Are screens bad? Panic headlines will convince you they are, but these arguments are not typically based on good data. So what should you base your decisions on? 📺 Comment “Link” for a DM to my article on a different way to look at screen time.
One of the most important things to consider is opportunity cost, or what your child could be doing instead (i.e. reading, playing outside, sleeping). For example, when my kids are on an airplane, screen time is pretty much unlimited. Because what else are they going to be doing? But on a school night, when there’s homework and violin lessons and sports practice, there may be no screen time at all. This isn’t seeing screen time as a reward or punishment; it’s simply a reflection of where screens fall in the hierarchy of activities.
A thought experiment that may be helpful is to think of screens as the same as your kid sitting in their room staring at the wall. It’s completely neutral. Not beneficial, not harmful. The question is: when does wall-staring make sense, and when does it not?
So tell me: how does screen time fit into your family?