I honesty think “screen-time” is overblown. Screens are tools and while creative old-fashioned play is very important, screens play an important role, too.
I’ve got two kids, 4 and 7. I differentiate between games (as long as they are age-appropriate or maybe a little older for them), “good-tv” (age appropriate educational shows or shows with “lessons” I.e Curious George, Daniel Tiger, Odd Squad, etc), “great-tv” (purely educational shows like Nova or How It’s Made…my oldest loves both), and “junk food tv” (SpongeBob, Gumball, etc).
They all have their place and none are “bad” as long as moderation is applied and content is age-appropriate.
Kids definitely have better options these days. There was basically a world of shit for kids older than Sesame Street age when I was growing up in the 80s. Every Saturday morning show was an extended toy commercial in between toy commercials.
The real ironic thing is, the doctors that are publishing papers saying screentime is bad are the same people who plopped us in front of Nintendo and Nickelodeon because stranger danger (and that, even more ironically, because of prime time news magazines like Dateline and 20/20 and Current Affair)).
Shocker, stranger danger kids are using the TV more in raising their kids.
The problem is not so much the total time spent on the device but more the time spent per content nowadays. There is a certain value in spending 3 days to accomplish something whereas imo no value in spending 5 seconds per content.
“Y’all kids today spend too much time on devices.”
Yeah, because that device literally gives us access to all the information the entire human race has amassed. Not only that, but we also have our work and/or school tied into it, so for those things we literally need to be on it at least part of the time. Instead of hoarding expensive books that you’ve never read to justify having an oversized McMansion with a “library”, we access our information as needed.
I think it was easier to make this jump if you were small. Maybe it’s an illusion, but it felt that way
Believe, technically speaking, it merely increased his size and hitbox vertically. Realistically speaking whatever helped your developing brain overcome it is true even if it isn’t technically so because what matters is you did it 💪.
Obligatory
