Corinn Cross, M.D.
National Screen Free Week is upon us again. It begins today, Monday May 5th,
and concludes Sunday May 11th.
All families are encouraged to observe Screen Free Week but
as our culture becomes increasingly intertwined with screens, how to limit
screen time and increase awareness has become immensely more challenging.
Originally, Screen Free week was TV Turn-off week. Easy
enough, 1 week, no TV. But now screens
are everywhere and needed for everything, emails, social networking. They are
used in school for school work and communicating with parents and often needed
for homework. It seems almost impossible
to go an entire day, never mind a week without using a screen.
So, what is a common sense parent to do?
Understand the reasoning behind Screen Free week. Although
some screen time is at this point necessary for most teens and adults, there
are ways that we can scale back unnecessary screen time and open up more time
for other activities: reading,
socializing in person with friends and family, going outside, exercising.
I think a more appropriate name for the upcoming week would
be Screen Awareness Week. In this way, the task seems much more manageable. Use
Screen Free week to take an inventory of how much time you and your family are
spending on screens and try instituting plans on how to monitor that time and
dedicate screen free periods throughout the day.
To take advantage of Screen Free Week and make it successful
in your home, start by making a plan and having a goal. Discuss with your
family the expectations and limits for the week.
Simple suggestions
for families include:
- Designate
a drop area for cell phones when you walk in the door. Cell phones should
go here during screen free times and at night to charge. Cell phones should not be left in a
child or teens room overnight to charge, but should be either in a public
room or the parent’s bedroom.
- Set a
time or times throughout the day when you will not use screens, laptops or
smartphones. Ideally for Screen Free week this would be all the time that
a child is home but realistically most families may find that a shorter
period of time is both do-able and more importantly sustainable. Start
with 2 or 3 hours once you get home from school - unless it is for
homework, and of course no screens or phones during dinner
- Disconnect
from unnecessary digital interactions. Take a week vacation from social
networking sites and surfing the web. Use this time to discuss privacy
settings and appropriate on-line behavior with your children and teens.
- Check
in with your kids about cyber-bullying and what to do if they experience
it or more likely, witness it.
- Turn the
TV off for 1 week and when you go back to TV remember no screen time for
children under 2 years of age and only 2 hours of TV for older kids and
teens.
Use Screen Free Week as an opportunity to reassess your
family’s media use. At the end of the week, discuss with your family how the
week went. Was it easier or harder than expected? What changes do you want to continue with as
a family? Did any of the changes you made have a positive impact? You may find
that you would like to have a TV free night once a week or an hour or two every
evening when all screens are turned off.
Most families find that when they can disconnect -- even a little, they
can reconnect with each other a whole lot.
For more information about Screen Free Week, check out the
American Academy of Pediatrics parent’s website healthychildren.org.
