Rough review

Kortney Columbus                                                                                       Columbus 1

Professor Maltman

ENG 1101-03

February 17, 2017

An Apple a Day…. Or PC

            It’s Friday. The end of a long week for all of us! With everyone’s schedules there is hardly any downtime until Friday. The kids rush in the front door like a hurricane force wind- loud and fierce. Backpacks and coats are flying everywhere! “How was your day,” I shout over the ruckus. “Good! Can I have tablet time??” This is a very common first sentence from my younger son who is seven and a half (don’t forget the half!). He beams this huge smile at me with his big blue eyes. “Please Mom, I have no homework and nobody can play outside until five?!” After a few more random questions about their days just to soak up as much information and communication as I can before they settle in, I agree to thirty minutes of screen time each. I feel this is fair. They get what they desire in the moment and I still feel like “a good parent”.

            Why is it that putting a time limit on something my kids enjoy makes me feel like “a good parent”? My kids are very active in sports and outdoor/indoor free play. They are good students, both reading above average and excelling in math. Both have friends galore and communicate very well with elders and peer a like. These things should make me feel like “a good parent” too! There has been so much emphasis put on the amount of screen time children have and what kind of people they will grow up to be from media, parenting groups and even the Pediatrician’s office. It is one of the questions on the long list I receive when I check in for my

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child’s well-child exam among “Is there a gun in your home” and “does he/she get five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day” and “how much sleep does your child get”. All very important things for a healthy and safe kid!

            So why does the amount of screen time my kids have important to their doctor? Research suggests that kids that have too much screen time lack the ability to recognize real emotions in people’s facial expressions. One study was completed by researchers at UCLA of the ability of two groups of sixth graders to recognize emotions in 50 pictures of facial expression. One group of students went to camp for five days completely “unplugged” from devices and the other maintained normal habits. After the five days, the same images were shown again to each group. The students that went to camp had significant improvements in their ability to recognize the emotions in the pictures over the other group of students. This was only after FIVE days! (NPR 8/28/14) The theory is that children become disconnected from reality when they are constantly in a virtual world. It was once suggested that kids two years and older should only be allowed two hours of screen time per day by the American Association of Pediatricians. I found myself thinking that this is not realistic for today. Most of my kid’s screen time is at school now!

            Schools, public and private, are switching to a digital classroom. Technology is becoming commonplace. When I was in elementary school we were lucky to see the computer lab once a month! Now kids are 1:1 with devices all day every day. Not in every school, but every school year the trend is increasing. First graders are teaching their parents how to use programs. They are creating their own codes for computer programs. They are being given the responsibility of a Chromebook or I Pad to take back and forth to home from school for homework. In a school

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district near to us, the students have remote school days. On these days, the students access their learning activities from their teacher completely online from home or daycare. Should this count against their screen time allotment? Kids around America shout in unison “No Way”! Well, the AAP may finally be on their and our side.

            In late 2016 the AAP had a conference and this was a topic of discussion. Dr. Yolanda Reid Chassiakos, a professor at UCLA and lead author of the “Children and Adolescents and Digital Media Technical Report” stated, “It doesn’t make sense to make a blanket statement [of two hours] of screen time anymore.” (CNN 10/21/16) The new guidelines are as follows:

Screen time is identified as use of digital media for entertainment. Other uses such as online homework doesn’t count.  

            Two years of age to Five years of age = One hour per day

            Six years of age and up = parent’s discretion

            Eighteen months and younger = NO SCREEN TIME AT ALL

These guidelines are set to reflect the changing roles of technology in our everyday lives. I appreciate that the AAP is allowing parents discretion on screen time for children over the age of six years. This allows for my kids to get the free-time they want with screen time including TV and I still get to feel like I am doing something right! This also reflects that each child has different needs.

      

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The study I mentioned earlier that was conducted by UCLA should serve as reminder to parents and schools alike. Not all students are going to thrive with additional exposure to devices. It is very important to monitor a child’s progress both academically and socially. It is reported that an average of fifty-four percent of students say they are more actively involved in school work that uses technology. (Lauren Moffett , Sep, 26, 2012 Novadesk.com) But at what cost? We need to be fully functioning members of society. A child should be able to recognize if their peer is hurt or happy. They should know the difference between fresh country air and forest air. See a lunar eclipse in person. Know how to read a trail map. They also should know how to communicate their needs to a person face to face and cope with conflict. Resolve conflict! Are we holding up to the gold standard with an Apple a day or a PC, tablet, game system or TV?

All things in moderation. Technology awareness is extremely important for the future generation to be comfortable. The result of my review of technology in schools proves that it can surely be beneficial for students. It enables them to get homework they miss because of an illness or a teacher to continue instruction that would be interrupted due to a snow storm. Access to information or learning techniques at their fingertips can be helpful since, let’s face it, our kids are out-teaching us earlier and earlier.  Although, it is a big responsibility on the student and the parents to ensure safe use. Having increased exposure opens increase potential for cyberbullying which can be harder to safeguard against then traditional face-to-face bullying since it isn’t always seen and is rarely heard. Be “a good parent” and monitor screen time in your home and adjust to your child’s needs. Technology is the way of the future and we don’t want to stand in the way of it, just help guide it. An Apple a day is still sound advice.