Importance of Screen time and health
Did you know that kids who watch TV a lot are risking a
lifetime of health problems? It’s a proven fact: too much screen time (watching
TV, playing on the computer, and playing video games) is associated with:
■
Violent behavior.
■
Poorer school performance.
■
Lower reading scores.
■
Sleep pattern disturbances.
■
Overweight.
■
Consumption of junk food.
■ Bad
habits later in life (like tobacco and alcohol abuse).
Join millions of others and check out what else life has to offer! What can kids do instead?
The sky’s the limit.!!
Get active. Get imaginative. Get social!
■ Walk
the dog. ■
Read a book.
■ Take
a hike. ■
Throw a ball.
■ Run
a half mile. ■ Visit a friend.
■
Climb a hill. ■ Put on a show.
■ Play
a game. ■
Draw a picture.
■
Visit a park. ■ Have a conversation.
■ Ride
a bike. ■
Smell the roses
Parents:
Why Spending less time is more Time
Do your children a favor: turn off the TV, the video game,
and the computer game. Time staring at those screens is called screen time, and
it’s bad for kids’ health and behavior. Kids who spend less time in front of a
screen also:
- Do better in school.
- Read more.
- Sleep better.
- Eat healthier foods.
- Weigh less.
- Are less prone to violence, early sexual activity, and smoking.
Paediatricians say:
- No screen time for children younger than 2.
- No TVs in bedrooms.
- Limit screen time to one to two hours a day.
- Keep an eye on what your kids watch
How to get started
1. Keep track. Be aware of what you watch and why. Fill out
our log sheet with your children.
2. Consider a week
without screen time.
3. Make the
commitment as a family.
4. Plan for things
you’d like to do and post your list on the TV. For ideas, see some of the 101
screen-free activities at www.screentime.org.
5. Pay special attention
to times when you most depend on screen time and make alternate plans for them.
6. At the end of the
week, talk about the benefi ts of limiting screen time. Then set your own
TV-turnoff times, like one day a week or during meals.
7. Remember, it takes
a long time to change habits. Whatever works to reduce screen time is a positive
step.
Tips for reducing screen time at home
- Put your TV in a place where it isn’t the center of attention.
- Turn off the TV during meal times.
- Don’t use screen time as a reward or punishment.
- Don’t use screen time as a babysitter
How much screen time does your family
get?
Screen time is the
time spent in front of the TV or playing video games or computer games. Screen time
means not moving around. But our bodies need movement to be healthy.
Keep your family
healthy. Keep track of your screen time for one week with our screen time log.
Make a copy of the
sheet for each member of the family. Make it a fun game to see who has the
least screen time. Try to decrease your totals over time.
And remember, change
doesn’t happen quickly. Any reduction in screen time is good for your family.
Healthy habits
■ No more than an hour of
screen time each day.
■ An hour of activity each day.
■ Healthy snacks—fi ve
servings of fruit and vegetables daily.
■ Getting up to move or stretch
during screen time. Screen-time alternatives
■ Playing with friends.
■ Walking the dog.
■ Inventing a game.
■ Reading and writing
Screen-time alternative
■ Playing with friends.
■ Walking the dog.
■ Inventing a game.
■ Reading and writing.becher.com
Kids: cool things to do
There are lots of ways to have fun besides watching TV or playing video games or computer games.
There are lots of ways to have fun besides watching TV or playing video games or computer games.
Take a look!
·
Paint or
draw a picture.
·
Write a
story.
·
Make sock
puppets and put on a show.
·
Make up a
new board or card game and try it out with family or friends.
·
Create a
drum set from household containers.
·
Organize a
treasure hunt or scavenger hunt.
·
Bike,
skate, Frisbee, swing, swim, or go to the pa
·
Read a
book.
·
Read a
book to someone else.
For more ideas, check
out some of the ideas from the list of 101 screen-free activities at www.screentime.org.
Teachers and leaders: fun activities
Set an example! You can help families become less dependent
on screen activities for entertainment.
Set the stage
- Read books with kids (see the resource list).
- Talk about what kids enjoy besides screen time.
- Use math class to fill out our log of screen time and graph the results.
- Involve parents: Have each family member fill out the log and compare results.
- Have children make collages or drawings of favourite activities that don’t involve screen time.
- Encourage children to hang the finished artwork on or near the TV at home.
- Write a newsletter article and send hand-outs to parents.
- Order materials from the Centre for Screen-Time Awareness (www.screentime.org).
- Gather colleagues to help organize events for your school or organization (see next page for ideas).
- Declare your organization or school screen-free for a week or more. Put up posters or make a display with hand-outs from the Centre for Screen-Time Awareness.
Try a screen-free week
Have a contest. Which individual or group can spend the
least time with a screen for a week or a month? Offer prizes, but make sure
they aren’t high-sugar or high-fat foods!
Organize a special evening at which parents, older children,
and community members teach fun, screen-free activities, such as knitting,
chess, or salsa dancing, and serve healthy snacks.
Set up a “slumber party” in an unusual location (such as the
library) for one night and tell stories to the group, play board games, or do
other non-screen activities.
Use the “More reading, less TV” idea from the Center for
Screen-Time Awareness. Bring an old TV into the classroom. Assign books to
read. For every book read, fi ll out a slip of paper and tape it to the old TV.
Eventually the TV is buried under the “books.”
Join forces
Enlist allies to help encourage children to have more time
for being active, creating, and interacting by spending less time with
entertainment screens. Here are some possible allies:
·
School personnel (teachers, nurses, food service
workers).
- · PTA members.
- · Preschool teachers.
- · Parks and recreation department staff.
- · YMCA and/or community centre staff.
- · Sports leagues.
- · Libraries.
- · Health care agencies and providers.
- · Faith community.
- · Child advocacy and service agencies.
Example of Books for classroom reading
Fix-it Board Book
By David McPhail,Dutton Juvenile, 2002; ages 2–6
Theme: TV breaks, and
reading turns out to be more fun.
The Berenstain Bears and Too Much TV
By Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain,Random House Books for
Young Readers, 1984; ages 4–8
Theme: Mom puts her
foot down; kids need to play!
Turn off the TV (Mama Rex and T
Series)
By Rachel Vail and Steve Bjorkman,Rebound by Sagebrush,
2003; ages 4–8
Theme: Mama Rex fi
gures out what to do when the power goes.
Box-Head Boy
By Christine M. Winn and David Walsh,Fairview Press, 1996;
ages 4–8
Theme:Denny’s head
turns into a TV until he remembers real life and decides to spend his time
there instead.
Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek
Dam Affair
By Patricia Polacco, Philomel, 1996; ages 6–10
Theme: Aunt Chip
teaches a town to read after they’d given it up for TV.
Facts about screen time
and its effect on kids
Thousands of studies support the idea that kids are
healthier and better adjusted and perform better in school when they don’t get
too much time watching TV or playing video games and computer games, which we
call “screen time.”
Studies have linked excessive television viewing (and
sometimes video games) with :
- · Poor performance in school, especially in language and reading.
- · Less imaginative ability.
- · Problems focusing.
- · Sleep pattern disturbances.
- · Excess weight.
- · Poor planning and judgment.
- · Tendency to resort to violence to
- · solve problems.
Screen time and weight gain
- Each hour of TV viewing by school-age kids is associated with 167 additional calories.
- Just one hour of TV viewing daily is associated with higher consumption of fast food,sweets, chips, and pizza.
- Two or more hours of TV viewing daily is associated with significant likelihood of overweight among 3-year-olds.
- Children with TV in their bedrooms snack more than those without.
Screen time and violence
- Children typically witness 10,000 acts of violence on TV each year.
- 61 percent of TV shows include violence.
- Heavy TV watching at age 4 correlates with bullying behaviour between ages 6 and 11.
- Early grade school children exposed to TV violence were more violent adults 15 years later.
Screen time and school
- Middle school children who watched more television, movies, and video games did worse in school than those who watched less.
- Third graders with a bedroom TV scored seven to nine points lower on standardized tests than those without a bedroom TV.
Screen time and sleep
·
Television viewing among infants and children is
associated with irregular sleep schedules.
·
Teens watching more than three hours of TV per day
are more likely to have sleep problems in early adulthood.
For tips, tools, and information
about the benefit of reducing screen time, check out these resources.
Web sites
Kaiser Permanente
Center for Screen-Time Awareness (formerly TV-Turnoff
Network)
OHSU’s Doernbecher Children’s Hospital
American Academy of Pediatrics
National Institute on Media and the Family
Center on Media and Child Health
University of Washington (Active Bodies, Active Minds Project)
Adult books
The Elephant in the
Living Room: Make Television Work for Your Kids
By Dimitri A. Christakis and Frederick J. Zimmerman, Rodale
Books, 2006
The Plug-in Drug
By Marie Winn,Penguin, 25th anniversary edition, 2002
Endangered Minds: Why
Our Children Don’t Think and What We Can Do About It
By Jane M. Healy,Simon & Schuster, 1999
Consuming Kids
By Susan Linn, Anchor,
2005
Books for
kids
Fix-it Board Book
By David McPhail,Dutton Juvenile, 2002; ages 2–6
Theme: TV breaks, and
reading turns out to be more fun.
The Berenstain Bears and Too Much TV
By Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain,Random House Books for
Young Readers, 1984; ages 4–8
Theme: Mom puts her
foot down; kids need to play!
Turn off the TV (Mama Rex and T
Series)
By Rachel Vail and Steve Bjorkman,Rebound by Sagebrush,
2003; ages 4–8
Theme: Mama Rex fi
gures out what to do when the power goes.
Box-Head Boy
By Christine M. Winn and David Walsh,Fairview Press, 1996;
ages 4–8
Theme:Denny’s head
turns into a TV until he remembers real life and decides to spend his time
there instead.
Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek
Dam Affair
By Patricia Polacco, Philomel, 1996; ages 6–10
Theme: Aunt Chip
teaches a town to read after they’d given it up for TV.
Information and Sources
- American Academy of Paediatrics
- Archives of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
- Developmental Psychology
- Kaiser Family Foundation
- Paediatrics
- Public Health Nutrition
- ©2007 Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest
To download a PDF
Handout of this document for reproduction and Screen time log sheet, go to www.kp.org/tvturnoff.
Please copy, share,
and distribute this hand-out! Thank You!!
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