WHAT THE HECK IS SCREEN TIME?
For me, I consider screen time any time in front of a screen. This includes a tablet, phone, video games, and television. I didn’t think about screen time until I became a teacher and even more so when I became a mother. Is it really that bad? Is there any good?

IS SCREEN TIME A NEW THING?
I’m no scientist but I do know how screen time has affected my life when I was a kid. I remember watching TGIF on Friday nights and horror movies like Nightmare on Elm Street and The Exorcist (where were my parents). So, how has this screen time affected me? Well, I think I am a bit anxiety ridden from watching The Exorcist as a young child, however, my attention span is decent. I can sit through movies, shows, seminars, you name it! If I see an extra long text, I am excited to read all 9 min of it. I also still love reading real books! If I see a commercial, I don’t get frustrated or annoyed! To me, these are mini successes!

ATTENTION SPANS DECREASING?
Is the problem too much screen time bad or is it the extremely short length videos we’re all watching? I read how human attention spans have been decreasing since 2000 and in 2015 we had the attention span of a goldfish! Now I don’t know how much truth there is to this but this is pretty darn scary! When I taught high school, I have to admit, short attention spans were a big issue!

NO…NOT ME!
I was one of those people who said I would never let my own children have Ipads or Iphones to keep them quiet but to be honest it has saved me on many occasions! When is screen time too much and does content matter? I do know that my child has learned a lot from YouTube Kids and many other kid friendly apps. He has acquired language, learned about animals, colors, shapes, letters and numbers. You may agree or disagree but this is where I am at currently as far as my personal criteria of when I will allow my toddler to have screen time.

1) When the content is something educational-My favorites are baby Einstein and ABC Mouse.

2) When the content is meant for kids-Currently my son is into Peppa Pig.
If he starts to develop a British accent, I see that as a plus!

3) When our children can learn something from the videos they’re watching- For example, my 2 year old became obsessed with Nerf Guns (I know I know…hopefully this doesn’t start a backlash) but he would find videos that had older boys (5-9) playing with Nerf Guns and you know what? He actually learned a lot of language from these videos such as “Oh ya Baby,” and he also learned all the different names of his guns.

4) When it’s not too much. I’ll leave this up to you mamas. There are so many studies out there that tell us what too long is so you figure out what’s best for you and your child. Don’t worry about anybody else!

If you have have any suggestions for me I would love to hear them!

Email me at mamabear@savvymamablog.com