The Big Question: How Much Screen Time is Too Much?

Screen time feels like a challenging issue to navigate as a parent or caregiver. In my parenting experience, it rapidly becomes something that children grow accustomed to and request; but something that parents feel uneasy about allowing ‘too much’ of.

The question of ‘how much is too much?’ and ‘how much is OK?’ is ever present in the context of screen time and children, and it’s not hard to find frightening and scary statistics about screen time for children in the press.

I’d like to make a couple of distinctions. I am not talking about children here over the age of about 5 or 6 years old; I’m sure as children age peer pressure becomes more of a factor and I’m not ready to navigate that yet. I’m also not talking about social media. Again, I think that’s a different beast and not really relevant to this much younger age group.

So how much is too much?

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has recognised that there isn’t strong evidence linking screen time and negative impacts on child development. And a more recent meta analysis of over 100 studies (that amounted to approximately 1.9 million children) supported this.

In fact, the meta analysis found that watching TV with your children can have a positive impact on their literacy skills.

I’ve recently discovered a Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) assessment framework aimed at supporting Speech & Language Therapists (SLTs) to identify children under five who might have DLD. One of the risk factors to help SLTs identify children who may have longer term language difficulties was not how long children spent watching TV but if they watched TV alone.

Perhaps all screen time isn’t equal - and it’s not just time spent, but how your child engages in screens that needs to be considered.

Sitting with your child, talking about what you can see, what’s happening in the story, and checking in with how they perceive what’s happening is a different situation to a child watching TV alone with no opportunity for language to be repeated, new vocabulary explained and thoughts and emotions explored together.

I do not want to imply that therefore we should sit and watch TV with our children all day (though sometimes it feels like this is all I can manage!). Let’s not forget what we’ve known for a long time - children learn through play, through exploring new materials and environments, from opportunities to interact with their peers and from the time they spend with responsive, caring adults who love them (that’s you!).

Clearly, all day, everyday in front of a screen is going to take children away from these play opportunities and is unlikely to aid their development, no matter how little of that time with a screen is spent alone.

So while I don’t think there needs to be a call from screen time bans and time limits on a day to day basis, with my own children this is how I approach screen time:

• We usually watch no more than 30-45 minutes a day, and I try to sit with them as much as possible to talk about what’s happening. If I can’t sit with them, I’m often nearby, interjecting and being aware of what’s happening.

• Recognise that every day is different. Some days we watch a bit more, some days a lot less; it all evens out in the end.

• A bit of TV time is often a saving grace for me; allowing me a little time when I am required a bit less. There are definitely times when I might be sat nearby, but I’m on my phone or reading my book and just having a few minutes to myself.

• I’m mindful that young children learn much more from doing than watching.

• I’ve noticed that particularly for my five year old, if they watch a lot more TV then they can become quite grumpy - there is such a thing as too much for them.

• I try to keep off my phone as much as possible when I’m with my children - I don’t want them to have to fight for my attention and it doesn’t feel good when I check my notifications every 5 minutes.

I’ve alluded to the fact that sometimes I use the TV for my own purposes. If I’m honest, I think this is the number one reason why a parent might use the TV or a screen - to have a bit of a breather. In my view, I am a better parent when I’ve had the chance to have a few minutes to myself; and am able to play, interact, join in and develop language and communication skills far better for that 5 minute break than I am without it.

So, in conclusion, there is no sweet spot of acceptable vs too much amounts of screen time but it is useful to consider how you engage in screen time as a family.