A slew of recent research suggests parents should relax a bit about screen time.
by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Reason.com
This week, hordes of kids across the country are spending some of their Christmas break hours staring at screens. And hordes of parents are probably fretting that they shouldn’t be letting them do this. That “screen time”—computer screen, TV screen, cellphone screen, etc.—is indiscriminately and insidiously dangerous for young minds.
These parents should relax.
Some research—and common sense—suggests ample screen time could be bad if it displaces other things, just as spending every waking hour on any one activity could be bad. But moderate screen time and occasional bursts of excessive screen time (say, during winter break) are probably harmless. So long as kids still generally find time for things like physical activity, schoolwork, and in-person socializing with family and peers, screen time per se simply shouldn’t be a concern for most families.