The impact of screen time on children's development

When many of us think back to our childhoods, the school holidays were a time of endless outdoor adventures, playing with friends from sunrise to sunset. 

However, times have changed. Today, the simple joy of outdoor play has been replaced by a growing concern for safety, leaving many parents hesitant to let their children run around freely.

This shift has driven parents to seek alternative ways to keep their children entertained.

While some parents work through the December holidays, others, even when on leave, often feel too drained to engage actively with their kids. 

This has led to a reliance on screens, from televisions to tablets, as a quick and convenient way to occupy children. 

Increasingly, even toddlers are seen glued to devices, which often serve as pacifiers, babysitters, or a way to avoid tantrums.

Although educational apps exist, most children are more drawn to their favourite shows or games, many of which lack developmental benefits.

Because parents are constantly busy, children are left to play on these devices for more time than they should. 

According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, children between the ages of two and five should be limited to about one hour per weekday and three hours on weekends.

If little ones are left alone with these devices parents are not always aware of what the children are actually viewing. 

Children may be exposed to videos of stunts or challenges that may inspire unsafe behaviour, sexual content, negative stereotypes, cyberbullies and predators and misleading or inaccurate information. 

Parents need to try to declare certain times and areas in the home technology-free zones.

These would include mealtime, when they are outdoors, before bed and in their bedrooms.

 According to an article in the National Library of Medicine, excessive screen usage can also lead to problems in social-emotional development, including obesity, sleep disturbances, depression, and anxiety. 

It can impair emotional comprehension and promote aggressive behaviour.

Excessive screen time can hinder their ability to develop their language skills as well.

Kids acquire these skills through interacting with adults but with the increased screen time and parents spending less time with their little ones, this means that they have less opportunity to develop their language abilities. 

Many parents don’t even have the time or energy to read bedtime stories to their children any longer which not only takes away time that they should be spending with their children but also doesn’t allow them to interact with books. 

Since parents would rather put a device in their child’s hand than play with them, means that kids are no longer playing as much as they should. 

While playing just seems like kids having fun, it is in fact important for their development. 

Thandi Guzula, a teacher at Lathi-tha School of Skills, shares the importance of playing. 

“Firstly it is very important for children to play because play develops them holistically. Play develops physically emotionally, cognitively and socially,” says Guzula.  

“When they play their muscles develop, they become flexible and their bones become strong. It improves both gross and fine motor skills. Both small and big muscles develop for example in things like drawing and coordination, in throwing and catching balancing and jumping,” she adds.

“As they grow up they also explore the environment through play because they discover new things, even new skills. Kids who play become happy and they socialise better than those who do not play.”

“They also learn to become creative as they become problem solvers. Playing also improves their literacy skill as they find it easy to comprehend and their language improves because sometimes they get to visualise and dramatise what was read to them.”

Guzula adds that kids who do not play and who always focus on devices find it difficult to share with others because of a lack of interaction through play and their motor skills don’t develop either. Coordination becomes a problem for them as well.

“For example, some of the learners in my school can't even jump because they never learned that skill early. They also lack confidence because they feel embarrassed trying new things, especially the ones they were supposed to learn when they were younger,” she adds.

“So interaction through play plays a major role in children’s development because they also become happy healthy children,” she concludes.

 IOL Lifestyle