Screen time refers to the number of minutes or hours a person spends looking at a digital screen each day.

This includes devices such as desktop computers and laptops, TVs and games consoles, tablets and mobile phones. Children likely spend their screen time on a variety of different things - playing games, streaming videos, watching TV shows, browsing the internet and social media, chatting with friends, in school, or whilst doing homework for example.

Here, the expert education training providers, High Speed Training, walk you through some simple steps on how and why limiting screen time can be beneficial. Katie Martinelli, Learning & Development Lead at High Speed Training, said: “Screen time has quickly become a large part of the daily routine for children and young people.

“Screens are being used at home for recreational use, and also as an essential part of the learning experience in schools. But research suggests that the amount of time that children and young people are spending on their phones, computers, tablets, etc. could be detrimental in a number of ways.”

So, what are the effects of prolonged screen time on children, why can limiting screen time have a positive impact on children and how can parents or teachers implement limited screen time? Screen time is a modern-day phenomenon, and not one that parents are likely to have encountered in their own youth, so understanding how much screen time is acceptable and how much is harmful is uncharted territory for most.

Studies are regularly carried out into the effects of screen time on children. The general consensus of this research is that parents should limit their children’s screen time and focus on how that time is spent to improve their child’s digital well-being.

The recommended screen times by age are:

  • Babies and toddlers aged 0 to 2 – no screen time at all
  • Preschool children aged 2 to 4 – up to one hour per day.
  • School children aged 5 to 12 – up to two hours per day.
  • Teenagers aged 13+ – no more than two hours per day.

Katie Martinelli said: “In addition to impacts on a child’s physical well-being, improper use of digital devices can pose serious risks to a child’s mental health, and result in long-term stress and anxiety. For example, scrolling through social media and comparing their lives with the snapshots of others, or exposure to cyberbullying or online hate. 

Limiting the amount of screen time that your child has will be beneficial to their mental and physical well-being.

Some benefits of limiting screen time for children include:

  • Improved quality of sleep - Screens emit blue light which affects a child’s sleep cycle, making it harder to fall asleep or waking them in the night when they receive a notification on their phone.
  • Reduced anxiety and other mental health conditions - This is particularly linked to the use of social media, which can trigger worry, stress and anxiety for young people.
  • Healthier relationships- Reduced screen time will lead to more time available for you to spend as a family or for the child to see friends, thus enhancing both relationships and communication.
  • Reduced eye strain - Constantly looking at a screen makes the eyes tired and dry, putting a strain on a child’s eyesight.
  • A healthier lifestyle - Limiting screen time means children need to look elsewhere for entertainment, so they are more likely to be physically active rather than sedentary, which helps to support a healthy lifestyle. 
  • Better educational attainment - Studies have found that limiting children’s screen time is linked with improved cognition, better mental ability and increased attainment at school.

Katie Martinelli continues: “If a child hasn’t had rules around screen time before, then introducing screen time limits can be challenging. What’s important is that you communicate the reasons behind this change with your child, so they understand why these limits are beneficial to them.”

Some of our tips for limiting screen time include:

  • Act as a role model for your child and limit your own screen time, as well as theirs. Children are influenced by the adults around them, so show them a good example.
  • Introduce rules for the whole family or class, such as no phones at the table or no TV before school, so everyone is included in the screen time limits.
  • Provide your child with fun alternatives to screen time, such as a trip to the park, games outside, baking and cooking, scavenger hunts in the garden or reading.
  • If you notice your child is spending a lot of time on a screen, break up their screen sessions with enforced breaks. You could set a timer that allows them one hour of screen time before they have to move onto another activity.
  • Prioritise sleep, with rules on not using devices before bed or in the bedroom and not sleeping next to their phone at night.
  • Use the parental controls available on phones, apps and your wi-fi router to limit access or set time limits. Some apps allow you to set a timer that means the app is locked once the limit is reached.
  • Avoid giving your child their own smartphone or laptop where possible. Instead, put the family computer in a shared space where you can better monitor their screen time.