me (Score:2)
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)
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)
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 let their kids watch Blippi (Score:1)
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]
Do they limit paper time as well? (Score:2)
https://www.penny-arcade.com/c... [penny-arcade.com]
can we just have proper augmented reality already (Score:1)
We see it (Score:1)
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
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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