No Screens Before Age of Two, Swedish Health Authority Tells Parents (theguardian.com) 82
Children under the age of two should not be exposed to any screens whatsoever and teenagers should have no more than three hours of screen time a day, according to guidelines announced by health authorities in Sweden. From a report: Parents and guardians should think about how they use screens with their children and tell them what they are doing on their phones when they use them in their presence, the advice says. The guidelines, announced on Monday, mark the first time that Folkhalsomyndigheten, Sweden's public health authority, has stipulated how parents should regulate screen time.
Screen use among two- to five-year-olds should be limited to a maximum of one hour, while children aged between six and 12 should not use screens for more than two hours. Among 13- to 18-year-olds, the limit is three hours. This is a sharp reduction on the current average screen time figures among Swedish children and young people, which is estimated to be four hours a day for nine- to 12-year-olds and more than seven hours a day -- not including schoolwork -- for 17- and 18-year-olds. Editor's note: the headline was revised to match the original wording used in the linked article. H/T to user cmseagle. Error is regretted.
Screen use among two- to five-year-olds should be limited to a maximum of one hour, while children aged between six and 12 should not use screens for more than two hours. Among 13- to 18-year-olds, the limit is three hours. This is a sharp reduction on the current average screen time figures among Swedish children and young people, which is estimated to be four hours a day for nine- to 12-year-olds and more than seven hours a day -- not including schoolwork -- for 17- and 18-year-olds. Editor's note: the headline was revised to match the original wording used in the linked article. H/T to user cmseagle. Error is regretted.
"Publishes guidelines" != "Caps" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: "Publishes guidelines" != "Caps" (Score:2)
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No kid in Sweden has been taken from their parents for not following nutritional guidelines, and no kids will be taken for not following screen time guidelines.
Funny thing happens when an entire country ignores the shit out of guidelines. They tend to become mandates. For the good of the child, because you “don’t care enough” or something like that.
As far as Sweden never taking any kid due to malnutrition/starvation, I’d probably have to call bullshit on that too. Bad parenting is a human thing. Exists wherever we find humans.
Schools back to paper books in Sweeden (Score:2)
https://www.theguardian.com/wo... [theguardian.com]
Switching off: Sweden says back-to-basics schooling works on paper
Schools minister Lotta Edholm moves students off digital devices and on to books and handwriting, with teachers and experts debating the pros and cons
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Having worked in courts, I have absolutely no faith in juries, and the judge i worked for estimated about 1/3 of guilty convictions are innocent and vice versa. Rule of the thumb guestimate, no data, but it felt accurate to me. The problem is juries basically award the case to whatever lawyer team gives the best presentation, not what side has the best evidence. Juries arent professionals, they have no training in spotting when someone is being truthful.
I'm *very* glad we dont do the DP in australia, and wo
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Negative. I often forget that a lot of people here have that natural anglo selfish projection on issues that exist elsewhere, that result in absurd outcomes, like post above being moderated as troll and comparing it to US issues that have nothing to do with issue being mentioned.
Here this is a problem so major that we had EU official level condemnation of it. Everything from vegans having children taken away because their kids have teeth problems from vegan diet to official just not liking how single mom lo
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Who funds libraries and public transit? (Score:2)
If it was up to me, I would add "No internet enabled devices until they are at least 16".
How do you propose to fund transporting young teens in urban, suburban, and rural areas to and from public libraries, and keeping said libraries open on Sundays, to make up for their loss of access to Wikipedia and other educational resources available through the Internet? How do you propose to market non-Internet-enabled devices on which to learn the basics of computer science?
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Learning "computer science" at a young age isn't a necessary thing; young teens can focus on traditional subjects in school. Nothing about "computer science" is taught anyway by and large in middle or high school. Writing a simple program is not computer science, nor is learning a word processor or spreadsheet program. So get 'computer science' out of your skull for teens, what they need is math and logic. A tradition geometry course with proofs is a hundred times more useful than whatever you're imag
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Maybe the way I grew up, when the only phones were landlines? Maybe not be terrified that kids might have, you know, FUN, without adult "supervision"?
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Maybe not be terrified that kids might have, you know, FUN, without adult "supervision"?
That might have been feasible before the current level os stranger danger hysteria and thugs with badges picking up unaccompanied minors on suspicion of parental neglect.
teenagers should have no more than three hours (Score:2, Funny)
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The summary has the following text, "not including schoolwork". Schools in Canada are already banning cell phones too.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/w... [google.com]
https://www.google.com/amp/s/w... [google.com]
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The actual use is the most important part (Score:5, Insightful)
Is schoolwork on a computer magically safer?
TL;DR: Yes, if it's schoolwork on the screen, it's actually safer than doomscrolling on TikTok (or Xitter, etc.).
Actual research has demonstrated that it's what is done with the screen that impacts the most.
It's not that screens emit dumbifying rays that affect 1.5 years olds.
It's that just putting a toddler passively in front of the screen doesn't have much benefits.
They are at an age where they benefits the most from interaction with people.
But if you use a smartphone or tablet to call grandma and also have the kid come along to wave to granny and interact (remotely) with her, that's not only beneficial for the grandma (making her happy to see the grandchildren) but also for the kid to have interaction with their family members.
And to go back to the teen example:
It's not that screen will suddenly start frying their brain at exactly the 3rd hour mark.
It's more that there aren't any benefit of letting the teen doomscroll on some of the so called "social" network (a.k.a. "optimized to addict and glue ball to the screen to sell to advertisers" platforms).
Using a screen to teach and educate teens could potentially carry benefits, as long as the eductionnal material (video lectures, exercices, etc.) are well done (which is an entirely other can of worms).
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Actual research has demonstrated that it's what is done with the screen that impacts the most.
Which means these guidelines are useless. The numbers don't relate to the problem.
Learning programming, co-op gaming, reading a book because you don't have the money for a dedicated reading device.
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Experts (Score:2)
In these parts, we trust the experts.
As I said above the opinion of actual experts of the field is much more nuanced.
But you can trust the media to dumb it down to a sound bite like "Among 13- to 18-year-olds, the limit is three hours".
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Needs extra qualifier (Score:2)
The numbers don't relate to the problem.
Indeed, bare number alone won't relate. An extra qualifier would be need.
"teenagers should have no more than three hours {++ of free unsupervised (e.g.: on social networks) ++} time in front of screen"
I strongly suspect(*) that the actual recommendations themselves dive into more details, but The Guardian (and other media) are shortening it to "Among 13- to 18-year-olds, the limit is three hours" for the impact (i.e.: attention grabbing) that this sentence will generate.
(*) But as I don't speak (don't
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Is schoolwork on a computer magically safer?
Yes. The concern with "screen time" is not a physical problem but a lack of social interaction and creativity as children become passive consumers of content.
That isn't an issue with homework.
Other exceptions to the time limits could be using the computer for creative activities, such as writing a story, designing with CAD, or writing code. Kids need to actively engage and create, not just passively consume.
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So... creativity, ingenuity, and social interaction crushed for the sake of good grades.
One of these things does not matter at all outside of school. The rest are skills that are extremely useful outside of school.
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So... creativity, ingenuity, and social interaction crushed for the sake of good grades. One of these things does not matter at all outside of school. The rest are skills that are extremely useful outside of school.
What are you talking about? Have you seen these apps? They're absolute crap. As a parent I'm very involved in their work and what applications they use. They don't promote creativity, ingenuity, or social interaction in any way. You actually made a list of the things the apps are worst at. Nothing is creative about a structured app with intermittent videos. Ingenuity has the same problem. I can't believe I even have to address that learning apps promote zero social interaction. The only thing that promoted
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They're reconsidered pretty much everywhere. There have been several studies in last couple of years where they demonstrate either no signal or negative signal when it comes to learning in schools.
Granted this is sociology studies, so take it with a maritime heavy bulker hold worth of salt.
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That was just one of the first, if we're talking about the same study. There have been quite a few others, and Haidt's recent book seems to have brought it into public consciousness.
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I think I know why tech at schools "failed".
What should had happen would be this:
1. Government sets up a group of teachers, programmers, etc. to create a plan and gather and write software for things that should be used at school.
2. End product looks like Khan Academy or Duolingo.
3. After work is done, education session is given for the teachers telling what they should do and how they use the software and how it benefits teachers and students and where they should not use it.
What actually happened:
1. Schoo
Re: teenagers should have no more than three hours (Score:2)
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The main problem with EdTech is that the people designing it don't know much about how our brains work or the best ways to information into our heads. There's loads of research out there & lots
Re: teenagers should have no more than three hour (Score:2)
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"Consequently, though it may be true to say that the Grammar-Translation Method is still widely practised, it has no advocates. It is a method for which there is no theory. There is no literature that offers a rationale or justification for it or that attempts to relate it to issues in linguistics, psychology, or educational theory."
Ref: Richards, J. C., & Rodgers,
Re: teenagers should have no more than three hour (Score:2)
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Re: teenagers should have no more than three hour (Score:2)
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For a more objective, in-depth view, these are good:
Bamford, J., & Day, R. R. (Eds.). (2004). Extensive reading activit
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Sorry teach, reached my screen cap for the day so I cant do this work and I can pretty much guarantee you don't have any paper copies.
Well, at least we know where the lack of work ethic comes from.
And I can pretty much guarantee that every school in the country still knows what paper and pencil is. Stop deluding yourself.
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Sorry teach, reached my screen cap for the day so I cant do this work and I can pretty much guarantee you don't have any paper copies.
Well, at least we know where the lack of work ethic comes from.
And I can pretty much guarantee that every school in the country still knows what paper and pencil is. Stop deluding yourself.
They clearly don't know what bad jokes are, get over yourself mr man.
Modern Life is the issue (always was? ...) (Score:2)
So provide cheap accessible alternatives and clubs.
With both parents working, when they are at home there is too much to catch up on, and it is inevitable that children will get left with the TV and devices so these things can be done. And that's because most other activities result in 'mummy' type interruptions constantly.
Things that could help:
4 day weeks - with parents having different days off so the child get 4 full days a week with a parent.
- once child is at school then flexibility is likely
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The problem is that phones are designed to be addictive attention magnets & they disrupt our normal social interactions to such a degree that you see groups of adults, let alone teenagers, sitting together in silence, staring at their phones, & barely interacting with each other. This is a big problem
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This is already done in most Nordics. Here in Finland for example, "youth houses" (nuorisotalo) has been a thing for many decades. Basically a place with billiards, consoles, board games, and one-two trained young adults for supervision (who genuinely are taught to stay the fuck out of the way of teenagers unless specifically asked for help with something or doing a specific event).
Pretty much all sports teams also receive state and regional aid money aimed specifically at making kids participate in sports.
times change (Score:2)
Current parents increasingly are people who used to play more than 3 hours a day when they were teenagers. I expect them to not listen much to such recommendations. Me, as an example, if I get a free day and have something interesting to play, I will spend way more than 3 hours with it, then how can I tell my daughter 3 hours is too much? If she has homework and house chores done, she can play.
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The internet is a porn-riddled playground of violence and addiction too.
Article is about "any screen", not about internet, what are you talking about?
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Actually it was probably worse. I remember rotten.com, porn sites not even asking if you're over 18, friends tricking each other into looking at goatse. Now people censor words like "killed" and it's easy to avoid porn if you're not looking for it.
The thing to worry about on the internet nowadays is consumerism...
Re: times chang (Score:2)
they expect you to parent
Damn. (No, I wasn't expecting to be let off the hook on in a Slashdot forum. Honest.)
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Current parents increasingly are people who used to play more than 3 hours a day when they were teenagers. I expect them to not listen much to such recommendations. Me, as an example, if I get a free day and have something interesting to play, I will spend way more than 3 hours with it, then how can I tell my daughter 3 hours is too much? If she has homework and house chores done, she can play.
Maybe the way a smoker would tell their child not to smoke?
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Same way an alcoholic will tell their children not to abuse alcohol.
And a lot of addicts' children that have sufficiently disagreeable character end up absolutely hating the thing that took their parents' attention away from them.
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<sigh>
Yeah, nobody is going to really follow the guidelines, because basically everyone on a cell phone is clinically addicted... <shhh> no one wants to hear that.
<sigh>
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Susceptibility to alcoholism is in large part genetic. That's why a lot of children of alcoholics report having observed how much easier it is for them to become addicted to alcohol compared to their peers. That's why there are ethnic groups that have extremely high alcoholism rates, and ethnic groups that have low alcoholism rates even within same cultures.
Right, but good luck (Score:2)
Like telling crack addicts to moderate their crack use.
I say this as a heavy screen user ...
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321 Contact
Ah, that's when theme songs were awesome :)
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By your own admission you're an addict. Sorry to break the news to you. I realized this because I have done addiction counseling over the years and the similarities between substance abusers and cell phone users is striking, depressing, and real. With few exceptions every cell phone user is addicted, with all the real and bad implications of that.
Don't feel bad, nobody wants to talk about
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I'm going around poking people., don't take this personally. By your own admission you're an addict. Sorry to break the news to you. I realized this because I have done addiction counseling over the years and the similarities between substance abusers and cell phone users is striking, depressing, and real. With few exceptions every cell phone user is addicted, with all the real and bad implications of that. Don't feel bad, nobody wants to talk about ... because.. uh oh.. you might have to change your habits.
Sure, that's why I said:
Like telling crack addicts to moderate their crack use.
I say this as a heavy screen user ...
Who knows addiction better than an addict?
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That's just it. We're all addicted to these infernal screens. Some people know it, and
So (Score:2)
everyone would spend more time sleeping then?
Original Statement in Swedish (Score:2)
screen time limits. (Score:1)
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I bet if you ask those guys, they would count the screen of an eBook reader too.
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It dumbfounds me when a see a two year old in a pushchair hanging desperately on to a phone or tablet. Nevermind the annoyance of the noise from the device being used without head phone. This is just bad parenting. Yes, parenting can be very hard, but you have to engage with your offspring and you have to be the adult in the relationship.
We were at a restaurant last year with some friends and their 6.5 year old was trying to snatch his mother's phone and throwing tantrums because until he got screen time
Wrote my first line of code at 9 (Score:2)
I wrote my first line of code at age 9. Limiting my screen time at that age could have negatively affected my future earnings as a software engineer.
Had I access to the internet when I was younger, I would have been able to learn things so much faster than I did. I remember having to walk to the library, and read a book to answer questions I had about chemistry, electronics, radio, etc... and can only wonder how much easier things would have been if I had had a library in the palm of my hand.
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I wrote my first line of code at age 9. Limiting my screen time at that age could have negatively affected my future earnings as a software engineer.
Did an abundance of screen time become a hinderance to you finding love and experiencing the happiness of raising a family?
I hope it did not, because it certainly has become that for this generation.
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And it's not like this different way is really all that new, I met my ex-wife on the internet (and our kids are 23, 18, 17, and 14 now. And for the record... only the 14 year old is single). If anything, the hindrance to finding love and raising a family is how much everyone has to work to survive nowadays. I really don't know how anyone has the ti
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I remember having to walk to the library, and read a book to answer questions
Do you also remember having to wait a week for the library to be open while you aren't required to be in school? (On Monday through Friday, you have school, and on Sundays, library staff have the day off to be home with their own respective families.) Do you remember having to walk on streets without sidewalks, cross intersections without crosswalks, or cross busy streets at signaled intersections without pedestrian call buttons? Do you remember having to avoid police thugs who pick up unaccompanied childre
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I remember having to do most of those things as a kid. Except for the unaccompanied children and teens being assumed neglected of course. It's funny because the world is much safer now than when I was a kid, and yet we give kids less free time to interact with it independently now than we ever did back then. The streets are deserted in the afternoon now because all the kids are trucked from school to some structured after school activity instead of being allowed to play outside by themselves. I'm basical
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Well TFA is about kids under 2 years of age. You know, babies, toddlers, infants, tiny people who have not begun to form long-term memories and if they speak at all, they are limited to stringing together 2-3 words.
I see a lot of sub-2 year olds in America sat at tables with iPads to keep their attention and to keep them from making a lot of noise. This is probably great for the parent's stress level/social lives, but not for the kid's development, apparently. If you were to stare at kids shows for 3 hours
lets get out and do something. (Score:1)
And if you are not in the "accepted" circles that do so....Please ignore the frowns and confused looks when you drive out to the country, or go for a walk in a state/national park, or visit some outdoors arts festival, or browse a bookstore,.....
Can't lump it all together as "screen" time (Score:2)
What about reading or listening to music?
When I was a teenager (50 years ago) cellphones and personal computers didn't exist, but I red a lot and listened to music on a cassette player.
nowdays I do that on a phone, kindle or PC
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If I were to use the definition applied by the system software of phones and the like: Selecting a music playlist counts as maybe two minutes of screen time. Reading on a screen counts as screen time; reading on paper does not. (This assessment sponsored by the printers' guild.)
Re: Can't lump it all together as "screen" time (Score:1)
You are talking about a device that is THE access point to EVERYTHING. And yes I read more too but it was not while picking from a shipping crate with everything from graduate level psychology to pornography and with no or little supervision at that.
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Just want to be clear (Score:2)
Do VR headsets count as screens?