Screen Time
Researchers and social critics often refer to children's "screen time," the time that they spend viewing screens - including televisions, phones, gaming devices, movies, etc. As of January 2010, one study commissioned by the Kaiser Foundation estimated that children ages 8-18 spend 7.5 hours per day using entertainment media, 4.5 hours of which consists of watching television. It is not surprising that screen time has a significant influence on children.
Relational Time
A recent article in the New York Times picked up on the way that parents' media consumption affects relational time. Parents checking their email on handheld devices, not surprisingly, was connected with frustration and jealousy in young children. Instead of giving their children focused relational time, many parents give their attention to the iPhone or Blackberry, to the frustration of their children.
High Tech Skills
In a high tech world, what skills do children (and their parents need to cultivate)? Perhaps the most important is the ability to relate to one another without unnecessary distraction. In days past, the television was sometimes called the "idiot box." With these boxes in the bedrooms of over half of all US children (not to mention the other rooms of the house, or the other ways children multiply screen time), it is wise to ask, What will be the effects of technology on us, and on our children?
How does technology affect kids?
June 19, 2010
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technology, television, parenting
