‘Curb kids’ screen time today for a healthy tomorrow’

With children compelled to stay at home due to Covid situation, their TV viewing time has increased. Though TV tops the list, all screen viewing — including mobiles, laptops, tablets etc — has also increased amid the lockdown. This is in addition to the online teaching, which has become inevitable. This increased screen time is definitely a matter of concern. Dr Akash Bang, additional professor, department of paediatrics, AIIMS Nagpur, speaks about the issue in detail:
What are the harmful effects of increased screen time?
There are many international and national studies which have thrown light on the ill-effects of higher TV and computer screen time. Risk of childhood obesity increases by 13% for each 1 hour/day increment in TV time. Poor sleep quality, higher scores in psychological difficulty, behavioural problems like anger, aggression, violence, poor oral hygiene etc are some of the impacts. In the long term, increased TV time has also been associated with increased incidences of heart attacks and paralysis.
What if a child does regular exercise, in that case can’t parents allow increased screen time?
In several studies, harmful effects of increased screen time were observed regardless of physical activity. This means exercise cannot compensate for these harmful effects. Researchers found that increased TV watching can affect us at genetic level too, as it shortens a part of our chromosomes called as telomere. This telomere length shortening is an indicator of cellular level ageing and predicts various age-related diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and even mortality. Every 1-hour increment in daily TV watching is associated with a decrease in telomere length corresponding to an ageing of approximately 1.2 to 1.8 years in biological age.
There are many channels with good educational content. If parents put these on, is it not better?
This is like arguing that sweet poison is better than bitter one! We all need to realize that content is just one part of the problem. It is the total screen time and the binge-watching that is the major concern here.
So, what should be done?
Online teaching is going to continue for some time. Since it is the individual school’s decision and not in parents’ hands, we need to focus on TV, smartphones and other leisure-time screen-viewing. Firstly, limit daily TV viewing of the entire family to 1-2 hours. Avoid frequent changing of channels and never watch TV while having meals. Parents must choose the content, be around and supervise while kids watch TV.
What are the alternatives for screen time that parents may use instead of saying no?
When staying indoors is unavoidable, encourage hobbies, play family games or team games like cards, carom where the kids learn to play in team. Games play a very important part in a child’s social development. They also enhance children’s Emotional Quotient (EQ). Parents must discuss the programmes soon after viewing. Find out the effects these shows had on the child and correct any faulty impressions. They should talk about how TV characters solve their problems and see if you and kids can find more realistic solutions.