Ask Slashdot: At What Age Should Toddlers Get Screen Time? (kidshealth.org) 101
Slashdot reader ne0phyte73 writes:
I got my first computer (a Commodore 64) when I was 13. My daughter got hers (One Laptop Per Child) when she was 5.
What are the current trends?
I see new AI-powered edutainment products coming to the market, targeted at toddlers. Would you give something like this to your 18 months old? (Kidshealth claims that there should be no screen time at all until 18 months, with the exception of "video chatting with grandparents or other family friends, which is considered quality time interacting with others."). Well, developers of "Animal Island Learning Adventure" claim that they provide quality interaction with AI-powered characters. Do you believe in the claims of developers that this or similar systems help toddlers to develop?
Would you give it to your child?
If this is, in fact, a "quality interaction", would you give it to kids even before they are 18 months old?
One review site said that particular learning adventure offers a tablet "pre-loaded with 60 days of ad-free content" focused on learning skills for preschoolers. Personally, that just makes me worry what would happen after 60 days. But share your own thoughts in the comments.
At what age should toddlers get screen time?
What are the current trends?
I see new AI-powered edutainment products coming to the market, targeted at toddlers. Would you give something like this to your 18 months old? (Kidshealth claims that there should be no screen time at all until 18 months, with the exception of "video chatting with grandparents or other family friends, which is considered quality time interacting with others."). Well, developers of "Animal Island Learning Adventure" claim that they provide quality interaction with AI-powered characters. Do you believe in the claims of developers that this or similar systems help toddlers to develop?
Would you give it to your child?
If this is, in fact, a "quality interaction", would you give it to kids even before they are 18 months old?
One review site said that particular learning adventure offers a tablet "pre-loaded with 60 days of ad-free content" focused on learning skills for preschoolers. Personally, that just makes me worry what would happen after 60 days. But share your own thoughts in the comments.
At what age should toddlers get screen time?
Toddlers should never get screen time (Score:4, Interesting)
Toddlers should never get screen time. By screen time I mean interactive screen time where they are interacting with a device. This can develop screen dependency disorder / screen addiction. These addictive patterns can cause long term problems in a child's life. When kids are older (maybe around 7 or 8) they should only be allowed interactive screen-time with an adult present and for only a small amount of time in the week.
Non-interactive screen time (such as television) should be kept to a minimum and rarely used in the house. Studies have shown that the more television a child watches the slower they are at learning. Even the ambient noise from a constant television can cause a child to have a much more limited vocabulary than a child raised without television. Of course there are other reasons behind this as well.
Re:Toddlers should never get screen time (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Toddlers should never get screen time (Score:5, Funny)
Hitler, Stalin and Khan all didn't get any screen time as a toddler. To me the pattern is clear.
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That got us Trump as president. Anything your parents did as an argument is invalid.
It also got you Obama who committed extra-judicial murders, had a AG who gave guns to cartels who sold them to terrorists who then committed mass murders in Europe, and managed to bring back slavery to Libya. It also gave Canada prime ministers like Justin Trudeau, who's on a screaming fast path of either splitting provinces out of confederation or balkanizing Canada.
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You forgot that Obama got us an economy for which Trump can take credit..
No it didn't. Obama made an economy where once everything he and his administration were rolled back, suddenly there was a surge in economic activity. Seriously, did you even pay attention to what happened? Literally the day after Trump won, the markets exploded, companies sitting on capital started to spend again, two months prior to him taking office the wages of people started going up again instead of down.
Nearly every economic action that the Obama administration engaged in was negative pressure on
Re: Toddlers should never get screen time (Score:2)
You know, I've never seen a citation dummy. Now crash test dummies, I know about from countless car commercials, but I have yet to see this other kind...if they *do* exist, that is
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Re:Toddlers should never get screen time (Score:5, Funny)
"Toddlers should never get screen time. "
Exactly!
Give them an Alexa product and they can talk its ear off.
It will tell them stories until the cows come home.
Re: Toddlers should never get screen time (Score:5, Interesting)
I know anecdote /= data, but growing up I always had a tv on at least in the background, and still do. Never had any issues learning, and I would actually get in trouble in elementary school because I would be reading a novel (adult-targeted ones like Michael Crichton) hidden behind my textbook in class because I had already read through the whole textbook. Hell, I still enjoy learning to this day. I remember one class in college I was looking at a citation in one of my political science textbooks and realized they were citing one of my favorite authors, so a lot of the books I consider light pleasure reading are textbook-level works.
Some kids can handle tv, screen time, etc, and some can't. You just have to know your kid.
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Sounds like a fantastic way to raise a crippled luddite of an adult who lacks the most basic skills to function in modern society and will never be able to find meaningful employment. This is how you get those people who are shocked, frightened, and take ten minutes to read a single "Click OK to continue" box whenever it pops up.
Tell me, do you limit "paper time" as well?
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A set time? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why some set age?
Is this going to be one of those meaningless empty noise debates like "what age should a child sleep alone" or switching to solid food or something?
There's no month or something. There's no solid 'better'.
There's norms, and shifting norms, with nebulous justifications.
But everyone's there own story.
The only practical concern is when you expect they'll be socially held back for being kept from online junk.
And even in that case, it's still up to you and them.
There is no set answer that isn't just pontificating.
I'm not just saying "it's complicated" - I'm saying that this a bullshit thing to try and apply an answer to. This is more culture than really about needs - and it isn't healthy to force some global answer onto the future of culture like that.
Ryan Fenton
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Why some set age?
Exactly! Children should get screen time before conception.
Just tune in your smartphone to the YouTube Pre-Fetus channel, and place it face down on the stomach over the ovaries.
It works kinda sorta like talking to plants, sweating in Indian tents and healing with New Age crystals.
The eggs will absorb the screen time aura, so the conceived fetus will be prepared to move on to the YouTube Fetus channel.
Re:A set time? (Score:4, Informative)
I know of a least one mother-to-be who had a TV in the womb by a mother who installed a 4 inch screen in her body while pregnant, and this girl was talking in the womb and even learning how to Skype important people in her community. I even offered her a future job before birth... this kid had connections and talent from the start.
Maddie, I hope your practice sessions for your future radio show keep going well.
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It also very much depends on what the child is doing with the screen. I've told the story of how I got my start in software at age 3 before, and I'd like kids today to have that kind of opportunity.
A better question for your pediatrician (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:A better question for your pediatrician (Score:4, Interesting)
I suggest the neurological development questions be referred to the medical professionals. We all want our kids to be proficient with technology but there is plenty of time for that. Donâ(TM)t rush things because once the cat is out of the bag it never is going back in.
Yeah... problem is, pediatrician are among the worst I've met to update themselves to the latest science research. They way to often believe their guts, experience and 'old wives tales'.
More than once I had to correct them that carrot doesn't improve vision, you don't have to wait 30min after eating to swim or that reading in the dark create myopia. One time three grouped together to challenge me and I had to threaten to report them to their professional order.
So, no, especially for something new like toddler screen time I won't go to a pediatrician. But I'll ask their order and read pediatric papers on the matter.
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Why are you getting in to fights like paediatricians?
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Why are you getting in to fights like paediatricians?
If you're unwilling to stand up for yourself, or those under your care in the face of bad advice. You're in for being screwed over by every person who has an agenda.
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Doctors in the US in general are poorly educated. Most of them don't even believe that mold is a serious health risk, despite warnings from the CDC and the Mayo Clinic. Womp womp.
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Clearly, you've polled them and found this, right? No, you're the uneducated, lying one here.
ok coward
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"More than once I had to correct them that carrot doesn't improve vision, you don't have to wait 30min after eating to swim or that reading in the dark create myopia."
Now you're just making shit up. Other than getting enough vitamin A, no pediatrician will tell you that carrots improve vision. And anyone who believed the swimming bullshit is still living in the 1960s. You're either lying or you've literally found the worst pediatrician you possibly could.
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Both my sons got my blood, which is incompatible with the mother. She developed antibodies after the first so for the second one, the jaundice risk was elevated (they called it coombs or something). We had to take several trips to the pediatric that lasted from 2 to 4 day each. Needless to say I had a lot of exchanges with pediatrician during that time and we also received pressure from nurse to continue breastfeeding because of some hospital recognition or something. Seriously WTF with that?
Now, what's you
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bahahahhaa medical "professionals"
a big collection of narcissistic jackasses who worship sloppy thinking
this is the profession that can't even agree on what we're supposed to eat three times a day
You want a real answer? (Score:3)
When they have a relevant task for a computer. 14-15 or so.
But of course it's so obvious that I assume they are looking for something else.
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Either 14-15 is in months or that's a really old toddler.
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14-15 YEARS, of course
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I was using a Apple II at school at age 5... the main problem was we couldn't type well because our hands were too small for the keyboard. We had offers for custom keyboards, but our hands were growing too big for them too quickly.
That was the main point of COPPA/COPA, kids couldn't use keyboards. Too bad they also banned the WWW and e-mail. (I used to hand write forms to e-mail Dan Rather and other CBS people when I was 7.)
Parents who type for their kids are cool. We need some of those teams here on Slashd
Re: You want a real answer? (Score:2)
Now,now, I'm quite sure the /. editors are young; just not that young.
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14-15 YEARS, of course
And really, if you look at the quality of discourse online nowadays, it should probably be about 30-35.
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Man, I mentor a group of 10 year olds that are training neural networks to classify accelerometer data and programming robot control systems. 14-15 seems a little late :P
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I was programming "totally awesome" Hypercard programs/videos when I was 12ish.
When they're literate (Score:5, Insightful)
Can the kid read? Are they interested in anything on the device besides games or videos? It doesn't sound like we should talk about an age so much as developmental milestone.
Of course I know adults who don't have interests aside from games or videos. Maybe they don't deserve screens either.
The proper age (Score:2)
Learning to read from a book, how to spell, communicating face to face, how to use a card catalog are important. My first computer class was data processing in 1970 in high school. I am not afraid of co
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Oddly, my ability to spell went up dramatically when I started to program computers.
Re: The proper age (Score:2)
went up dramatically
The only thing that went up dramatically was your dependency on computers to spell for you.
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Nah, computers can be dicks about spelling if you're programming, and there's an attention to detail that's cultivated.
Re:The proper age (Score:4)
how to use a card catalog
Uhm, they've all been replaced by computers...
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18 or 19 years of age. This will ensure that the person can function in society without it
I disagree. I imagine that your proposal will ensure that the candidate's skill set is unattractive to prospective employers.
My first computer class was data processing in 1970 in high school.
In the past half decade, employers have come to expect more computer familiarity from day one.
CORRECTION (Score:2)
I apologize for having missed this in preview: "In the past half century" or "In the past two generations".
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Re: The proper age (Score:2)
employers have come to expect more
I said first, not first and only. A 3.87 gpa and on the Deans list in web site design as well as self taught database management, ladder logic ( both hard wire and plc ), PLC programming and troubleshooting have also been added to my resume. Dose that make the cutoff for more expectations?
You're asking the wrong question (Score:2)
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compared to what? getting it from the "profession" that gets it wrong so regularly the government keeps statistics on it?
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If you're doing something scientific or technical and not keeping statistics (metrics), then you're a moron.
God, shut up. (Score:3)
If the words "screen time" ever come out of your mouth, you're probably going to be a horrible parent no matter what. There is such a wide variety of things you can do with a "screen" that all of this is clearly hand-wringing by people who expect (admittedly, they're usually right) that parents will not pay enough attention to what is on the screen and will not pay attention to how their child relates to things that don't have a screen.
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All the doorways in my house when I was growing up more than half-a-century ago had screen doors. I recall "screen time" from as soon as I was able to crawl.
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Back when I was a kid, we used to call those 'Fly doors. since thwy were supposed to keep out flies and other insects.
Now that I have moved to a different climate, I notice the screen doors have sliding glass panels on the inside so they can be useful during the season without insects.
This. I would never - until I did (Score:5, Insightful)
I would NEVER hand an iPad to a toddler, or any kind of mine under the age of seven or so.
Then a situation happened where I had no choice about childcare - I had to take my two-year-old to a certain daycare, at least for a day or two until I found a different one in the new city. As it turned out, at this home daycare they used some apps on iPads for little while each day. Of course the iPads were in big foam cases. Well my daughter enjoyed the apps and learned a lot.
Fast-forward three years. When she comes home from kindergarten, sometimes she likes to go on the school district web site and do second grade math. It's a fun math game.
She gets plenty of socializing and we have family time built in to the schedule so it doesn't get over-looked. If my kindergartner ALSO wants to hop on the computer or phone and do some second grade math games, I don't see a problem with that.
She went through a phase of wanting to watch videos about the planets and especially the minor planets, the Keiper belt objects. Now when we walk outside at night she'll point and say "look daddy, there's Jupiter". That's okay with me if she knows more about astronomy than most Slashdotters do (she's knows some things I about space that I don't).
There are a LOT of things one can do on a computer. There are actually more web pages on than there are people. Not every web page is the same. Not every app is the same. Whenever she decides she wants to watch Schoolhouse Rock "How a Bill Becomes a Law", I'll probably let her.
Funny thing happened tonight (Score:3)
On a tangent from that, she did something funny tonight. It was time to choose story books for bed time. She told me she was going to get a big one, so we'd read only part of it tonight. Okay, maybe she's getting the long Curious George story, thought.
She walks in with her mom's college Anatomy and Physiology book. :) Kindergartener wanted to read mommy's school book. Okay, what part of the body do you want to learn about? Heart, bones, muscles? She says she wants to know about the "having a baby" pa
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Khan Academy Kids on iOS is great for 3-5 year olds... we use it to fill time that would otherwise be empty-- long flights, monotonous bits of long car rides, times when brothers are getting haircuts, etc.
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Thanks for mentioning that. We happen to have a long car ride coming up on Tuesday. Also, she may be skipping first grade, which would in-part mean we'd zip through first grade over the summer during car rides and such.
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If it's her first time with something like that in the car, be sure to check in with her about 10 minutes in - reading or using a hand-held device screen in the car sure makes me nauseous. If it's the same for her, you don't want to find out the hard way. Just saying.
More important to get them reading (Score:4, Insightful)
4 months (Score:2)
Basically once they are inquisitive about the world. Teaching kids to hunt, playing with tools and weapons has been a human thing for hundreds of thousands of years.
We already had this discussion like last week about the shocking revelation that neolithical people let their kids play with weapons.
Besides do you want your kids to be so culturally out of touch that they are crazy awkward???
Do it with them. (Score:3)
Why screens? (Score:2)
Why do people think screens are some kind of magic? At what age should your toddler be allowed to read the newspaper? Look at trashy magazines?
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My first reading material that I can remember was the TV Guide primetime grids...
eyesight (Score:2)
There are significant trends in kids wearing corrective glasses and phone/tanlet time spent. All that close reading, and bright light is more addicting than a book at that age.
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There's a significant correlation between kids who read a lot and wear glasses too.
So do kids find reading on a tablet more compelling than a book? Is that a bad thing? Or do you mean that kids like doing things *other* than reading on a tablet?
Do you think maybe a more useful concept than "screen time" might be something related to the actual activity?
Toddlers? (Score:3)
Never.
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I remember some toddlers who were in my local preschool who started to work on TV... they were delivering political speeches that got the attention of the sitting PotUS and even did a preschool version of a broadcast of a Sox/Yankees game. (There was a girl who had the same last name as the Yankees owner!)
Basically, they kept their toddler size longer than most kids do...
No kindle. App recommendations (Score:4, Interesting)
I bought some Kindle Fire tablets for my three kids. What a nightmare. After 6mo I threw my two Kindle Fires in the trash and bought refurbished iPads.
I was chatting with a professor at University of Washington who researchers screen time in toddlers and young children. She has two young kids of her own. Some of her research had been on things like Youtube's "suggest next video" feature and what effect it had on kids' viewing. The surprising result was, when you average things out, the number of hours spent watching videos was roughly equal on the "device is locked after video has finished" model as it was on the "youtube simply doesn't suggest a next video". I guess this takes into account real-world family situations like kids whining for just one show, kids losing interest, and so on. When youtube did suggest the next video then watching-time was noticeably higher.
This researcher, for her own kids, was negative about many of the "free" (ad-supported) offerings. She said she found higher quality apps when she paid for them. I guess it's obvious. But we parents just have to go in expecting to pay for each of our kid's apps, rather than wasting hours trawling through the free or ad-supported trash.
Her two particular recommendations were the "Sego World" ("Sego Mini"?) series and the Toca Boca series. I got them for my kids. I'm impressed with these apps. They bring out creative interactions in my kids.
That is the wrong question. (Score:2)
It would be more useful to ask:
At what age would you like your child to learn to read?
At what age would you like your child to learn to draw?
At what age would you like your child to learn to make music?
At what age would you like your child to learn to think?
At what age would you like your child to learn...?
The screen is just a tool. One of many. Use as many tools as you can. Don't deprive your child of any, if you can.
Your child can now access more books than you can store in your house. Take advantage
Re: That is the wrong question. (Score:2)
Only Lazy Parents Ask This Question (Score:1)
Re: At What Age Should Toddlers Get Screen Time? (Score:2)
21.
After they leave home! (Score:1)
Let em be kids (Score:1)
It was easier when my daughter was a toddler (Score:2)
Back in the 90s it was pretty easy to keep tabs on what she was doing. All of her computer games ran on our computer locally and did not use the network. The computer was in our dining room, so it was easy to occasionally peek over and see what she was doing. She used email occasionally - mainly to say hi to grandma.
Back then, anyway, I didn't see anything wrong with her being on the computer at age 3 or 4. A lot of the time she wanted me with her so I could help her with her games when things started movin
They keep you doped (Score:2)
They keep you doped with religion and sex and TV.
TV isn't inherently bad, but make sure they are getting something out of it rather than being doped by it.
When they can read (Score:2)
For my son (5) he has a pile of lego and a pile of books.
He gets to build his first computer (computer, not tablet) when he can properly read and type.
Funnily enough, without the hypnotizing child-minder he is more interested in working on mechanical things, building things with his hands, being sociable playing sports and burning off his energy outside.
There is no ... (Score:3)
... right age.
It's all about whether you think he is getting anything out of it. For instance if your kid is a nerd like many at slashdot, if he's reading wikipedia, or doing creative things, then screen time really isn't hurting. It's always about moderation and what is going on. There is no "right age" for anything, you can't raise kids in fear of making mistakes, the biggest mistakes parents make is mistreating their kids and not loving them IMHO. Most social problems stem from people having kids who aren't responsible enough, loving enough to have them.
Large parts of why our world is so broken is that there are too many irresponsible adults having kids when they shouldn't be. The reality is the expectations of society are bullshit, I wouldn't care of my son was poor bus driver if he was geninely happy and good person. I'll take a mature poor responsible person over any careerist Type-A bullshit, "getting ahead" is nonsense if you're doing it through corruption, destroying the environment and fucking over everyone else. We got too many money grubbing "competitive hotheads" causing massive problems on our planet.
The thing I've learned as I've got older is 99% of what the world values is bullshit, the value of doing nothing and being minimalist bum, not consuming the planets resources like it's going out of style is actually more valuable. You start to understand how fucked up the world is when you think of needing to preserve the planet for future generations, much of what we do is 90% bullshit. Freeing yourself from the rat-race consumer culture bullshit is the best thing you can do.
I think around 3 but tightly controlled (Score:4, Insightful)
It is not binary, that either they have it or they don't. You can transition your kids into it very gradually in a way that makes it useful for both you and your kids. We got an iPad for our son at age 3, heavily locked down with parental controls so he could do nothing except the very few apps we had put there, which were specifically picked to be age-adequate, be somewhat low-key and teach him something useful - whether it be names of things, numbers or motor control. The device is PIN locked and only us parents have the means to unlock it.
The device has been great. Our son has actually learned quite a bit from it, including the fact of life that he only gets to use it a little - and accepting and coping with that. As parents we can steer the limited screen time to the time that suits us as a family - very useful for that one day of week after kindergarten when your kid is bursting with energy and you have exactly none left in your body but still have to make dinner. He has learned quite a bit from various apps; at currently 5 1/2 it has contributed quite a bit to some early reading and writing skills, and there are e.g. logical puzzle games which have taught him bit of simple programming. Though not everything has to be designed to teach him something; pressing something which makes fart noises is always good fun. He has access to some child adequate streaming services, but much of the time he chooses programs which teach him something useful like stuff about animals or the human body, so that has been a good thing. Plus being able to watch a bit of e.g. paw patrol means he is not completely out of touch with what the other kids in kindergarten are talking about - I know peer pressure should not be a deciding factor whether to give kids these gadgets, but social learning _is_ one of the primary functions of kindergarten, and that means you have to be at some level in the same "space" as the other kids.
TLDR; screen time ok for toddlers in limited amounts and heavily controlled, adapt and relax restrictions gradually as the child grows, when used right screen time can be a good thing for the kids as well as the rest of the family.
It's not about the toddler (Score:2)
Screen time (Score:1)
To me it is not age as how much time the parents use with the child. If you swap parent time with screen time, you should be very careful especially in the younger
AI interaction teaches what? (Score:2)
There's plenty of evidence to show that kids learn from the world around them. We should introduce them to this app as early as possible. Maybe when they are 18 they can on your behalf call your ISP, talk to the computer on the other hand and actually manage to cancel your Verizon.
No earlyer than nine. (Score:2)
And at nine it should be strongly regulated. Education, maybe a Video game. My daughter got her Nintendo DS lite around that age. She did play good measure of animal crossing with her friends. That game was a sort of miniature portable Wow for primeschoolers and had a harmless theme. I also got her GTA Chinetown, a surprisingly good game on the DS. She enjoyed crashing the police cars :-).
Please note that while all that happend, I did go tree climbing with gear in the summer, that I taught her to ride bike
No screen time for toddlers! (Score:3)
Screentime Protocol
No TV or screens of any kind before 2 years old.
After 2 years old, very limited TV time (PBS kids, educational cartoons)
As they get older, introduce screen time around middle school with supports of learning to type, digital citizenship, online privacy education.
No unlimited access to cell phones until high school.
Failure to follow this protocol will lead to to a screen zombie.
I have researched and followed kids for 10 years now. Research shows that babies and toddlers who watch movies to keep them pacified becomes addicted to screens. As the kids age older, they tend to become sedentary, overweight, and become heavy screentime users.
Additionally, the introduction of screens very early in human development tends to have a negative impact on creativity, intelligence, imagination, and school performance in children. The screen effect has a dulling effect on the young child.
Both: Immediately and Never (Score:3)
Sesame street is garbage these days, I'd be reluctant to let a 4 y/o watch it, just a ton of high pitched puppets running around screaming. Not exactly the behavior I want modeling for a child. I looked into paw patrol - even worse....
On the other hand, giving your child access to things (including video) you are already teaching them with a very high signal to noise ratio should start as soon as you bring them home.
My 54-week old son already knows the phonetic and regular alphabet in Spanish and English because of super-simple songs method of teaching it and my constant reading to him (1-2 hrs a day of reading). He still doesn't have the dexterity to say 's' and 'l' and "double" in 'w' but has the rest down solid.
Due to the issue of accidentally placed fingers causing the app to exit, I've resorted to a pen-based etch-a-sketch like device to teach drawing letters, even though I think the apps could potentially do a better job.
Problem is, nobody knows. (Score:2)
We need to talk about the dangers of paper time (Score:2)
Paper has brought us everything from the salem witch hunts to communist mass murder and nazi genocide. Paper time is clearly dangerous and unhealthy for children. I for one won't be allowing my children ANY paper time until they're at least old enough to drive, and only then with my supervision.
Age 40 (Score:2)
Would you say that the typical teenager is good at managing their screen time? How about 20-somethings, or 30, or any age?
Screen time is inescapable. What we have to do is 1) learn to set boundaries for ourselves, and 2) set reasonable boundaries for our children.
Answer (Score:1)
Read a book (Score:2)
It depends (Score:1)
TV shows designed to do nothing more than sell toys to toddlers (I'm thinking of a canine-based show here,) should be avoided. Educational shows that don't market any toys (they exist) are not a problem.
Likewise, programs that allow children to (virtually) draw and paint are just mod
What kind of screen? (Score:1)
It's an unhelpful question (Score:2)
"Screen time" has been used in the media to conflate a wide range of activities that involve screens. But what do most parents really want to know? At present, the evidence is:
Can computers help my young child to develop useful skills? - No.
Can using computers be harmful for young children? - AFAIK, there's some weak evidence linking use of touch screens with sleep disorders. We have too little useful research on how computers may be harmful to young children.
Can computers help primary school children perfo
Why Do Toddlers need Screentime? (Score:2)
Toddlers? Sorry, but never.
My experience with tech savvy dad (Score:1)
Looking back at my experience being sat in front of a TI-99 at the age of 3, well a big part of being in front of the computer was text. It motivated me to learn reading much faster than if I did not have a computer in front of me because I ha