Screen Time Take Down

How much time should kids spend on technology, with their noses buried in their phones, tablets, or computers?

This question often arises as it did in the NPR article "An Update On Screen Time." The article says, "The long-standing recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics has been that kids' entertainment screen time be limited 'to less than one or two hours per day.' And for kids under 2: none at all." I couldn't agree more with the latter part of that statement. There is no reason children as young as two need to be staring at a screen for any time; rather, they should be exploring the world!

However, when it comes to kids in school, especially as technology becomes more integrated with teaching and learning, it will become increasingly harder to limit screen time. When students get to high school, they are faced with research, papers, and presentations; sometimes they have entirely online classes. How, then, do we limit them to only a couple hours when their grades depend on so much more? Thinking about the time I spend now in front of a computer to conduct research, create lessons, write papers, check emails, etc., I am probably well over two hours.

It's hard to think there could be an immediate solution for this problem. After all, as more information becomes available online, more time will be spent online. A recent article about the 2016 Presidential Election (sigh, they're already talking about that...) said that "millennials" are primarily reliant on getting their news online and through social media. Not only, then, are they relying on the technology to get their school work done, but they're relying on it to stay up to date on current events.

I hardly find any of this a bad thing, so long as there is eventually a balance made. I used to get so annoyed with teachers who required sources for research that were not online. But now, I see the usefulness of those same sources. Additionally, as a social studies teacher, I could require my students to find an article on a current event not online, so in a magazine or newspaper. Screen time should be limited to when it is essential, yes, but it becomes more and more essential every day for more things.