A psychiatrist and father of 7 shares his advice on screen time

Published: October 28, 2024

A psychiatrist and father of 7 shares his advice on screen time

By a Movieguide® contributor

Psychiatrist Dr. Richard Wadsworth knows all too well the negative effects of screen time. For this reason, this father of seven has limits for his children and encourages other parents to do the same.

“I restrict and moderate my children’s access to social media and the internet because, based on my experiences with patients as a psychiatrist as well as research articles, I am convinced that there is a correlation and causal relationship between the amount of time a child spends on the internet or social media and an increase in depression and anxiety,” he said. said.

To create security boundaries, he keeps laptops in a closet and only allows access to them when necessary. He also bans smartphones and only allows his children to have phones with calling and texting capabilities.

Wadsworth explained that during the COVID-19 pandemic, he let his children watch YouTube. During this time, he noticed that his children were spending more time watching videos than playing outside. Realizing it was a problem, he got them outside and away from their screens.

Unfortunately, screens are omnipresent among children today.

“As my children grew up, their friends all got cell phones. If you go to any public place with schools, you see that all the kids are looking at their phones all the time,” he said.

A Consumer Report revealed that “on average, children receive their first phone at the age of 11.6”.

“In the United States, 95% of adolescents aged 13 to 17 report having access to a smartphone…[and] “97% of older adolescents (15-17 years old) are more likely to own a smartphone than their younger counterparts,” according to the study. added.

Although resistant at first, Wadsworth’s children now appreciate the limits their parents set for them.

“Overall, my kids are pretty proud of the fact that they don’t spend a lot of time on social media,” Wadsworth said. “I feel like because they’re not on a lot of platforms, they’re spending more time playing outside and reading books and doing all sorts of things that are healthier for them.”

The dangers of children spending too much time in front of a screen are well documented.

Last month, JAMA Paediatrics conducted a study and linked toddlers’ screen time to atypical sensory processing. They found that too much screen time could create sensory processing problems.

“Sensory processing involves the integration of information received by the body’s sensory systems…to perceive and understand the world around the individual,” said Dr. Karen Heffler and David Bennett, two of the authors of the JAMA study.

READ MORE: IS IT REALLY THAT BAD IF CHILDREN CAN BE SCREENED?

The Mayo Clinic advises Six Tips to Break Your Child’s Screen Time Habits:

1. Be responsible.
2. Be realistic.
3. Be engaged.
4. Put away portable devices.
5. Create phone-free zones in the house.
6. To go out.

As parents, our role is to promote healthy relationships with technology for our children. Following Wadsworth’s lead and getting the kids outside might be a good first step.