Kid’s screen time guidelines ‘totally unachievable for parents’ but Aussie research set to produce a solution

CURRENT screen time guidelines for kids are drastically out of date but a teacher says parents need to take more control over what their kids are doing.

Australian research will play a part in setting new screen time guidelines for children. Picture: Supplied.

AUSTRALIAN academics and educators say government guidelines for children’s screen time are outdated, out of touch, and almost totally unachievable for parents, and Australian research could produce a solution.

Official guidelines used by the Australian Department of Health recommend children under the age of two years see no screens at all, and children aged between five and 17 limit screen time to less than two hours a day.

But the guidelines, created by the American Academy of Pediatrics, were released in 2001 — years before smartphones — and researchers say most Australian children are routinely breaking the recommendations.

Australian academics and educators say government guidelines for children’s screen time are outdated, out of touch, and almost totally unachievable for parents. Picture: iStock.

The American Academy of Pediatrics said it would review its rules after admitting the recommendations “must evolve or become obsolete” as it became harder to differentiate between children’s educational, interactive, and sedentary time with screens.

Research at the University of Western Australia into children’s use of technology will be one of the studies used to rewrite the guidelines when it is released later this year.

UWA research co-author, professor Michael Rosenberg, said the two-hour limit was still useful for some age groups, but technology and its uses had evolved much faster than the guidelines.

“The recommendations were created when screen time was just television, video recorders, and gaming machines,” he said. “On the evidence at the time, when a screen was fixed, the recommendations were about the physical health implications of sitting in front of a TV.”

UWA researchers surveyed 3050 Australian schoolchildren over three years for the study, which Mr Rosenberg said would now be used to look at the effects of screen time on children’s mental health, and social activity.

He said the research already showed guidelines were being routinely broken by Australian children, with 63 per cent exceeding the recommendations, but more work needed to be done to identify whether “children have changed or the technology has changed”.

The current guidelines used by Australia were created by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2001. Picture: Supplied.

“Even during the study, screens and social media and gaming content has all changed very quickly,” he said. “Instagram came along and became really popular during the time we were collecting data, for example. We see more boys using social media from Year 7 to 10 but we have to work out whether it had just become available to them.”

Despite technology being used in different ways, Mr Rosenberg said updated recommendations would still deliver a time limit for children, though it could separate entertainment from educational screen use.

Gold Coast art teacher and Apple Distinguished Educator Cathy Hunt said while the recommendations were reviewed, parents should become involved in their children’s use of technology and be assured that “good parenting is still good parenting at its core”.

“I don’t think we really have a choice about whether we engage with technology at this point,” she said. “I watch very young children interacting with technology in ways we didn’t think about when I became a teacher 15 years ago. It’s about how we engage with that technology.”

Ms Hunt said devices like tablet computers could be used to bring out a child’s creativity — drawing on top of photos or creating a family photo montage — and parents should not be afraid to ask what their children were doing on a computer and get involved themselves.

Researchers say most Australian children are routinely breaking the recommendations. Picture: Supplied.

“There also need to be times when devices are put down,” the mother-of-two said. “For me, it’s still no phones at the dinner table.”

THREE TOP EARLY LEARNING APPS FROM AUSTRALIA

Tiny Alien Maker ($2.99): This creation from a Sydney mother lets little tablet users design their own alien that they can later print out or use to create party invitations.

Shiny Bakery ($2.99): Designed for children as young as two years old, this app lets them count ingredients and follow a recipe using pictures.

Quick Clocks ($2.99): This digital app is designed to help six-year-olds learn to tell the time on analogue clocks. Time puzzles feature for kids up to 12 years of age.

THREE HIDDEN WAYS TO MAKE YOUR APPLE IPAD CHILD-FRIENDLY

Family sharing: Using this option in iCloud settings, you can set up a profile for your child that will ensure they can only access age-appropriate apps, films and TV shows, and must receive your permission before making a purchase. It can also be used to track devices.

Guided App Mode: In the Accessibility settings, this mode will disable the iPad’s home button so users without the passcode can only use one app. It can also be used to set a definitive time limit.

Restrictions: To prevent children watching content too old for their eyes, you can lock down certain features or content with mature ratings using this option in its menu.