Reply to Do parents realize they are rotting their own and their children’s minds with screens?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I agree with the OP and think this is a huge, societal problem. And the defensiveness on this thread is huge and telling. Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions. Raising kids and teaching kids are both incredibly hard. Screens can provide some relief. So this needs to be a bigger solution than just “do better.”

Personally, I struggle with this immensely. I’m doing okay with my kids so far (they’re in preschool, which makes it easier): screens on long plane or train rides, screens when they’re sick, and if we’re in a social situation at another family’s house and they turn on the TV, we don’t love it but whatever. Plus I know they get some screens at school. But beyond that, there’s no screens at home. So they routinely go weeks with zero screens on our watch. But I really struggle with screen time for myself. It’s just SO easy to pull your phone out when you have some downtime. It’s such a time waster, it’s bad for my attention and my mental health. I’ve recently installed the app “Opal” which blocks most apps and all websites on my phone after a cumulative hour of use each day. That’s helping, I’d recommend it for other folks who struggle with this.

Societal wide, I’d like to see:

-Way less screens in school. Get the smart boards out of preschool classrooms! No videos for recess when it’s raining - just let the kids play inside.

-More support for parents generally. Our society sucks at this. The more we can support families with paid leave, flexible work schedules, free PK, etc, the easier it is for parents and the less they’ll need to rely on screens.

-[b]More tolerance in public spaces for kids. Sometimes kids cry, tantrum, misbehave, are loud. If this is “unacceptable” then the only answer is screens. My kids are very well behaved. But - sometimes these things happen, it’s part of learning. I address it immediately, but it’s still part of life. 
[/b]
-More acceptance of very small physical risks to kids. What does that mean? More independence. Kids walking to the park and playing unsupervised at younger ages. Kids taking public transit by themselves. Kids bike riding to each other’s houses. Kids using real saws and hammers to build stuff. Kids going to the store themselves. These risks are comically small, and yet we are scared so we limit them, and that leads to more nice, “safe,” screen time inside.

I’d be interested in other ideas from folks, particularly from parents of older kids. [/quote]

As a tangent, I have realized that this varies by area.  Here in the DMV, we have very high (i.e., unreasonable) expectations of children's behavior and it's very stressful for parents.  There are other parts of the country, I have found when visiting relatives, that are much more tolerant/realistic about children.  Everyone is more relaxed there and the children are more relaxed (not necessarily better or worse behaved).

Back to the topic: The screens/phones are 100% a huge issue and the question in the thread title, do parents realize they are rotting their own and their children's brains - the answer on this thread seems mostly to be No.  [/quote]

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