Your kids might be well-behaved, but too much screen time is seriously dangerous

COMMENT: Your kids may be well-behaved, but too much screen time is dangerous and under-twos should have ZERO exposure to electronic media.

Thinkstock: Townsville Families: Child using mobile phone at home

I took my 18-month-old daughter to the library this week.

She loved it. And she barely turned a page.

But she had a fabulous time pulling books off their shelves, chewing a sign that said “Junior Non-Fiction” and hiding in the bottom shelf of one of the book racks while I ran around searching for her.

When I did find her in the corner of the kids’ section, giggling to herself, I found a group of extremely well-behaved toddlers sitting very quietly and very calmly on a couple of beanbags. Yes, you read right. Well. Behaved. Toddlers.

Having had a couple of toddlers myself, I was nothing but in awe and insanely impressed with their behaviour. They were perfection. But as I got closer to inspect this incredible moment in time and to perhaps wipe a little fairy dust off their heads and sprinkle it on to the heads of my own kids, I noticed their little faces glowing. Literally. Glowing.

They were gathered around a phone, watching a cartoon. On a phone.

Seriously? Has it got that bad that we’re staring at screens at the very place where books are worshipped? It felt a little like someone dressing up as the devil at church. Or watching a DVD in a video store.

But now, it’s all too common.

A program to air on US TV called ‘Web Junkie’ is causing quite a stir after revealing it will document the epidemic of screen addition in China. Doctors in China believe there is such a condition that requires acute rehabilitation — where kids are weaned off devices by going ‘cold turkey’ in a bid to lure them back to the real world.

A device designed to wean teenagers off screens. Picture: Web Junkie.

Alarm bells are ringing.

Since this revelation, the New York Times has revealed that the American Academy of Paediatrics recommend that children under the age of two should have no exposure to electronic media.

None. Zero.

It’s a thought that will send so many Australian parents spiralling into a world of guilty panic. Because we’ve all done it, right? Shoved a phone under our kids nose to keep them quite/ entertained/ not whingeing? But the case against our screens is obvious. The academy says, “a child’s brain develops rapidly during these first years, and young children learn best by interacting with people not screens”.

We all know it. But we’re lazy. Sometimes I am. You might be, too.

But with every frame of screen time your child absorbs, experts say there are negative effects on their health, imagination and they become increasingly unable to cope with stress and multi-tasking.

A few months ago, I had a meeting with the local school principal about our son starting Kindergarten next year. She told us our children should have no more than half an hour of screen time every day. No more. Because, she claimed, “these days, children have beautiful vocabulary but fail to join all the words together. Most children in our younger classes can use wonderful words but they have terrible conversation skills”. Why? Because they’re spending too much time not talking. Not. Talking.

The principal warned that kids have language problems because they spend too much time not talking.

When I asked her how best I should prepare my son for Kindergarten I expected her to say something about buying him shoes with velcro (not laces) or getting him a distinctive key ring for his bag so he can find it at lunch time or show him how to write his name with confidence. But there was none of that. She told me, “have dinner with your son. Have a conversation”.

Huff.

It’s not a difficult decision.

She’s right. But the thought of it can be a little exhausting. Especially when there’s an easy option. I feel like Elizabeth in ‘Bewitched’ — why do it the hard way when I can fix the problem with a little magic?

It’s a war. And while we all know what side we’re on, most kids think the ‘bad guys’ are much more attractive. And who can blame them? They have better equipment, fun sounds and bright lights.

I’m giving it a go. Like any addiction, it was hard for everyone to give up. For the kids and me. I haven’t banned screen time but we’ve certainly cut back. And we’re reaping rewards.

Last weekend we drove to the country for a little holiday and the kids spent most of two-hour drive along the highway screen-free. It was tough and they ended up eating heaps — like actual addicts.

But four days after we’d arrived home from our dose of fresh farm air, my five-year-old son drew me a picture that made it all worthwhile.

It was a bunch of crisscrossed lines. “What’s this picture about?” I asked.

“They’re the power lines that go along the freeway”, he answered.

A small victory.

A small win against a possible future of rehab-ready teenagers battling screen addiction in Australia, just like our Asian neighbours.

A fight we’ll only win together with one fewer glowing-face at a time.

Follow Alissa Warren on Twitter @alissawarren

Originally published as Your kids might be well-behaved, but too much screen time is seriously dangerous