Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #253 Screen Time Stresses

Transcript

#253 Screen Time Stresses · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

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  Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the
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  Speaker 1: time poor parent who just wants answers.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 3: The more time toddlers and preschoolers spend on smartphones and iPads,
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  Speaker 3: the greater the risk of negative impacts on their social, emotional,
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  Speaker 3: and cognitive development.
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  Speaker 1: And now here's the stars of our show, my mum
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  Speaker 1: and dad.
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  Speaker 3: Oh my goodness. Just lately the children and their screens.
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  Speaker 3: I know that where I'm the parenting expert and we're
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  Speaker 3: supposed to get this perfectly right all the time, But
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  Speaker 3: just lately, I actually had a moment last night where
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  Speaker 3: I stormed into the room and said, that's it. I've
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  Speaker 3: had enough, and I took the screens, I took the iPad,
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  Speaker 3: I took the phone. I said, you're never having them again.
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  Speaker 3: We're just we're done with screens for the rest of
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  Speaker 3: the school term, at which point the kids started saying, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: but we need them for homework. We're need them for homework,
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  Speaker 3: and that kind of meant that I had to backtrack
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  Speaker 3: a little bit and figure out another solution. By the way,
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  Speaker 3: I should introduce this, I'm Justin Coilson. I'm the founder
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  Speaker 3: of Happy Families dot com, dot you, and I'm a
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  Speaker 3: little bit stressed about screen time here with my wife, Kylie,
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  Speaker 3: mom to our six daughters. Is it bothering you as
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  Speaker 3: much as bothering me?
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  Speaker 4: I think the challenge is number one, we have five
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  Speaker 4: children still living at home and we have multiple devices.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, the number of devices is out of control.
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  Speaker 4: And it's really really hard at times to kind of
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  Speaker 4: just keep check of it all.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think that we're doing it wrong though, either,
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  Speaker 3: Like we've been really clear, you don't have a phone
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  Speaker 3: till you can pay for it yourself. Then the iPads
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  Speaker 3: their school requirements.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, wouldn't you just love it if schools took that back.
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  Speaker 3: I think they should. I reckon, especially with kids in
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  Speaker 3: primary school. If the primary school wants my kids to
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  Speaker 3: have a device, it stays at school, stop sending at
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  Speaker 3: home because it creates so much drama. And then there's
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  Speaker 3: the then the kids that We've got a couple of
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  Speaker 3: kids that have to have laptops for school as well.
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  Speaker 3: So and then there's your computer, my computer. We've both
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  Speaker 3: got our phones, Like, seriously, so many phones, so many screens.
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  Speaker 3: It's unbelievable.
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  Speaker 4: Well, speaking about screens, I could not believe the headlines
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  Speaker 4: that I've just recently read an eight year old Fortnight player.
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  Speaker 3: Say eight or eighteen?
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  Speaker 4: Eight?
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  Speaker 3: Eight year old Fortnite.
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  Speaker 4: Isn't Fortnite like M fifteen plus?
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  Speaker 3: No, no, no, But it's thirteen plus. It's a game that's
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  Speaker 3: on phones and you're not supposed to have it to
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  Speaker 3: at least thirteen plus. It's got a lot of violent
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  Speaker 3: first person shooter sort of stuff.
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  Speaker 4: So he was given thirty three thousand dollars and a
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  Speaker 4: five thousand dollar PC for turning pro. Wow, as an
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  Speaker 4: eight year.
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  Speaker 3: Old thirty three grand I wouldn't mind that gig Wow.
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  Speaker 3: How old was he when he started playing?
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  Speaker 4: Four years old?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: So, I mean, I've got to say that that sounds
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  Speaker 3: really cool if you love Fortnite and you wish that
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  Speaker 3: you were that good. But I think the parents have
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  Speaker 3: got an obligation to look after their kids. And giving
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  Speaker 3: a four year old a computer and saying here, play
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  Speaker 3: Fortnite and getting him four years of practice so he
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  Speaker 3: turns pro at Fortnite when he's eight, I'm.
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  Speaker 4: Going to suggest that it was never their intention that
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  Speaker 4: he would turn pro. But my understanding also, when you
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  Speaker 4: think about the amount of hours that goes into becoming
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  Speaker 4: pro at anything, Yeah, would suggest that his daily green
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  Speaker 4: time would be through the roof.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. So Fortnite is a game that's not meant to
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  Speaker 3: be played by people younger than teens, although we've heard
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  Speaker 3: stories of Fortnite parties with eight nine year olds ongoingly.
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  Speaker 3: But these age ratings are not really deterrent to kids,
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  Speaker 3: and obviously this kid's parents don't mind so much. I
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  Speaker 3: want to highlight some research that I came across in
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  Speaker 3: the last couple of weeks. This is a brand new
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  Speaker 3: research that's just come out of an Australian university, out
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  Speaker 3: of Deacon University. It came out in just at the
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  Speaker 3: start of the month in early April, and what these
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  Speaker 3: researchers found was that young children who spend large amounts
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  Speaker 3: of time on mobile screens are more likely to have
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  Speaker 3: problems sleeping and managing their emotions and behavior. Now, we
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  Speaker 3: don't know anything about this professional Fortnite eight year old
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  Speaker 3: and his sleep habits or his behavior habits, but the
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  Speaker 3: data is telling us a really interesting story. So I'm
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  Speaker 3: pretty big on saying let's relax about screens, let's stop
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  Speaker 3: getting stressed out about them. But I don't feel like
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  Speaker 3: that when it comes to our little kids get so
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  Speaker 3: many inquiries, so many emails, podcasts at happy families dot
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  Speaker 3: com dot so many emails from people who are saying,
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  Speaker 3: how do I get the kids off the screens? Is
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  Speaker 3: screen time? Okay? What are we doing with children staring
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  Speaker 3: at all these screens. There's a PhD researcher who is
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  Speaker 3: behind this research at Deacon Uni, Samudu Malawachi and doctor
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  Speaker 3: Sharon Hallwood from the School of Psychology at Deacon and
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  Speaker 3: they found this and I quote, the more time toddlers
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  Speaker 3: and preschoolers spend on smartphones and iPads, the greater the
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  Speaker 3: risk of negative impacts on their social, emotional, and cognitive
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  Speaker 3: development and sleep quality and quantity.
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  Speaker 4: We talked about this last week in our episode from
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  Speaker 4: the Doctor's Desk, and the research that had been found
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  Speaker 4: that children who have too much screen time are less
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  Speaker 4: likely to be school ready.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, that's right. We were talking about getting kids up
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  Speaker 3: to scratch and they're falling behind there. So this is
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  Speaker 3: a different study again, but it just adds to this
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  Speaker 3: ongoing evidence. I mean, it's a really provocative topic, it's
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  Speaker 3: really controversial, and as children get older, I think that
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  Speaker 3: we can justifiably say the research is not as compelling.
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  Speaker 3: But when we're talking about little kids, kids under the
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  Speaker 3: age of five, there is so many developmental factors that
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  Speaker 3: are impacted by the use of screens during early childhood
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  Speaker 3: that I just don't think that we can let them
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  Speaker 3: do it. I think that just looking at this research
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  Speaker 3: and finding what it tells us, doctor Hall would said,
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  Speaker 3: we know that at least half of all toddlers and
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  Speaker 3: preschools who use mobile screens use them on their own,
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  Speaker 3: so they're not learning how to manage them. There's no
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  Speaker 3: limits necessarily on how those kids are using their screens,
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  Speaker 3: and the negative findings are really worrying. Given the wide
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  Speaker 3: use of the so called educational apps that are available
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  Speaker 3: and that are supposedly considered beneficial for young children, they're not.
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  Speaker 3: There's so little research out there that would support that idea.
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  Speaker 3: But until we've got better understanding of the impacts, I
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  Speaker 3: think parents have got to err on the side of
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  Speaker 3: caution when it comes to early childhood screen use, especially
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  Speaker 3: given how much brain development is occurring with our little people.
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  Speaker 3: It's a really big issue. Let's talk about my three
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  Speaker 3: c's of screen use right after the break.
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  Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast.
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  Speaker 2: Are screens creating tension at home. Tweens, teens and Screens
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  Speaker 2: is a webinar to guide families to healthy, safe superscreen solutions.
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  Speaker 2: Bye Today at happyfamilies dot com dot au slash.
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  Speaker 4: Shop, it's the Happy Families podcast, the podcast for a
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  Speaker 4: time poor parent who just wants answers now, and today
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  Speaker 4: we are tackling the topic of screen time.
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  Speaker 3: There is increasing evidence that children under the age of five,
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  Speaker 3: especially while there's so much neurological development occurring, should have
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  Speaker 3: screen time minimized, and brand new research out of Deacon
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  Speaker 3: University really points strongly in that direction, particularly in the
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  Speaker 3: context of this conversation we're having about this eight year
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  Speaker 3: old Fortnite player from California who is given like thirty
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  Speaker 3: grand and a five thousand dollars PCAs pro he'd been
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  Speaker 3: playing Fortnite from the age of four, four years of practice,
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  Speaker 3: and he's a professional Fortnite player.
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  Speaker 4: You suggested before the break that you had three seeds.
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  Speaker 4: You teased us a little bit. You said there were
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  Speaker 4: three cs that we could use for effective screen use.
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  Speaker 3: Right, And this gets away from the conversation about how
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  Speaker 3: much screen use and instead shifts it towards what kind
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  Speaker 3: of screen use. That's a much more useful way to
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  Speaker 3: look at the way the kids are on screens because
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  Speaker 3: they're part of the fabric of who we are and
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  Speaker 3: what we do now. They're everywhere. So the three c's
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  Speaker 3: are based on our active or passive use of technology.
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  Speaker 3: Active use means that we're creating or we're connecting. The
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  Speaker 3: more we create and the more we connect, the more
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  Speaker 3: it seems that screens actually are quite beneficial in our lives.
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  Speaker 3: They're good for us to help to stay in touch
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  Speaker 3: with others. They're good for us to use our brains,
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  Speaker 3: our creativity. Unfortunately, so much of what happens on screens
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  Speaker 3: is closed rather than open. When you sit down with
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  Speaker 3: Lego or with those magnetic toys, or with a pile
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  Speaker 3: of blocks, your open ended in scope. You can create
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  Speaker 3: whatever you want. When you're playing on a screen, it's
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  Speaker 3: usually really closed. There's only so many things that you
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  Speaker 3: can do in so many different ways. It's a closed
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  Speaker 3: environment rather than a wide open environment that the real
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  Speaker 3: world gives you. And so if we're going to talk
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  Speaker 3: about creativity on screens, we want to make sure that
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  Speaker 3: children genuinely can create. We want to make sure that
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  Speaker 3: they genuinely can connect. There are active forms of screen use.
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  Speaker 3: Our passive forms of screen use are basically built around consumption.
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  Speaker 3: That's where you sit there and your fed stuff. You
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  Speaker 3: can have information given to you, you can watch TV,
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  Speaker 3: you can watch YouTube, you can listen to whatever. And
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  Speaker 3: most of the consumption that happens on screens is passive
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  Speaker 3: and unhealthy for our children. So those are the ways
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  Speaker 3: that screens are used, and we just look at it
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  Speaker 3: as consumption, connection, and creation. They're the three c's, and
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  Speaker 3: they're a much better way of measuring or identifying whether
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  Speaker 3: screens are being used in healthy unhealthy ways, especially important
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  Speaker 3: for our little ones.
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  Speaker 4: So when we talk about screen time, we often talk
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  Speaker 4: about mobile devices and you know, being on the computer,
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  Speaker 4: But what about TV? Where does that fit into the picture?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, amazingly, I just read a study the other day
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  Speaker 3: that highlighted that watching good quality educational children's programming like
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  Speaker 3: Bluie for example, or preschool Play School, Sorry, is going
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  Speaker 3: to be much better for our children in terms of
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  Speaker 3: the way that they're consuming media than holding their handheld
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  Speaker 3: devices and gaming or whizzing through some garbage that's on
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  Speaker 3: the internet. High quality children's programming is going to be
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  Speaker 3: better for them. So I would say stick them in
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  Speaker 3: front of the ABC on television before you before you go,
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  Speaker 3: and give them a screen. It's going to be better
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  Speaker 3: for them.
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  Speaker 4: So the take home message today.
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  Speaker 3: Is consumption, passive screen use bad for kids, regardless of
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  Speaker 3: their age, but particularly for our children under five, and
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  Speaker 3: also for your old don't need to be playing Fortnite
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  Speaker 3: and eight year old's. Honestly, they shouldn't be turning pro
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  Speaker 3: I've got a genuine moral issue with this. I don't
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  Speaker 3: think that it's in any child's best interest that they're
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  Speaker 3: playing Fortnite as a professional at the age of eight.
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  Speaker 3: The content, the stuff that's happening on Fortnite, the language
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  Speaker 3: is being used by the other players, all that sort
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  Speaker 3: of stuff and more tells me that no eight year
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  Speaker 3: old should be doing this. I think that it's really concerning.
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  Speaker 3: So minimize consumption, minimize gaming, and focus on creation and connection.
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  Speaker 3: If screens are going to be used, or watch high
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  Speaker 3: quality children's program on the Telly, keep the screens, the devices,
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  Speaker 3: the laptops of the iPads, the tablets, whatever, out of
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  Speaker 3: kid's hands.
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  Speaker 4: Well that's a great reminder. Let's wrap this up.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, the happy Families podcast is produced by Justin Ruland
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: from Bridge Media, and our executive producer is Craig Bruce.
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  Speaker 3: We've got an upcoming summit that you might like to
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: know about little people, big feelings. All the details at
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: our Facebook page Doctor Justin Colson's Happy Families, and if
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: you'd like more info about making your family happy, such
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: as with our ongoing monthly memberships, you can get all
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: the de taales at happy families dot com dot au
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  Speaker 3: MHM