Screen time is the time spent watching a screen for leisure or work. With the advent of online learning and hybrid learning, screen time has become unavoidable for children. They often spend several hours in a day glued to the screens of their phone, tablet, or laptops. As a result, they suffer from health problems related to excessive screen time.

Health Problems Caused by Too Much Screen Time

Obesity

Much screen time means little exercise. Minimum or no exercise in children often leads to obesity which then causes other health problems.

Sleep Problems

The radiation coming from the screens is bad for the sleep cycle. Children who have too much screen time or who have screen time before bed may have trouble falling asleep or may experience other sleep-related issues.

Behavior Issues

Kids who watch more than 2 hours of the screen in a day often exhibit behavioral issues. They may also suffer from problems with their cognitive abilities.

Posture Issues

Sitting in bad postures for long durations can cause posture issues like pain in the neck, lower back, etc. In fact, children are using their phones, tablets or laptops in weird positions.

Ideal Screen Time Numbers for Children

The American Academy of Pediatrics announced the acceptable screen times are:

1. Children between the age of 2-12: One hour per day.

2. Teens and adults: Two hours per day.

3. Children under the age of 2: No screen time.

It’s hardly possible to follow these numbers. 1-2 hours of screen time is too less if you look at the amount of work we do with our screens. You can still somehow manage to restrict younger kids to 1-2 hours of screen time but it’s impossible with older kids who both learn and socialize online. Reducing screen time with such kids might result in the loss of lessons. So, all you need do is follow some good practices of screen use.  

Restrict Screen Usage to Study

One way of reducing screen time is to restrict screen time to study only. Parents should encourage children to socialize with friends face to face and to find different ways for entertainment other than the screen. This will reduce the screen time by several hours which will, in turn, ease its effect on the mind and body.

Schedule Breaks between the Sessions

According to medical experts, breaks between the sessions can help in mitigating the harmful effects of screen time. If your child is taking online classes or if the schools are online at the moment, schedule breaks between the sessions. A 15-30 min break after every one hour can work wonders. Most schools are trying to follow this pattern, so it’s unnecessary to worry about breaks with school sessions and for others, you can ensure that your child is taking breaks after the continuous sitting of 45 minutes or one hour.

Build an Exercise Routine

Sitting too long is bad for posture and also lead to obesity. This is why it is important to build an exercise routine for children of all age groups. Encourage your children to exercise at least once a day and guide them about some quick exercise routines performed in their session breaks. Suggest: neck exercises, back exercises, and wrist exercises.

Hold Activities like Phone Free Weekends

Make weekends phone-free. Announce a fine for phone usage after a certain time in the day or restrict phone usage a few hours before bedtime. Get creative with your restrictions so that everyone can plan their activities according to the restrictions and nobody gets upset either.

See more: https://www.img-global.com/blog/get-back-to-school-with-confidence-5-ways-to-prep-for-spring-session

Tweak the Screen – Change the Settings

To reduce the bad effects of screen time, you can also make some changes to the devices.

1. Restrict the Glare

The glare coming from the screen is bad for the eyes. You can reduce it with the help of anti-glare screen covers. You can also get anti-glare glasses made for your kid. The power glasses can protect your eyes if they are diligently worn during screen time.

2. Customize the Brightness

Screen brightness puts a lot of stress on eye muscles. You must adjust the brightness according to the room you are sitting in and keep it minimal. Set the screen brightness so that the content of the screen is visible comfortably. If you are sitting in a bright room, reduce the brightness by turning off a few lights or closing the curtains. To improve visibility, change the contrast of the screen rather than the brightness.

3. Keep a Distance

Sitting too close to the screen can harm the eyes. Our eyes have to work hard to focus on things that are kept very close. For best results, the screen should be kept at least 25 inches away from the eyes. Let your children know about this rule so that they can follow it with every device.

Screen time have become an important part of our children’s lives as they enter the educational space. Besides efforts to limit the harmful effects of screen time, we can also experience the state-of-the-art technology and personalized approaches at IMG Learning to study more effectively and safely. We offer courses that directly impact the problems students are facing with a comprehensive interactive approach to optimizing screen time, optimizing results.

See more: The IMG Learning Effective Online Tutoring course