FEATURE
EXPLORING HEALTHY DIGITAL OPTIONS The benefits of balanced screen time By Andrew McCarthy, Assistant Director of Learning Technologies in collaboration with the UWCSEA Digital Literacy teams Screen time is a hot topic for parents, educators and researchers alike with much conjecture and debate over appropriate levels of screen time for children of all ages. In a world where it is nearly impossible to avoid the ubiquitous screen for creating, consuming and communicating this is understandably an interesting area to explore. This article brings together some of the evidence-based research that exists in this field, with the aim of shifting the focus of current discussion from producing a metric that recommends ‘desired hours of screen time’ to a more nuanced understanding of the context in which children view or engage with different types of digital media. While the overwhelming focus in mainstream journalism seems to be on highlighting the risks and harms of screen time, we have collected research and advice that highlights the benefits of balanced use through building a positive connection with your child. When exploring an issue such as screen time we try to look for original contemporary research that is often highlighted by journalists. Where possible we identify research-based meta analysis studies or longitudinal projects where we can look for trends. In this instance, research from the collaborative ‘Parenting for a Digital Future’ at the London School of Economics provides a grounded synthesis of the research published to date. Alongside this we reference other meta studies including the 2017 UNICEF Report: The State of the World's Children and The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Report: Students, Computers and Learning. The book The Art of Screen Time by Anya Kamenetz, is one of many recent publications on the topic of screen time. This particular book explores a very practical set of strategies which resonated with our ambition of empowering students and our view of seeing parents and teachers as mentors. Our thinking is constantly challenged and informed by our interactions and reflections with students, parents and teachers in coffee mornings, workshops or classes. The broadest definition of screen time is spending time on an electronic device, such as using the internet, watching television or using a gaming console. As working professionals this might begin by checking a news app in the morning, logging into a work computer for the majority of the day, messaging a friend about dinner, through to watching Netflix in the evenings. For students, this could be using 10 | Dunia April 2018
an iPad or laptop in lessons throughout the school day, messaging family, video calls with friends, playing video games or watching YouTube in their free time. As parents and educators, the biggest challenge we face is encouraging the positive aspects of digital media such as creating or connecting socially against more passive uses of devices which we may like to moderate. There are many studies which attempt to quantify screen time for children. The most recent OECD data reported that in 2015, teenagers spent 146 minutes online each weeknight and on average, a sharp increase from the 103 minutes reported three years earlier. In two separate studies in Canada and Australia, data highlighted that an average 3–5 year old will spend two hours on a screen each day. Statistics reporting screen time for parents point to very high usage levels. Data collected by Common Sense Media suggests that when work and personal media are combined, 51% of parents spend eight hours or more with screen media each day. One of the largest cross sectional studies of 120,000 students in the United Kingdom reported in the UNICEF analysis, concluded that moderate use of 2–5 hours per day (depending on the activity), seemed to have a small positive effect on mental well-being. Whilst excessive use of digital media can have a slight negative effect on overall well-being, parents and educators need to be equally cognisant of other factors. For children these include: sleep, eating breakfast regularly, and considering social dynamics which can have stronger impacts on their well-being than technology alone. The most publicised yet debated recommendation on screen time came from the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP). In 2011, they recommended for no screen time for infants under 2 and a very moderate one hour of use per day for older children. However in 2016 AAP published new guidance highlighting that a balanced use of digital media, moderated by social interactions with friends and parents, can be beneficial. For instance, when parents are mediating screen time, watching together, asking questions and pointing out examples, children will be more engaged and parents more critical of the content. When consumption is passive and solo, the same benefits of screen time are limited and the risks more pronounced. This idea is extended to children with specific learning and social emotional needs, where excessive consumption of media has inherently higher risks. Research highlighting the positive effects of screen time gets less attention in the mainstream media. To borrow the food metaphor from Anya Kamenetz and her book The Art of