Children spend an hour or more in front of a screen before school, a new study has revealed.
From cartoons at breakfast to video games before bed, devices have become integrated into childhood routines, raising concerns about how much screen time is too much.
Health guidelines from the Australian Institute of Family Studies, and the World Health Organisation, has recommend that no more than one hour a day of screen time for children aged 2 to 5. However research suggests this limit is often exceeded.
For people who work in early education, the impact is becoming more visible
Preschool director, Melanie Rigby said children are less likely to engage with face to face interaction, rather than relying on screens to communicate through messaging and other digital platforms.
“They don’t engage because they’ve got a screen so they just either communicate via the screen, messages and things like that as opposed to using face to face conversations,” Mrs Ribgy said.
Educators have reported that some children are finding it difficult to focus on non-screen activities, with reduced patience and difficulty engaging.
“The inability to socialise and learning to be creative but also having constant stimulation,” Mrs Rigby said.
“Kids just don’t know how to be bored anymore because they want an instant response that you get from a video or a never-ending scroll of social media.”
However, the impact of screen time goes beyond just behaviour.
Research into early brain development has suggested that prolonged exposure to screens can influence how children process information and actively learn.
In an interview by Being Patience, researcher John Hutton explained that excessive screen-time can affect the development of literacy and language skills in children.
“Despite…recommendations which are to keep kids off of screens until about a year and a half, infants as young as six months are exposed to television and tablets and other devices,” Dr Hutton said.
Dr Hutton’s research uses brain imaging to study the development of young children, highlighting how passive screen viewings might limit interactions that help support early education.
At the same time, children’s daily activities are shifting.
Data showing that screen based activities dominate children’s time sits high in the 10-19 hour category, with physical, creative and outdoor participation remaining higher in the two hours or less category.
Dr Hutton has suggested that children’s experience with the world is reshaped without proper understanding of long term effects.
“A great uncontrolled experiment where we’ve changed how kids are experiencing the world,” he said.
“A lot of the data depends on parent reports, so parents tend to under-report how much screen time their kids have.”
Screens aren’t essentially all negative. Educational content and interactive tools are able to support learning when used appropriately. The challenge according to researchers and teachers is finding a balance.
Mrs Rigby said her family manages screen use by setting time limits, and added that simply being aware of how much time is spent on devices has made a noticeable difference.
“Manage in time wise so put certain allocations per day….but I think just having awareness as a family on the amount of time has been helpful for us,” Mrs Rigby said.
She said the question is no longer are children using screens but how much is too much, and what might be lost in the process.
Additional reporting: Laragh Michael
