Last month our government announced new guidelines to encourage better management of screen times for children. Since then, much discussion has been going on about the merits and demerits of these guidelines.
Unsurprisingly they range from supportive to sceptical. (For those unfamiliar with the guidelines, click here to find out more)
Having recently posted about our stolen focus, it makes sense for now that I’ll focus my attention on the supportive side of the argument. (Will make time to write another post later for the sceptical side)
Yes, Excessive Screen Times Do Harm Children
For those who want a decently-laid out analysis of what’s at stake, I would recommend reading the reporting done last week by Sandra Davie. Davie is the long-time local senior education correspondent in our main dailies.
In there she highlights an important longitudinal research study (LRS) called the Growing Up In Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) study. It provided important evidence about the negative cognitive impact wreaked on kids from excessive screen time. In essence, this LRS found that too much time spent staring at screens will lead to poorer self-management and control in later life, as well as diminished attention and development.
Sandra also mentioned another LRS in New Zealand, the Dunedin Study, that tracked over 1,000 babies for over 50 years. It showed that poorer self-control in childhood correlates with struggles in adulthood when it comes to areas such as finance, health and social skills.
After reading her piece, I sent over a short letter in response. In it, I offered my humble take on this thorny issue. I advocated for more attention to be spent on the corporations and tech companies that steal our focus with digital devices. If we don’t take these to tasks, we will never quite resolve this matter and restore the attention and cognitive development of our kids.
I also pointed out the importance of addressing adults’ excessive screen time and poor role modeling to kids.
As the letter was not selected for publication, I reproduce it below instead. Hopefully it will spark more conversations on what’s probably one of THE most pressing crisis of our times.
Feel free to comment and let me know at the end of this post your take on this matter, ok?
Letter To Forum — Sounding The Death Knell on Screen Times
The death knell to manage children’s screen time has been sounded ad nauseam for many years everywhere, though clearly from this article it still bears repeating.
I suspect the following reasons, if not addressed head-on soon, will continue to find us circling this topic again and again for more years to come.
Reason #1
Firstly, let’s never lose sight of the fact that, at the end of the day, digital/social media and tech companies run on a lucrative business model that prioritises holding eyeballs of consumers like us to gain advertising dollar. They also desire to build a unique profile of each user in order to feed us what we want to see, so we will always choose to hold up our devices rather than put them down. Unless we replace this business model, the issue of excessive screen time will persist.
Reason #2
Secondly, we adults need to take a step back and realise that screen addiction is as much (if not more) a problem for us as it is for our children. Just look around the next time you’re at a meeting, taking public transport or seated at restaurant and food court tables. We’re only deceiving ourselves if we think we’re more mature than our kids when it comes to managing our own use of screen time.
Reason #3
Finally, we need to recognise the overwhelming scientific evidence that there is a race to the bottom of our brain stem when it comes to screen time. If we’re consuming content after content, each time for barely a few seconds, in the long run our cognitive abilities will deteriorate. We will lose the capacity for recall, deeper thought and analysis, objectivity and reason, qualities that have seen civilizations flourish since history began. Without these qualities, how are we to solve future complex problems and deal with a volatile world where change is the only constant?
We Must Decide — Ignore? Or Do Something Collectively?
Sceptics may put these reasons down to older generations being too eager to press the panic button, like our forebears have done with many innovations over the centuries.
But the facts of what we’re dealing with in this era now is both unique and practically irrefutable.
We must decide. Should we continue to ignore the warning? Or should we — children, adults, corporations, governments and society-at-large — join hands to do something about it?
