The Challenge of Screens

These are some references and resources for parents who are grappling with the effect of screens on their children (and themselves!)

“Digital Babies does your child need a digital detox?” An episode from “ABC Babytalk”, presented by Penny Johnston on our National Broadcaster.  Wow! Evidence based advice about screen time and kids. Throw out the time limits: what matters is what they are doing with the screen. No screen 90 minutes before sleep: interferes with melatonin.   Kids need to be bored, and need “mind wandering moments”.  We now have “Screenagers”.  And there’s a new phenomenon: “Technoglect”, where parents are so distracted by their own use of screens that their children are ending up in the emergency department.

There’s such the “Technotantrum”.  Personally, I wouldn’t be so keen to avoid this: I’ve found it a reliable gateway for all sorts of upset that have accumulated for my child, if i have the patience to listen, and I remember that this is what will happen when I bring a limit around screen-time.

An episode from “ABC Babytalk”, presented by Penny Johnston on our National Broadcaster.