Parents struggle to find balance for children’s television viewing

Let’s be honest for the last few weeks most of us have done very little but watch TV.

But with the Olympics over and the school summer holidays in full swing, the small screen will soon be full of the usual repeats and cheap reality television.

Not that it matters, because we will watch pretty much anything the broadcasters throw at us. It’s estimated that the average British child now has access to five different screens at home and for a while now psychologists Dr Aric Sigman have been urging us to change our ways.

Pointing out that the average screen time in the home for young British adolescents is now 6.1 hours per day, he says: “Passive parenting in the face of the new media environment is a form of benign neglect and not in the best interests of children. “Parents must regain control of their own households.”

Sigman says that by the age of seven, the average child will have spent the equivalent of a full year watching screen media, and points out that even average levels of daily screen viewing are strongly associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.

To reduce the risk of screen overuse, Sigman suggests parents shouldn’t let children be exposed to screens until at least the age of three, the frequency and length of exposure for older children should be reduced, as should the availability of screens, especially in bedrooms.

However, not everyone is convinced. Media psychologist Dr Brian Young points out that children can learn very quickly and effectively from TV and the internet, and TV has a social function as it can bring families together when they watch it.

He also believes that setting limits about how much TV children can watch is unhelpful.

“People will say that some children are getting too much TV as if they’re getting too much of a bad medicine or even a drug,” he says. “It’s not a drug, it’s not a medicine, it’s an activity.”

He points out that children are very good at dividing their attention between different tasks, like watching TV and doing their homework at the same time, for example.

“Most of the studies on how much TV children watch rely on whether the TV is on or off, and reports from the household as to who’s watching at that time,” he says. “But the reality is that while the TV’s on, children may be doing other things as well,” he stresses.

“I see TV as an essential tool of the household, and like any other tool such as the internet, it needs to be used responsibly.

“You might want to suggest to the child that there’s other more interesting things to do.”

Pointing out that watching TV is highly correlated with obesity, he says: “The whole point about good parenting is that you don’t restrict the sort of activities that children do. It’s your job to nudge them towards more fulfilling activities.”

Ultimately, parents should use their judgment when it comes to screen time, he says, and while always recognising the need for boundaries, they shouldn’t unnecessarily put things off limits.

“Forbidden fruit is a powerful motivator for children,” he warns, adding: “Many parents just don’t know which way to turn, particularly if they’ve got no extended family support, so they might turn to electronic media and screens.

“But they’ll know instinctively if something’s bad for their kids.”

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