
New Research About Kids’ Screen Time and Mental Health - leksak
http://time.com/5437607/smartphones-teens-mental-health/
======
ObsoleteNerd
"screen time" is so general though. What were they doing on the screens?

Sure, I know plenty of parents who stick their kids on YouTube with no
monitoring, who end up watching Jake Paul for hours.

But I also know plenty of parents whose kids spend their screen time drawing
in paint apps, playing with redstone creations in Minecraft, and generally
doing stuff that I (as a parent of 2 who aren't quite that age yet) would LOVE
my kids to be doing.

I'm sure the former is more common than the latter, but I wish articles like
this weren't so "screen time is BAD" and would differentiate and encourage
parents to instead push their kids towards educational-but-entertaining
screentime.

If I hadn't spent my entire childhood on screens learning to code in BASIC and
playing in Paint, I wouldn't have had my career, which has now let me support
my family and give them a comfortable life (whereas I grew up in poverty).

~~~
windexh8er
Your comment is valid, but screens today are generally for a consumption model
vs an interactive one you and I grew up with. I get the whole painting,
drawing, etc - but mastery of those are still very much founded in the
physical realm of many mediums.

The other thing this article fails to touch on is the damage that can be done
to younger eyes. Screens can literally burn retinas. Apple, for example, made
quiet reference to the improvements in their new iPhone displays that they are
easier on eyes ([https://www.cultofmac.com/581646/iphone-xs-max-display-is-
sc...](https://www.cultofmac.com/581646/iphone-xs-max-display-is-
scientifically-healthier-for-your-eyes/)). I've also seen the MPE (maximum
permissable exposure) metric reference more and more lately.

Finally, I'm sure you spent as much time in front of the screen writing code
when you were growing up, just as I did. But it meant going to sit down in
front of a desktop. You weren't laying with it in bed, on Facebook or sending
Snaps 24/7\. The difference of access today is 180 from when I was using
technology as a teenager. I don't think technology is bad when it has a
purpose, but I would say the majority of youth are not using technology in a
manner that's constructive to their future long term.

------
julienchastang
Parent here. The problem is the battle you are up against when trying to limit
screen time. When it is the iPad vs. anything else constructive or worthwhile,
the iPad is almost always going to win. The best minds of our generation have
figured out how to addict us to screens and have succeeded. Moreover, as a
parent, it is often a difficult and incessant struggle to monitor and control
content (e.g., age inappropriate YouTube videos). And the large tech companies
don’t seem interested in solving these problems. Just the opposite.

~~~
jacobolus
It seems to me that a big part of the problem is parents’ screen time.

Kids I see (disclaimer: mostly in the <5 years old range) desperately want to
play with other people, but often are left bored while the adults / older kids
around are stuck staring at their smartphones. Fertile ground to develop their
own screen addictions.

Instead of monitoring and controlling kids’ content, how about working with
them on some physical projects, reading aloud, going for a hike, or even doing
chores together?

~~~
hrktb
I wonder how much time in average we got playing with our parents.

I was in primary schoold in the 80s and I remember seeing my father 10 min
before going to bed, my mother was mostly dealing with stuff (administrative
tasks, house keeping, shopping, cooking, checking homeworks) and outside of
Scrabble I don’t remember playing anything with her. We’d watch tv news or
vapid tv drama together at best, rest of time I’d do whatever I wanted as long
as it wasn’t hurting anyone nor illegal.

Compared to that it seems to me parents nowadays are a lot more feeling guilty
of not spending enough time with their kids, even as they spend a ton more in
my opinion.

~~~
mrhappyunhappy
I’m about same age as you and I don’t remember spending much if any time with
my parents. The same goes for all the kids I knew. Most of us kids played with
each other or toys we had around the house. I spent a lot of time at my
grandparents but even there nobody played with me. We did go to parks often so
there was joint activities but they were very hands off.

These days I am a father to a 1 year old and I’ve been spending a lot of time
with him (work from home on my own schedule). My worry is that I will spend
too much time with him as he grows up, and not leave enough space for him to
develop on his own through exploration and individuality. Of course I haven’t
had to deal with screen time yet and I realize that will be a serious
challenge. My goal is to get rid of any smart devices by the time he is
curious about them. We don’t own iPads or tablets in general and I don’t plan
on buying any. I have no doubts I can curtail my own phone browsing usage but
say the same for my wife who is constantly on hers.

------
jrochkind1
seems to me causation could easily be the opposite direction than what they
are implying.

If kids who are depressed are more likely to spend more time on social
media/the internet, limiting their "screen time" isn't going to make them less
depressed.

~~~
abledon
You underestimate the power of boredom as a motivating factor to go do
something!

~~~
hrktb
Depending on the mental state of the kid, “doing something” might not be
better in every case.

------
gersh
It'd be helpful if kids actually got a greater chance to see things like where
their food came from or the factories where the things they use get made. Our
modern economy cuts off and hides much of the world and gives them a filtered,
fake sense of reality. When you consider the kids are stuck in a fake reality,
it seems obvious it should cause mental issues.

~~~
paulcole
What farm and/or factories that you visited had the biggest influence on your
life?

~~~
ObsoleteNerd
I've visited dozens of farms and factories, and they without-a-doubt inspired
me to become a geek in the first place. I absolutely loved seeing how things
worked as a kid, pulling things apart, and growing up with a technical dad who
took us to farms and factory tours and stuff.

Seeing automation at factories is what got me into robotics and science
fiction. Seeing the awesome machines at farms (massive tractors, trashers,
large scale crop watering, etc) blew my mind, and got me into mechanics and
vehicle tech. I now hack on cars as my primary hobby (both mechanically, and
electronically).

------
trevyn
In other news, correlation is _still_ not causation.

~~~
dang
"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A
good critical comment teaches us something."

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

------
lern_too_spel
Why is this worrying? Some kids have mental health problems. This doesn't show
that more kids have mental health problems now.

~~~
flashgordon
Actually this article starts with that right? ie 7 hours is worse than 1 hour
(implying more is worse).

>>> Young people who spend seven hours or more a day on screens are more than
twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression or anxiety than those who use
screens for an hour a day, finds a new study published in the journal
Preventive Medicine Reports.

Are you suggesting 1 hour is harmless and 7 hours is extremely rare (assuming
that is already proven) and _hence_ nothing is new in this article?

~~~
lern_too_spel
No, I'm saying that there is no causation here. Kids who spend a lot of time
in front of screens could be doing so because they have mental health issues
or because of another reason entirely (e.g., lack of parenting) that also
causes more mental health issues.

If the same number of kids have mental health issues as before there were so
many screens, there is nothing to worry about. I'll start to worry if more
kids have mental health problems, and then it makes sense to figure out what
is causing that increase.

~~~
darkerside
Wouldn't this still be useful information as a diagnostic tool? If someone is
on a screen for 7 hours a day, it's twice as likely they're depressed. That
seems worth disseminating.

~~~
lern_too_spel
The original title was "There’s Worrying New Research About Kids’ Screen Time
and Their Mental Health." My point is that the article doesn't have anything
worrying in it. Having a new diagnostic tool isn't something to worry about.
If anything, it's the opposite.

