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Media: Merit with margins

By Renee Hanlin
Posted 10/15/19

The digital age: Instant information and global connection. Positive? Absolutely! Yet media use comes with challenges.

Common Sense Media, The American Academy of Pediatrics, and The Association …

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Media: Merit with margins

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The digital age: Instant information and global connection. Positive? Absolutely! Yet media use comes with challenges.

Common Sense Media, The American Academy of Pediatrics, and The Association for Library Services to Children are just three sources to help your family think critically about media use.

“School-Year Screen-Time Rules from a Teacher” is an article written for Common Sense Media by Rebecca Young, a veteran middle school teacher and parent. In the classroom, she noticed that after Fortnite came onto the scene, “Students who were usually on task and high-performing were nodding off and ‘forgetting’ to do their homework.” She used this as an opportunity to open discussions about media use with students, as well as their parents.

Young recommends to parents: Know what games your child is playing and when. Parents help kids when they set boundaries. She also suggests balancing screen time with down time: “Finding time to completely unplug is important.” Kids need downtime that balances technology with other activities: homework, sleeping, face-to-face interactions, family time and physical exercise to name a few.

Common Sense Media has a wealth of tools at a family’s disposal. They “offer advice for creating a realistic schedule, setting age-appropriate guidelines on TV time, finding the first websites for young kids to use, handling violent media and managing kids’ cellphone use.”

How young is too young for technology? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that screen media for children under 18 months of age be limited to video-chatting. The AAP guidelines also offer recommendations for ages 18-24 months, 2-5 years and 6 years and older.

Like any activity, spending quality time together has its benefits — and this includes time interacting alongside your child with technology and media. Ultimately, it is a good idea to tailor-make a media plan for your family based on factors such as the age of your child, your lifestyle, and your values. HealthyChildren.org offers an online tool for creating a family media plan. Honestly, as adults we need to adopt healthy media habits (as role models and for our own benefit). Why not forgo time on your device and design a family media plan today?

(Renee Hanlin is the children’s librarian at the Powell Branch Library.)

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