Photography by small_frog; E+/Getty Images
You just got home from working all day. You picked up the kids, got the groceries, and just started to cook dinner. Your feet are killing you. Although you have never been more tired in your entire life, it’s as if your kids have just downed a pound of sugar. Their energy seems boundless. Then they start in, “Can we please get online while we wait? I just want to use the iPad for a little bit. I neeeeed to see my friend’s Instagram photos.”
And you cave, because this is the last battle you want to have. Besides, how much harm can a little plugged-in playtime cause?
According to Dr. Peter Putnam, a pediatrician at Esse Health Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine (9930 Watson, 314-965-5437, essehealth.com), just a little bit of digitized day care isn’t too bad. Within limits, Internet use can benefit children and adolescents. The Web gives access to information, allows family and friends to stay in touch, and helps with homework. Technological ability has become a crucial skill in any career. And Putnam cites studies that have found an hour of video-game usage per day can increase dexterity and reflexes. He says he loves when children come to see him having already done research online about their own medical conditions, giving them the ability to ask more detailed, important questions.
In short, an hour or so of tech time each day can actually be advantageous for kids. But it’s less beneficial for younger children. Toddlers, Putnam says, should not be using technology for more than about 30 minutes per day.
“Technology has this allure, especially for busy parents, because it can keep kids occupied and entertained with little to no effort,” he says. “But that’s where the problems come in. It’s become the new pacifier—but a screen is no babysitter.”
The biggest questions on any parent’s mind: How much is too much? When should they say enough? When do kids cross that line? Putnam is sorry to say that he doesn’t really have an answer to any of those questions. Kids vary. So instead of giving a number of hours that are dangerous for all children, he prefers to look at individual behavior. He says some children addicted to technology have displayed the same symptoms as those with substance-abuse issues. If your child is showing disinterest in social activities, falling grades, withdrawal or irritability, you might want to institute stricter technology limitations.
Putnam’s opinion is that no toddler should be left unattended while operating any type of phone, tablet, or computer. Children (or even adults) who have a saturation of online exposure have been shown to lose social interaction ability. Their capability to filter between body language and emotion also decreases.
Putnam says the bigger problems with overuse of technology come when children get a little older. When cyber bullying, sexting, and Internet addiction become threats, parents need to be paying close attention.
These issues typically begin around middle school. Here’s an example: Your teenager won’t talk to you because she is being a typical teenager. A screen constantly illuminates her face, and trying to get her to put away the phone feels like World War III. At times like this, it can be difficult to keep an eye on your child’s social-media activity. Putnam acknowledges the task is challenging, but he says it’s imperative to stay involved in your teen’s life, both in person and online.
In the end, Putnam emphasizes that the number of hours your kid spends plugged in doesn’t matter as much as how your individual child behaves. For certain kids, five hours a day could be part of a healthy lifestyle, but the minute that behavior changes, that’s when Putnam says parents should become concerned.
Another reason Putnam and other doctors can’t give strict guidelines for technology use is that the research on it is slim, and the technology is always evolving. By the time a substantial research study is complete, the findings are obsolete, because technology has already advanced.
In a 2014 study by Iowa State University, researchers found that screen time is negatively and directly related to kids’ weight, quality of sleep, performance in school, and relationships with their peers.
Putnam says the key, as with anything, is striking the right balance.
“There’s a certain freedom to the endless possibilities of technology use,” he says. “Doctors used to joke about having a kid come in with a thumb injury from too much Nintendo use. Now they talk about ADD or ADHD being caused by the extreme tech use. The truth is, we can’t know too much about what is caused by the technology or what the technology is actually a symptom of.”
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The Smart Way to Sync
Tips on how to make your kids’ tech use healthy
• Limit the amount of time children and teens spend wired in to one to two hours per day.
• Put computers and other technology in a room where you can easily monitor them.
• Model proper online behavior for your children, because most kids copy what you do.
• Help your kids adjust the settings on social-media sites to ensure privacy.
• Provide constant supervision for children younger than 5 when they are online.
