For many parents, debates about screen time and devices have become a regular part of family life, and knowing how much is too much has become somewhat of a moving target.  “Whether it’s three-year-olds throwing tantrums when the iPad is taken away, seven-year-olds watching YouTube all night, nine-year-olds demanding their own phones, 11-year-olds nagging to play 18-rated video games that “all their friends” are, or 14-year-olds who are never off Instagram, every stage of childhood and adolescence is now accompanied by its own delightful new parenting challenges.” (Times, 2018).

Much of the recent research I have read seems to suggest that it is not so much the length of time a young person spends in front of a screen, but the nature of the screen time that is most important.  Whether it’s entirely passive TV or social media monitoring, active video game playing, socialising with WhatsApp, or getting creative in iMovie.  But it is complicated isn’t it?  How should the age of the child affect our thinking?  How do we best balance the very real benefits that time ‘online’ can bring young people, with all the opportunities for learning and development, whilst protecting them from the potential harm to which they might be exposed?  Do we really know enough about the long term impacts on young people and what elements of spending time online are riskiest?  How can we tell the difference between cause and effect?  Do young people who are anxious or depressed spend more time on social media, or is social media part of the cause of their anxiety and depression?

In light of current uncertainties, the Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, this week advocated a “precautionary approach” in the summary of counsel from academics and researchers around the impact of screen-based activities on children’s well-being. The advice to parents includes:

• Get enough good-quality sleep. Leave phones outside the bedroom when it is bedtime.
• Talk about sharing photos and information online, and how photos and words are sometimes manipulated.
• Make sure you and your children are aware of and abide by their school’s policy on screen time.
• Take a break after a couple of hours sitting or lying down using a screen.
• Advise children to put their screens away while crossing the road or doing an activity that needs their full attention.
• Talk with your children about using screens and what they are watching. A change in behaviour can be a sign they are distressed – make sure they know they can always speak to an adult if they feel uncomfortable with screen or social media use.
• Consider screen-free meal times so you can have face-to-face conversations, with adults giving their full attention to children.
• Try using features on some devices and platforms to keep track of time spent looking at screens or on social media.

It is interesting to note that this guidance is aimed at adults, as modellers of preferred behaviour, as well as our children!

Clearly more research is required, as well as further work with social media platforms, technology companies, parents, schools, the government and support services.  Whilst protecting our young people from harm, do we not also need to be careful that we do not simply break screen time down into “good” and “bad”, since this is highly dependent on age, content and context?