Fostering Healthy Screen Habits in Children

By Alice Ann Holland, Ph.D., ABPP | Contributor

Our environment is increasingly filled with electronic screens, raising concerns among parents about how to foster their children’s physical and mental well-being in today’s world. Between 2011 and 2013, the percentage of American children with access to mobile screens, such as smartphones and tablets, rose from 52% to 75%.

While technology has introduced numerous benefits to our lives—facilitating connections, keeping us informed, answering questions, and enabling remote learning, particularly during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic—it also poses risks. Increased screen time can lead to various negative outcomes for children and adolescents. Even infants have shown delayed speech milestones linked to higher screen exposure. For older children, excessive screen time—outside of virtual schooling—correlates with a higher likelihood of obesity, attention issues, decreased academic success, mood challenges, and feelings of loneliness. Research suggests that isolation can adversely affect health to a degree similar to smoking 15 cigarettes daily. Teens who engage with screens for more than one or two hours daily are more prone to feelings of depression, loneliness, or anxiety.

Banning technology is not a practical solution in our tech-driven society.

Instead, parents should cultivate healthy habits around screen time. Focus on encouraging teens to utilize technology for positive interactions and learning while reducing passive consumption of content, which can exacerbate loneliness and depression. This involves establishing clear rules, expectations, and consequences regarding technology use.

Guidelines for Developing Healthy Screen Habits

Parents may consider these strategies to help their children establish positive screen time behaviors:

• Create “phone-free” zones. For many families, this might mean designating times, like dinner and a few hours before bedtime, as technology-free.

  • Prohibiting phones during mealtime encourages social interaction and strengthens familial bonds, providing an opportunity to check in on each other’s lives.
  • Avoiding screens a few hours before sleep promotes improved rest, as the blue light from devices hinders melatonin release, making it more challenging to fall asleep. Better sleep can enhance emotional wellness.

• Remove technology from the bedroom.

  • Keeping devices like TVs, phones, tablets, and computers out of bedrooms fosters better sleep and may help alleviate feelings of sadness and anxiety.
  • Consider collecting your child’s phone overnight to prevent late-night texting or browsing.

• Set daily screen time limits for entertainment.

  • Time spent on social media, television, and video games should be limited, excluding hours spent on virtual learning or academic activities.
  • Some children may benefit from a timer to help manage their screen time effectively; don’t rely on them for self-regulation.
  • Encourage participation in other activities once screen time is over, such as joining community sports or engaging with books and art supplies.
• Exemplify responsible technology use.
  • Children often observe and emulate their parents’ actions more than their words, so practice what you preach when it comes to tech use.
  • Consider implementing a tech-free day weekly; disconnecting can nurture creativity and enhance family connections.
  • Research indicates that when children see their parents reading more, it boosts their own reading skills. Next time you feel inclined to scroll through social media, consider picking up a book to demonstrate a healthy, engaging pastime.

With adolescents, collaboratively creating household rules about technology usage will lead to better adherence.

Discussing the reasoning behind the rules may enhance understanding and compliance among teens. However, parents should assert their authority and remember that access to screens is a privilege, not a right. Establishing limits for healthy screen habits may lead to disagreements, but these guidelines are crucial for teaching children to navigate a screen-dominated world in a balanced and health-conscious manner, benefiting their physical and emotional development now and in their future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alice Ann Holland, Ph.D., ABPP, is an Associate Professor in Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Research Director of the Neuropsychology Service at Children’s Medical Center Dallas, where she specializes in clinical neuropsychological evaluations for medically complex children and adolescents, particularly those with cancer and rare brain illnesses. In 2019, she served as President of the Texas Psychological Association and currently serves on the boards of both the National Academy of Neuropsychology and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Dr. Holland has received multiple awards from various organizations, including the American Psychological Association, the American Board of Professional Psychology, and the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology.

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