​Screen time – How Much Should Kids Have?

Obviously these recommendations are great if we lived in a perfect world, where kids didn’t scream in the supermarket aisles, didn’t fuss when you’re in the line at the post office and didn’t throw tantrums when you were trying to have a conversation. The reality is, being a mum or dad can be tough and sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to get through challenging situations. I guess what we can take from this is the WHO suggests we don’t make a habit of excessive screen time.

For older kids who need to use devices for homework and study, helping them practice good screen time habits is important. Good Vision For Life has a number of tips to help minimise negative effects of screen time. A big one that is easy for kids and teens to remember is practising the 20/20/20 rule. Every 20 minutes focus your eyes on something at least 20 feet (6 metres) away for at least 20 seconds. I try really hard to do this myself each day as I spend a considerable amount of time working on my laptop.

Limiting time is not the only thing we can do to help our children's vision

There are other studies that suggest screen time can impact kids’ sleep and mental and emotional well-being (for various reasons). Interestingly, Dane was spending 1-2 hours on a computer and/or iPad and was having terrible trouble sleeping. He would be restless and wakeful all through the night. So we gave him a week long small screen ban (he was still allowed to watch TV but that was about 1-2 hours a week) and the change in his sleep was significant. He was a different kid. The ban will continue!

Of course, limiting time is not the only thing we can do to help our children’s vision when it comes to devices.

An important component of the WHO guidelines were the recommendations of getting kids outside for physical activity. This is backed up by QUT’s School of Optometry and Vision Science which found that kids should spend at least two hours outside every day to help prevent myopia (short sightedness) from developing and progressing. As I’ve written about before, myopia is a growing problem worldwide as our lives change and more time is spent indoors. A recent study showed that, 36% of our population is predicted to be myopic (short sighted) by 2020 and by 2050 that number is set to increase to 55%.

Devices are here to stay

Devices are here to stay so learning to manage their use to ensure we still look after our kids’ eyes and vision will be key. And undoubtedly the most important thing is get our kids’ eyes checked regularly – in Australia this can be done yearly (for those kids who don’t already have other conditions that require more frequent care).

I’m off to watch Netflix on my phone now.