Setting healthy limits for screen time in pre-school children

The topic of technology and school-aged children and teens is a growing concern for parents and health care professionals, including here at ShrinkBox.org, where you can find evidence-based tips for parents with school-aged children struggling with how to control screen time and when to give a child a phone.

However, parents of younger children are also raising concerns with their health care professionals about screen time, the time their children spend engaging with smart phones and tablets, televisions and computer games. Many parents are seeking evidence-based guidance on raising healthy children in a digital world. They have tough questions like How much screen time is too much? or What are the effects on my young child’s health and well-being?

There is growing evidence that taking action in early childhood can prevent problems with screen time as children grow. This post provides useful information on the impacts of modern devises specifically on preschool children and includes recommendations for setting healthy limits for screen time in pre-school children with the view to helping these families use devices in playful, educational and healthy ways.

Not as easy as 1, 2, 3.

When it comes to development in young children, relationships matter, and today those important relationships include screen time. We also know those early childhood encounters with technology can have lasting impacts. For most of us, it will come as no surprise that here in the United States most children before 1 year of age are introduced to a smart phone or tablet or that most 2-year-olds use a device on the daily, or that as many as sixty percent of children younger than 3 know how to use a device with a touch screen. It is clear that devices are a modern tool in parenting.

For younger, pre-school children, screen time and access to devices can be more easily controlled by parents and caregivers than in older school-aged kids, so it can be easier (but not necessarily easy) to set limits. Still, all that screen time might be worrisome, but it’s not that simple.

Benefits and Risks to the Mind and Body

Young children and their quickly developing brains learn best in real life, engaging with their parents and caregivers in enriching, interactive experiences with real people. That said, research on how much pre-school aged children learn from devices is advancing and it is becoming clearer that devices can be a beneficial part of the mix in parent-and-child shared experiences such as singalongs, video chats (especially with distant family members) and virtual story times. Children developing in environments where technology is used in this way have similar vocabularies and are able to follow stories equally well compared to children using physical books. Exposure to high quality, age-appropriate screen content, especially when parent and child watch and interact together with the device, can help foster language and literacy, cognitive development, and imagination.

Devices can lead to physical benefits too. Many of the cutting edge, must-have apps and games are purpose-built to encourage and increase physical activity, especially when the digital play encourages participation. Interactive video games can increase the intensity of activity and heart rate, and help young children expend energy in short-term bursts. Sounds pretty good, right? No surprise, then, that many pre-school child care programs integrate fitness apps or electronic games into daily play programs, something called “exergaming”, which has shown to promote strenuous physical activity and motor skills in young children. And for pre-school children, high quality apps to help them explore nature and connect real life with screen content can increase their outdoor play, imagination, and their engagement with peers.

But, with plenty of contradictions, the science isn’t as clear as we might like, and there are clear risks. For example, greater screen time has been linked with lower language skills and language delay in preschoolers. Whether it’s keeping the TV on in the background or providing exposure to interactive screen content, these modern parenting tools have been shown to lower the amount and quality of parent-child interactions.

There are emerging health concerns as well. Extensive screen time during preschool can increase the risks of becoming sedentary and overweigh later in life, and other health issues, including impacts on vision, lower fundamental motor skills performance and manual dexterity, especially in boys as young as 3 years old. There is growing evidence that screen time can also alter sleep patterns. With about 1 in 4 preschool children accessing devices after bedtime, it’s not surprising that screen time is associated with sleep problems such as delayed sleep, shorter sleep, and sleep resistance, impacting child development – and others in the household! That doesn’t sound so good, does it?

Recommendations

A few key recommendations can help parents, families and caregivers promote their pre-school aged child’s heath and development in today’s digital world.

First, limit screen time for your pre-schooler. Other than video-chats with caring adults (like Mimi and Papa in Florida), screen time for children younger than 2 years is not recommended. For children two to five, limit screen time to one hour a day. And go “screen-free” during meals and for at least one hour before bed.

Second, lower the risks of screen time. When you can, choose high-quality educational and age-appropriate content and watch it with your child. And set boundaries on when, where and how screen can be used.

Finally, model the healthy screen use that you want to see in your pre-schooler. Turn off your own devices during meal times and family time, at and away from home.

Whether it be in spite of or in light of these considerations, devices have quickly become an indispensable tool of modern parenting. But, as with most things in life, moderation is the key. By keeping a few recommended actions in mind, parents and families with preschoolers can ensure their young ones benefit from devices and avoid the downfalls.