Screen time? Maybe it's not a big deal

by ParentCo. June 19, 2015

There is no shortage of debate over the effects of screen time on kid's these days. As we've transitioned into a society where even the smallest members have access to a personal IV of Netflix (and educational tools as well), the discussions are littered with nuance. Personally, I dole out time based on how my kid's are using it. Are they creating or consuming? And this writer has unplugged her kids completely. But when it comes down to it, studies that suggest screen time has a negative impact on IQ and test scores and contributes to obesity, are often poorly designed. Most solely study the effects of TV watching, and the amount of TV children watch is not randomly assigned. Generally, kids who take in more hours of television are poorer and have parents with less education. Those factors alone can contribute to the same negative outcomes. Besides disagreeing that screen time has no evidence of causing eye strain (the National Eye Institute study published in 2009 found that nearsightedness in Americans has had a 66% increase in the past 30 years...) , Emily Oster's got a point. Read the full article at FiveThirtyEight: ‘Screen Time’ For Kids Is Probably Fine | FiveThirtyEight


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