Screens have become a big part of our lives, from tools used at work and school to the ways we connect with family and friends.
Kids are no exception, and between streaming TV shows, playing games and doing homework on school-issued Chromebooks, children are spending a lot of time on screens.
The pandemic has also taken a toll on screen time limits, with young people spending even more time on digital devices.
A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics looked at the impact of digital devices on 29,017 kids between age 3 and age 18.
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Before the pandemic, kids spent an average of 162 minutes per day on screens. But after, that number shot way up, with children spending an extra hour and 20 minutes per day on devices for a total of more than four hours per day of screen time.
Dr. Asha Patton-Smith, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with Kaiser Permanente, has advice on the negative effects of screen time and how parents can help their kids cut back.
"Screens in and of themselves are not bad things," said Patton-Smith. "It is what we're using them for and how often we're using them that can get us into trouble, whether it be an adult, adolescent or a child."
She added that too much screen time can lead to problems with sleep, anxiety, obesity, and neck and back pain.
Setting healthy limits and rules around how your kids use their phones and when can help ease them off screens.
"It's not absolutely no screen time, but an hour or a less per day is recommended," said Patton-Smith. "As your kids continue to grow and develop, [we're] still looking at two to three hours a day, even ideally in the teenage population, is really all that is actually recommended."
Instead, try to fill their time with activities that don't center around phones, like sports and outdoor play.
Researchers also found that a parent's screen time habits impacted their kids, and if parents' stress level rose, the screen time duration for their children often increased too.
