Screen Time Most Often a Detriment to Children's Health

This past week, the National Institute of Health and a nonprofit advocacy group called Common Sense Media presented the results of a study on media use and children's mental and physical health. They chose 173 studies from 1,800, from 1980 until present, that met the study's criteria. They concluded that "In a clear majority of those studies more time with television, films, video games, magazines, music and the Internet was linked to rises in childhood obesity, tobacco use and sexual behavior. A majority also showed strong correlations — what the researchers deemed “statistically significant associations” — with drug and alcohol use and low academic achievement."

Will this finally stop the debate? We now have long term scientific evidence that too much media time leads to undesirable characteristics in our children. Either from content or just sitting around too much (most likely both) our children are not benefiting from the vast majority of their screen time. We also know from many other studies that children who eat at least 3 meals a week with their family, with no other distractions such as radio, TV, or reading materials, eat healthier in and out of the home, have better grades, are less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, and have better self esteem.

So why can't we turn off the TV and actually talk to each other? Why can't we eat together? If a child has time to watch 45 hours a week of media, they certainly have time for a family meal. Make it a priority to have at least 3 family meals a week. There is no financial cost to this. You will actually save money now and in the future. Individual servings of frozen or boxed foods are expensive, usually loaded with salt or fat, and are each cooked separately. One family meal eaten by everyone saves food and power costs. Having the whole family in one room means that the lights in all of the other rooms are off, as are electrical media gadgets, TVs and computers. In the long run you can save money on health care, avoiding fees to doctors, nutritionists, counselors, psychologists and therapists.

If you don't know what to talk about, there are several products that help families learn to have conversations at the table. But to avoid that cost, just ask each person at the table to recount one really good or even one really unpleasant moment of their day. Once everyone gets used to talking, dinner conversations can be fun, educational, and give you invaluable insight into the lives of those you live with. (If that seems too controversial, just talk about the food.) Watch what happens when there is no screen distraction in your home. I believe you will be amazed.