Kate Land, MD FAAP
The American Academy of Pediatrics
has clear words for parents seeking advice about screen time limits for
children. No screen time for kids under 2 and no more that 2 hours a day for
kids over 2. Less is better and content matters.
While I find these guidelines
challenging in my office and in my home, my mother would have had no trouble
enforcing these guidelines with me - for most of my
childhood we did not have a television. I remember mornings in junior high
school as being rough. Not only because it was too early and too cold to want
to get out of bed but also because once I made it to school everyone around me
was discussing last night's episode of this or that show. I tried to
look casual and preoccupied while they sounded so.... cool.
As a Pediatrician, I understand the
social power that being up-to-date with the latest show, game or video has.
Being connected on each of the latest social media tools be they Instagram,
Vine or Snapchat, matters on today's Monday mornings.
However, I want my teens and my teen
patients to turn off their screens more. I know that doing so will broaden
their horizons and shrink their waistlines. They also on some level, get this.
It isn’t easy to translate advice and understanding into action. Teens
especially do not like to accept rules made for them without their input and buy-in.
At my house, I always begin change with a discussion around the dinner table.
It is a perfect chance to ask and listen.
It is perhaps ironic that I found
some words to inspire teens to turn off their screens from a recent episode of
Grey's Anatomy. They have just the right touch of
inspirational simplicity that appeals to the Pinterest set:
Decide.
We are all going to die.
We don't get to decide where or when.
But we do get to decide
how we are going to live. So do it.
Decide.
Is this the life you
want to live? Is this the person you want to love?
Is this the best you can
be? Can you be stronger, kinder, more compassionate?
Decide.
Breathe in, breathe out
and decide.
When you put it this way, few kids would choose to spend their
time in front of a screen and definitely not the average of seven
hours a day that our
kids are currently spending. Tonight at dinner, ask your kids to decide. Then take action and come up with a plan together for media
use in your home.
For ideas about how to
decrease your family's media use see “How to Make a Family Media
Use Plan” at the AAP’s parent web
page healthychildren.org.
