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Being a pediatrician means juggling many roles, including the “bad guy” in the eyes of little ones. In wellness visits, where parents are often already overwhelmed, adding another guideline can feel like piling on. However, addressing technology use is crucial to supporting children’s growth and development. From the lens of a speech pathologist, this topic becomes even more critical, as unregulated technology use can significantly impact a child's language development, social skills, and cognitive growth.
Technology offers remarkable benefits—entertainment, learning, and even behavioral distraction—but as medical professionals, we know that unregulated use has consequences. With guidance, families can foster healthy relationships with screens while preserving opportunities for real-world exploration, creativity, and interaction.
Here are some practical, effective ways to address screen time with families without overwhelming them:
1. Promote Balanced Usage
Encourage families to maintain balance. Technology should complement—not replace—physical activity, play, and in-person interaction.
2. Advocate for Content Quality
Guide families toward tech activities that promote problem-solving, movement, creativity, and memory. For example, PBS offers shows and apps that align with these goals.
3. Encourage Active Participation
Advise parents to join in their child’s tech time. Co-participation nurtures social skills, turn-taking, and conversational exchanges.
4. Set Clear Time Limits
Discuss age-appropriate screen time recommendations:
Under 18 months: Limit to video calls only.
18–36 months: 30 to 60 minutes daily, with high-quality, parent-guided content.
36–60 months: No more than 60 minutes per day of educational content.
5. Prioritize Sleep
Explain the impact of tech on sleep. Tech use before bedtime disrupts the body’s ability to unwind and can lead to sleep challenges. Encourage families to ditch screens at least 60 minutes before bed.
6. Highlight Learning Through Experience
Help parents understand that infants and toddlers learn through exploration and repetition. Screen-based learning can’t replace real-world interactions, which build critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
7. Establish Healthy Boundaries
Encourage families to avoid using tech as a disciplinary tool. This undermines the development of emotional regulation, self-control, and boundary-setting—skills essential for healthy relationships.
8. Address Habit Formation
Explain the potential for tech to become habit-forming. Excessive use can trigger pleasure-seeking behaviors and dependency, especially when not managed effectively.
9. Explain Cognitive Overload Risks
Educate parents on how screens can overwhelm young brains, affecting memory, attention, focus, and language development. Overloading young minds with rapid information impedes decision-making and learning.
10. Prevent “Digital Dementia”
Stress the importance of repetition for memory-building. Too much screen exposure can reduce memory retention, hindering toddlers’ ability to build the cognitive foundations necessary for problem-solving and decision-making.
Supporting Parents
To make these discussions more accessible:
Direct families to resources like the Healthy Children Media Use Plan to tailor their tech use habits.
Provide handouts or ask families to fill out a media use form before their appointment, helping you tailor advice to their unique needs.
By offering actionable tips with empathy, you can empower parents to foster a healthy balance between technology and real-world experiences—without feeling like a “fun-snatcher.” The result? A win for kids, parents, and their overall well-being.
References
Clemente-Suárez, V.J., Beltrán-Velasco, A.I., Herrero-Roldán, S., Rodriguez-Besteiro, S., Martínez-Guardado, I., Martín-Rodríguez, A., & Tornero-Aguilera, J.F. (2024). Digital Device Usage and Childhood Cognitive Development: Exploring Effects on Cognitive Abilities. Children, 11,1299. https://doi.org/10.3390/children11111299
Panjeti-Madan, V.N., Ranganathan, P. (2023). Impact of Screen Time on Children’s Development: Cognitive, Language, Physical, and Social and Emotional Domains. Multimodal Technology Interact. 2023, 7, 52. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti7050052
Hannah Pickard, PhD; Petrina Chu, MSc; Claire Essex, MSc; Emily J. Goddard, BSc; Katie Baulcombe, BSc; Ben Carter, PhD; Rachael Bedford, PhD; TimJ. Smith, PhD (2024). Toddler Screen Use Before Bed and Its Effect on Sleep and Attention. A Randomized Clinical Trial JAMA Pediatric. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.3997
Shanmugasundaram M and Tamilarasu A (2023). The impact of digital technology, social media, and artificial intelligence on cognitive functions: a review. Front. Cognit. 2:1203077.
doi: 10.3389/fcogn.2023.1203077
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