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FAMILY SCREEN TIME
corresponding drop in concentration, memory and energy. Marrocco maintains firm boundaries with her daughter, 13, and son, 18, prohibiting the use of electronics at the kitchen table and in their rooms at night, in line with AAP recommendations. “They can only have devices in their room at night if they are in offline ‘airplane mode’ so they won’t be tempted to check or respond to incoming messages,” she says. Kids don’t sleep well next to their phones, agrees Cross, a mother of three, ages 4, 6 and 8. “They have trouble falling and staying asleep.” She also doesn’t let her children use e-readers instead of books.
Prevent Screen Addiction
Psychotherapist Nicholas Kardaras, Ph.D., an addiction expert and executive director of The Dunes, a rehab clinic in East Hampton, New York, is even firmer about screen time, having seen some kids go off the digital deep end. Delaying the onset of screen exposure is the most critical step a parent by April Thompson can take, suggests Kardaras. “There’s no evidence to suggest media exposure is beneficial to child development. Most flexibility for and within different age inecraft. Pokemon. Snapchat. tech geniuses, including the founders of groups. For children under 18 months, Digital media dominates childGoogle, Amazon and Apple, were not hood. That time youngsters used the recommendation is to avoid media exposed to it until adolescence. to spend playing with friends, being with altogether outside of video chats with “Treating digital addiction is chalfamily or sleeping has been zapped. Ac- loved ones. In the older age ranges, lenging because you can’t be digitally the guidelines are less prescriptive and cording to a study by the Kaiser Family abstinent in this society,” he continues. more about setting individual limits Foundation, 8-to-10-year-olds are daily “Prevention is the key.” that ensure getting enough sleep and exposed to nearly eight hours of on Digital media abuse can have screen media and heavy media users are physical activity along with achieving lasting developmental impacts, accordother developmental needs. twice as likely to report poor grades. ing to Kardaras, author of Glow Kids: Cross believes excessive screen time Conscientious and concerned parHow Screen Addiction is Hijacking ents are setting limits on screen time and is particularly detrimental for younger our Kids and How to Break the Trance. kids that have fewer waking hours and reclaiming family time. Experts, too, are DrKardaras.com cites numerous studies more developing to do. “Toddlers don’t working to define a “new healthy” at a on the effects of such intensive use, from learn well from screens, so you will time when many activities, from homeincreased prevalence of attention deficit have limited return from using screens work to shopping, are moving online. disorder to higher rates of depression. for education,” she observes. “How can you begin to limit kids’ Brain imaging studies from institutions Kathy Marrocco, an Oakland screen time when teachers are increassuch as the medical schools at Indiana Township, Michigan, blogger with ingly using media?” queries Pediatrician Corinn Cross, who practices in Los YourOrganicChild.com, initially worried University and University of Utah have shown how heavy exposure to digital Angeles. “It’s hard. None of us grew up about her kids’ potential adverse media has effects on the brain similar to exposure to radiation from cell phone with this level of technology, and it’s substance addiction, reports Kardaras, use. Her concern soon turned to other moving faster than any advice can.” affecting areas of the brain linked with big impacts of digital media encroach functions like impulse control, brain coning on their lives. She cites a study of Nip It Early nectivity and processing speed. 3,000 parents of grade-school-aged Cross co-authored the American In his practice, red flags for potential kids, which found that nearly two-thirds Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) recently digital addiction include strong reactions updated digital media guidelines, which of the children are using their devices when devices are taken away, disinterest at night instead of sleeping, with a shifted from strict time limits to greater
How to Set Boundaries in the Digital Era
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