There may be a wealth of data that shows excessive screen time isn’t great for kids, devices are also often how they keep up with friends, complete school work and stay up on technology we all use to get through the day. Is it possible to introduce screens responsibly?
According to Jennifer Jolly, a USA Today tech life columnist and founder and editor-in-chief of Techish.com, the answer is “yes,” and she joined Rob Hart on WBBM’s Noon Business Hour this week to explain.
“Research links heavier screen use in young kids to problems with sleep, attention, language development, and emotional regulation, so setting boundaries is really important,” Jolly acknowledged.
So, she offered some guidelines starting with tablets (such as iPads) with supervised use at age 5 or 6, their own tablets at age 8 or older. Jolly recommends what she calls a “training wheel gadget” like the Amazon Fire HD for kids.
“You can set up a child account, family sharing and screen time,” Jolly explained. “So use the tools at your fingertips to protect them from things that they should not be watching and to make sure that they’re not sucked in and tuned out for hours and hours on end.”
Hart revealed that his 13-year-old just got her own smartphone, and Jolly said that’s a perfectly fine age to get one.
“I went through the exact same thing with my daughter at the exact age,” she told hart. “She’s 25 now, she’s in her second year of law school… the kids are all right, they’re gonna be just fine.”
However, there are still risks to look out for. Those include sextortion schemes, artificial intelligence chatbots that developers are still wrangling, and use of technology that disrupts mental health. To mitigate these risks, Jolly said she implemented a “no social media” policy with her kids until they were older teens, around 16 to 18 years old.
“Even at 16, it’s limited and with parental supervision,” Jolly said of her own approach. “I’m kind of the tough parent when it comes to that, but that’s because I have seen way too many cases and examples of this going sideways… not one single young person in their 20s has ever told me that they wish their parents have let them on social media sooner, not once.”
Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta has even been ruled against in court over practices that endanger children, highlighting the dangers of social media for young users. At the same time, many parents might run into the hypocrisy conundrum when it comes to telling kids not to stare at screens and social media feeds all day.
“I think all of us have been there and my own daughter has said, mom, mom put your phone down,” Jolly admitted.
Pew Research Center data released earlier this year showed that more than half of U.S. adults said they spend too much time on their smartphone. Setting screen boundaries with kids can be a good way for parents to reign in their own doom-scrolling habits.
Finally, Jolly noted that many devices and apps allow parents to tailor permissions for a bit more control over young users’ experience online. She warned that “not a single one of them is fail proof, but it’s a really good start,” when introducing tech into a child’s life.
