Let’s talk screen time.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than one hour of screen time per day for children over 2 years old. This may be challenging when you have things to do around the house and it’s so easy to put your child in front of the screen to occupy them. But keep in mind that it could be creating more problems in the long run. 

In my years of teaching I have seen students’ attention spans slowly getting shorter. I have seen their patience decreasing. And the biggest thing I have seen that really inhibits student learning is their inability to tolerate frustration and work through things that feel hard for them.

What does this last one have to do with screen time?

I listened to this amazing podcast by Dr. Becky recently where she was talking about screen time. She made a connection that I had never thought about before but makes so much sense. I will summarize for her, but for the true expert please check out her podcast.

When kids are little, everything feels hard for them. Everything is new. They are learning new things every day. They see all these capable adults around them who already know how to do everything. They see older siblings do things that they can’t yet. When they sit in front of a screen, suddenly they experience something easy. And naturally that feels good. So then when the screen is taken away from them and they are asked to do something that inevitably feels hard, they freak out. Their ability to tolerate frustration is limited. The more screen time they have, the more these periods of frustration become more and more challenging for them.

This inability to tolerate frustration has a big impact in the classroom. Students are constantly learning and trying new things at school. Some things come easily, some don’t. Some students watch their peers do things with ease and some students silently (or not so silently) struggle. They want to give up. It affects their self confidence. They suddenly lack the drive to learn because it feels too hard. They don’t know how to tolerate the frustration period of learning something new or mastering a new skill. I can’t tell you how many 5 year olds have broke down in my classroom because something feels too hard, or have told me they don’t want to try because they can’t. Even students who are fully capable just don’t want to put in the effort. It is so sad to see this happen at such a young age and to see it get in the way of them learning. Although I realize this inability to tolerate frustration is not always related primarily to screen time, it certainly has a strong correlation. So too does doing everything for your child and not allowing them to experience and work through anything hard or frustrating. Although it’s easier and faster to get your child dressed and put on their shoes so you can get out the door, let them do it so they can learn how and practice this skill. When you do it for them it sends the message that you don’t think they can do it themselves. And now I digress on a different topic, but you get the gist. Some food for thought about limiting screen time that you may not have considered before.