1. What do you mean by ‘screen time’?
Simply put, screen time refers to the amount of time children spend watching TV and looking at digital content on screens. We’ve all heard the stories about someone’s child/niece/nephew/grandchild who is only ten months old, but brilliant on the iPad. Perhaps we tell these stories ourselves. The fact is that children are being exposed to – and are using – digital technologies at ever younger ages. Tablet computers and smartphones have literally put technology into the hands of babes.
2. Why is the concept of screen time relevant to teachers?
Technology is increasingly being integrated into schools (in contexts that can afford them), from desktop and laptop computers to mobile devices and interactive whiteboards. There is a general consensus that it is important for children to acquire ICT skills and digital literacies, and that technology in the classroom – when it is integrated in a pedagogically sound manner into the primary and secondary school curriculum – can be beneficial. Some studies seem to bear this out, whereas others are less conclusive1. Either way, screens are ever-present in the home, and increasingly present in the classroom. Just how much time children spend in front of screens at home is a concern to many parents. The amount of time that children spend in front of screens at school – and exactly what they are doing while looking at screens – is a conversation that teachers need to have.
3. How much time do children spend looking at screens?
This depends on their age. A study carried out by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, a non-profit US research institute2, found that two- to four-year-olds were spending just over two hours a day looking at screens, including watching television. An average of one hour and 16 minutes of this was spent on what the parents considered to be educational content. The study found that eight to ten year olds spent more than two and a half hours a day on screens, but that only 42 minutes of this was considered educational. In general, it appears that as children get older, they spend more time on screen, but less of that time is spent on educational content. This is probably because the older the children get, the less control their parents have over what they do with their devices.
4. How does excessive screen time affect children?
Concerns about screen time tend to revolve around issues of dependency (and over-dependency) on digital devices. In some countries, this has led to the establishment of internet addiction treatment centres for children and adults. There is some discussion over whether ‘internet addiction’ is a real medical disorder; nevertheless, many paediatricians and advocacy groups urge parents to avoid allowing very young children excessive access to digital media. According to psychologist Aric Sigman, ‘the sheer amount of average daily screen time during discretionary hours after school is increasingly being considered an independent risk factor for disease, and is recognised as such by other governments and medical bodies’.
What’s more, some digital content can have very negative effects on children. For example, media violence (such as that found in some video games) has been linked to aggression, desensitisation to violence and a lack of empathy, as well as to poor school performance3.
Scary as this may sound, it doesn’t mean that exposure to digital content is automatically bad. For children over three, some well-designed educational content can contribute to learning, especially when a teacher or carer/parent is actively involved in mediating that content. For example, a story told by a teacher or parent to a child via digital content on a tablet can be educational and engaging, and the interaction between the storyteller and child remains a fundamental part of the experience.
5. What does this mean for teachers of young learners?
For teachers working with children, an awareness of the research, and an understanding of what makes for an effective use of digital technology in the classroom, can go a long way towards mitigating the potentially negative effects. Teachers need to ask themselves not only how many school hours are spent on devices, but also what educational content is involved. Are social interaction, engagement and learning all enhanced by this content and, if so, how? They need to be critical and judicious users of technology with their students. Replacing kinaesthetic and sensorial learning activities with devices and software is clearly not an advisable way forward for teaching young children. Rather, as with many things in life, it is a matter of finding the balance between useful screen time and technology-free learning.
1 Hockly, N Focus on Learning Technologies OUP 2016
2 Rideout, V ‘Learning at home: families’ educational media use in America’ The Joan Ganz Cooney Center http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED555586.pdf 2014
3 Linn, S ‘Healthy kids in a digital world: a strategic plan to reduce screen time for children 0–5 through organisational policy and practice change’ Report by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood for Kaiser Permanente Community Health Initiatives Grants Program www.commercialfreechildhood.org/healthykidsdigitalworld 2012
Nicky Hockly has been involved in EFL teaching and teacher training since 1987. She is Director of Pedagogy of The Consultants-E, an online teacher training and development consultancy. She is the prize-winning author of several books about language teaching and technology, most recently Focus on Learning Technologies to be published by OUP later this year. She maintains a blog at www.emoderationskills.com.
Contact: [email protected]
