Neighborhood Doctor: The Pro’s and Con’s of Screentime
Screentime is a question I get all the time as a pediatrician, and specifically how much screen time should my infant or young child have in a day, is the most common by far. Screentime is not a replacement for face-to-face time, nothing is, even with the greatest educational content out there, face-to-face time is crucial.
That being said, we live in a society where that is not always possible so I wanted to share the pro’s and con’s around screen time and how best to handle it
Listen Now
Our Host
Dr. Ryan Hassan
Transcript:
Dr. Ryan Hassan: (00:02)
I am Ryan, pediatrician and dad here to answer my patient's most common questions. One question I get asked often is, how much screen time should my infant or young child be having in a day? I think the best way to answer this is by understanding the risks and potential benefits that screens provide. So I think the first thing to start with is that there is no benefit that screens provide, that cannot be better provided by face-to-face interactions with a caregiver. There's no getting around this. No matter how great or educational that you might find a particular program, it is always more important and crucial for a child to have time face-to-face with their caregiver, with their parent or loved one. And there's nothing that can replace that. Ideally, children with would be with their caregivers all the time. They would be constantly playing, interacting, and learning together.
Dr. Ryan Hassan: (00:56)
Uh, and there wouldn't be a need for screens and there wouldn't even be time for it. Unfortunately, we have not created a society that, uh, makes that a possibility. It is not possible for one or even two parents to be able to spend all of their time with their child. As humans aren't able to do this, we really, it takes a village to raise a child and many of us, most of us I'd say, uh, don't really have that level of community required to give that constant interaction to our children. And so screens are useful tools that allow parents to meet all their applications and get the rest they need to be good parents. It is true that some children's shows can teach helpful skills about emotional regulation and communication. And it's often the case that parents may not actually know all of these skills and they could benefit from learning from these shows as well.
Dr. Ryan Hassan: (01:46)
And I'll say even in my own case, I found some great content that I watched with my baby and songs that we learned together and ways of talking about emotions that were really helpful for me to hear and learn with my baby. So I think those are kind of the men main benefits I see for screens. Now, in terms of the risks, I would say one of the greatest risks of screen time is that it acts as a pause button for the brain. Doesn't require any engagement or stimulation, which is why it's such a great distraction for keeping kids entertained when you know you can't provide the entertainment they want or when they're upset. But what that does is it keeps kids from being bored and boredom is crucial for child development. That is how we learn to process the world around us. It's how we learn how to deal with and understand our own inner voices and feelings.
Dr. Ryan Hassan: (02:35)
And when children don't have the opportunity to be bored, what I find is they develop a need for constant simulation and they may also struggle to process their feelings because they don't have any practice doing. So that is something to be mindful of. And I think the other main risk that comes with screen time is that it takes away from the most important aspect of child development, which is time with caregivers. So in closing, I'd say we're all doing the best we can and no one should feel bad about how much screen time or what kind of shows their children are watching. But I think it does help just to be mindful about the ways we're using screen time and the reasons we're using and being intentional about that. And as much as possible, try to avoid using it as a replacement for face-to-face time with you as a caregiver. And try to make sure you're still allowing your child to have some opportunity to be bored and learn how to deal with that board. That's my show. If you have medical questions you'd like me to answer, reach out to Boost Oregon online and come back next time for a new episode of boosting our Voices with my friend Ari.