Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion could lack of "screen time" be a bad thing?

I think that you need to find a balance. A child in this day and age needs to know how to operate a computer or other electronics that might be beneficial in the future. TV, eh, I think you can take it or leave it, as TV doesn't require any real skill or knowledge. Before my daughter was born, I said I wasn't going to do any screen time until two years old. Ha. My daughter watches more TV at times than I'd prefer, but I am also a work at home mom of two now and as much as I'd love to be the perfect wonder woman, I am not. My daughter has learned a great deal from pretty much all electronic mediums that she uses. She can navigate her laptop (she plays starfall.com only), she has an ipod touch with educational games and she watches ONLY educational television. My daughter also LOVES books. She will look at endless books. She is three and she is a beginner reader. She plays board games, she does tons of imaginative play, and she loves the outdoors. While, as I said, I wish we had less TV on, I don't feel she's been harmed in any way. Life is about balance.

Go to settings, and you can set up parental controls for each user that controls the amount of time per day the child can use the computer, the applications that are allowed, which web sites they can visit, who they are allowed to contact by message and email, and a few other things.

We find it works very well for our twins, who are in early elementary.

My DS7 has been doing rainbow loom tutorials on youtube for the last week in a kind of obsessive way. Actually rainbow loom in general has been kind of an obsession but I let her do it because it is a combination of learning and doing. My DS9 watches way too much useless tv- I want him to watch cosmos but he would rather watch phineas and ferb (but at least they invent things!) and I am trying to get him to do other things by limiting how much screen (tv and computer) that he gets. If he is on the computer he wants to play Minecraft. So I watch Cosmos and make him read a book

Anyway, it is an ongoing struggle at my house, just trying to set/keep limits and boundaries. Good advice for me from someone posting on the thread previously about modeling good screen habits. I don't watch much TV but I am a computer addict.... I have explained to my kids that I do a lot of different tasks using the computer- like getting recipes (I don't have cookbooks anymore), answering letters to friends, learning a skill, figuring out how to get a stain out of their clothing, etc. so while it looks like I am staring into a box I am not actually playing a video game I am using the computer for different tasks.

I certainly allow my DS15 too much screen time now that he is a teenager. Most of this is time computer and games (DS, Wii, Nintendo). Both DH & I spend a lot of time on the computer, and I find unrealistic to tell a teenager to do as I say but not as I do. We watch occasional movies, but little TV.

When my son a toddler/preschooler he watched very little TV/movies and when he did it was mostly nature documentaries. He had his favorite shows, and a few favorite computer games. Tablets didn't exist, cell phones were just phones. I didn't like those educational "tablets" or other electronic push the buttons games. I even got him his first DS later than most kids his age. I broke down and got him one when I was dragging him to a LOT of sports events for his sister.

I certainly think it's very easy to give kids these days too much screen time, and probably hard to not give them enough.

well I am super jealous, my kids watch way too much tv, I'm not proud and it never used to be this way but anyway, it's a needs must situation.

Just wanted to say though, and I have no citation for this so maybe someone can help me out, the kink between ADHD is not necessarily causal. In fact it is believed in some circles that children who have ADHD seek out tv as it is a stimulant and helps them focus. - Could be wrong but I remember reading this within the last 12 months

We tend to restrict screen time somewhat but not excessively so.

Our DD has been a Rainbow Loom addict and YouTube could be called glueTube as far as that is concerned. I have also relented and purchased Minecraft to help her gain social capital. She also plays chess on the computer and does her AoPS pre-algebra class.

I grew up in the UK in the Seventies and TV or 'The Telly' as it was called was used as a pacifier/ babysitter quite extensively but with limits. TV these days just doesn't compare quality-wise to the BBC and ITV programming then. As a result DD watches zero Cable TV except sports games but we have a Rokuwhich allows us to watch commercial free documentaries and movies. This is used as a reward for good behaviour and is entirely provisional on it every Friday evening.

As a family we will also play on our Wii too and this one does have to be watched and regulated - too much of this seems to follow an pattern of overexcitement leading eventually to overtiredness with resultant bad behaviour.

First of all, I suspect that people with ADHD are attracted to screens, and they don't necessarily CAUSE ADHD. For DD in particular, they seem to calm her down.

That being said, my kids would be on games like Minecraft all day if I didn't limit it, so I started making them EARN screen time. Otherwise, they don't get any. Right now DS is reading a chapter book that he wouldn't have normally chosen himself because I told him he could play Terraria if he reads the whole book (usually a short chapter book will buy him about an hour of screen time). Once the kids are sick of "earning" screen time, they find something else to do, like play outside, play with other toys, annoy me :), etc.

I do think screen time has a lot of benefits. I think my kids have learned a lot from games like Minecraft, Coolmath4kids, math and reading teaching websites (like ixl.com or Razkids.com), etc. They have also started researching things, like DS has been on the NASA website reading about space stations and rockets. He like the interactive features that you wouldn't get from a book.

DS8 has always wanted new information beyond anything else. At 3 he suddenly became crazed for the tv because it provided new inputs. Once I started going to the library and bringing home 30 picture books a week he calmed down. Since that frustration he has never been excessively demanding of screens. What has been interesting has been watching his preferences - he went through a phase for certain tv shows, cyberchase, word girl, phineas and ferb - then it was iPad apps - now it's wikis - he got started on bathe with phineas and ferb, towards the end, he preferred reading about the episodes rather than watching them! He finished the HP series and is now devouring the wikis. He flat out refuses to do minecraft - everyone's doing it! But for him it's never been the platform, it's about the material. The screen itself does not capture him, it's the material - if that's good he is hooked, regardless of platform.

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