Children watch a movie at breakfast
Children in the Netherlands spend too much time behind a screen, if you follow the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO). So much screen time is unhealthy according to scientists, but parents are insufficiently aware of it. This is apparent from the annual Iene Miene Media survey, which looked at media literacy among parents of children between the ages of 0 and 6.
Several studies have emerged in recent years indicating that a lot of screen time can be harmful to children in the long term. But according to this research, media education among parents of young children is not an urgent topic.
Three quarters of the parents surveyed put media education last when they have to choose from a list of healthy food, sufficient exercise, social behavior and hygiene. A majority of parents mainly see the positive effects of media use, such as better language development and math skills.
According to the research, they are insufficiently aware of the long-term effects. Still, several studies show that there is a link between excessive media use and health problems. This includes obesity, nearsightedness and too little sleep.
Screen time limited development
“Children don’t spend the time in front of a screen doing other activities like playing outside, climbing, drawing, that sort of thing,” said researcher Peter Nikken. NOS Radio 1 News† “Screen time depends on things that are very important for their development at such a young age. And they have to spend a lot of time on that too; communicating with others, listening. If children don’t spend time on that, they miss something in their development They will suffer from that for the rest of their lives.”
According to a WHO guideline, children up to the age of 2 should not use any media at all. For young people up to the age of 5, this should be limited to one hour a day. Nikken: “The figures show that children are massively above that.” Together, children from 0 to 6 years spend more than one and a half hours a day on various media activities. That is just an average, the researchers emphasize. This means that some children are below it and other children are (sometimes far) above it.
Educational value
Parents mainly see the media as a handy tool at home: more than two-thirds use a screen when the child needs to be kept busy or when parents want to relax themselves. In addition, many parents point out the educational value of various games and programs in the survey. Nikken sees that too. “And I can imagine that it is also useful if you can let a small child play a game or watch a movie. If you do that, it is important that you as a parent watch, so that the child really enjoys educational videos or games.”
“As parents, you have to be involved in media behavior as much as possible. If you enjoy it together, children can learn from it too,” says Nikken. “And at some point you also have to say: now that’s enough, let’s do something else.”
