Reply to Is 4 hours of screen time too much during coronavirus?

Forum Index » General Parenting Discussion

Reply to "Is 4 hours of screen time too much during coronavirus?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This reminds me of a study asking people if leaving a child alone at home for a couple of hours was moral and whether it was safe, varying the circumstances.

Obviously many more people thought it was more morally acceptable to leave them alone if a single parent had to work, or in an emergency, etc., than if the parent was going off on a non-essential errand or to meet a lover. But what was interesting was that they also rated the child left alone in more morally acceptable circumstances as *safer*.

A 6-year-old home alone for 2 hours is just as safe or unsafe if the parent leaves for work as if they leave to get a pedicure. But people considering the former admit to themselves the child will probably be okay, if it's really necessary. And in the latter, they think of all the dangerous things the kid can get into when left alone "for no good reason."

But, like... they're all as safe or unsafe as any other kid at home for the same length of time, all else being equal.

It's the same for this. A kid getting 4 hours of screen time because the parent feels like watching their own program on Netflix in another room is getting the same effect from screen time as if the parent has critical work to do in the other room. Some people in the work situation with the pandemic decide that, hey, actually 4 hours is fine and has always been fine under any circumstance, they were just too uptight before. Some people think, actually, it's always kind of unhealthy, but you gotta do what you gotta do, and hopefully this is temporary.

But to think it's unhealthy in one circumstance and not the other (assuming the period of weeks or months is equal)... that may feel right intuitively, but is an illusion.  [/quote]

oh ffs. the reason matters because a family is a system, and there is no good evidence on screen time. all this shows is that supposed guidelines are based more on judging moms and less on what a family actually needs. [/quote]

The reason matters for the overall health and needs of the family.

It doesn't really matter in terms of the [i]effects of screen time themselves[/i].

That's whether or not you think there are negative or positive effects or none at all.

That was really my only point.

If-- big if!-- but if there are negative effects on attention span or tantrum-like behavior or eyesight, or positive effects on problem-solving skills or hand-eye coordination, or whatever... it doesn't matter[i] for those purposes[/i] [b]why[/b] your child is using screens 4 hours a day. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics