Limiting Technology Use for Children

Host:  Dr. Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Director for Family and Consumer Sciences Extension, University of Kentucky

Guest: Dr. David Weisenhorn, Extension Specialist for Parenting and Child Development

Episode 5

 0:00 Welcome to Talking FACS. What you need to know about family, food, finance and fitness. Hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension program, our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families and communities to improve quality of life.

0:20  Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Hello and welcome back to Talking FACS. Thank you for listening today. This is your host, Dr. Jennifer Hunter, and I'm the Assistant Director for Family Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky. Today, our guest is Dr. David Weisenhorn, Extension Specialist for Parenting and Child Development. Thank you for coming in today, David.

0:38  Dr. David Weisenhorn: Thank you for having me.

0:39  Dr. Jennifer Hunter: So, today's topic, I think, is one on the minds of many parents out there; Limiting the Use of Technology for Young Children.

O:48  Dr. David Wesienhorn: Not an easy task.

0:49  Dr. Jennifer Hunter: It is not. And we were just briefly talking before we started recording about just how much technology there is out there and it's really and truly a brave new world because there is so much available. It's not something that we grew up with. So, really and truly, as a parent, figuring out for our little ones about how much we should give them access versus how much we need to limit that access is really and truly on a lot of people's minds.

1:13  Dr. David Weisenhorn: Well, and a difficult piece to that is that technology is now tied into this educational component. So, now schools are using technology, as they should be, but using it and mandating that now the work be done on technology. And so, it seems to me that children now have an excuse to say, “Oh, but I'm doing homework” or “I need to do this for a class” and giving them the rights to maybe stay on the electronic devices a little bit longer or surf around. And so, I think it can easily extend into dangerous a number of hours on technology for sure.

1:48  Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right. Just a little story that goes along with that. When my daughter went to preschool and they take all those beginning of the year tests and they take them on the computer, that when we went in for parent-teacher conference, the teacher said, “Oh, you know, she did really well because she knew how to use a mouse” and that most of the kids now use tablets or their parents phone or whatever, but she had seen her older brother have to do homework on the computer and so she kind of played around with the mouse sometimes.

I really sat there and I thought, “I don't know that that's a good thing that my kid was the one that knew how to work the computer”. That maybe we should have limited her use more. But just from that little, you know, she was 4 years old and her productivity was measured on how well she could use the technology. And so, times really are different. And so, again it's figuring out that balance.

2:34  Dr. David Weisenhorn: It is. And here is a balance. Because too much can leave you a bit unhealthy. And some of the things that we've noticed is that there's sleep deprivation, attention deficit and cognitive delays and impaired learning that happen to be correlated. And I'll say that because I don't know that we've got direct evidence that one causes the other, but there can be some unhealthy side effects to high usage of technology. And actually the American Academy of Pediatrics has a recommendation, which I found interesting as a parent of young children. From zero to 2 years, AAP recommends that no screen time for anyone 2 years younger. I'm glad and I find that as good piece of information, but that children older than 2 should be restricted to one hour per day and that children older than 6 should be restricted to two hours per day.

And if we think about that, that's not a lot of time.

3:34  Dr. Jennifer Hunter: That's not a lot of time. No, it's not.

3:36  Dr. David Weisenhorn: Yeah, especially if they're using that inside school. And so, that really puts the pressure, I think, on parents to determine, “Okay, what are these 2 hours if we're dealing with children 6 years or older? What are these 2 hours going to look like and how do I structure that?”

So, there are some things that we can do and one of those is as you and I were talking earlier, Jennifer, you had shared just a wonderful rule that you have in your house is that at bedtime or in the evening, that you all have a docking station that is in your kitchen. That everybody leaves their devices there.

4:10  Dr. Jennifer Hunter: All electronics go into one spot.

4:11  Dr. David Weisenhorn: And that's a great idea. That's a really good way of making sure that children aren't looking at these devices or phones after hours; which can help, I think, with their sleep for sure.

4:23  Dr. Jennifer Hunter: And I think if it's in the child's room, that it's a temptation for them. That if they know that they can easily access it, Mom and Dad might not know that they sneak in that extra YouTube video or cartoon or play that extra game or whatever it may be that they're doing on their device. So, that's just one of those things that we found in our household that it's just best that they know every night that at a certain time, it goes to a certain spot and it gets plugged in and it doesn't get touched until the time the next day that it would be allowed.

4:52  Dr. David Weisenhorn: And the it's to say again, I think it's just a great rule in one way to help monitor how much time they're getting on that. You know, another thing too I found is most kids feel like and as too my children that using their devices is a right and I would argue that. And if you want to play the right then it's a right to be gained and you can gain that right through completing chores or homework or other activities that a parent decides; which chores are really amazing and are necessary and should be in all households. Requiring children to do chores is a good thing and that might be one way to extend some of their time, their usage, on their devices.

Another way I would say that would be helpful is to determine, as a parent, what are other ways we can spend time together? A lot of times, the media usage is not just a child, but the parent is using it an awful lot too.

5:47  Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right.

5:48  Dr. David Weisenhorn: And so, it does kind of have to retrain the family and say, “Okay, what are our values? Maybe we need to reduce our media usage as a family”. And in doing that, the parent can then determine or the kinship caregiver can then determine, “What are we going to do in these other times? Come with ideas”.

6:03  Dr. Jennifer Hunter: And I think that that's a good point of modeling behavior, because I know that my kiddos have certainly called me out at times and I'll say, “But I was looking up a recipe for dinner” or you know, that I feel like that I have a very valid reason for being able to use that technology. But in reality, they also have in their mind what are valid reasons on why they want to be using the technology when I call them out for using it when they shouldn't be.

6:26  Dr. David Weisenhorn: That’s true.

6:27  Dr. Jennifer Hunter: So, I do think it's key as parents that we need to remember to model the behavior. That if they constantly see us looking at a screen, that they think that's normal.

6:35  Dr. David Weisenhorn: And that is an absolute great point and it's extremely valid. As parents, we are the most influential individual in our children's lives. And that is important, not just in this, but in all aspects. They really look to us to determine how to behave, how to respond to things and certainly no different when it comes to technology use. So, yes. Be a good role model and limit your own.

7:02  Dr. Jennifer Hunter: I loved when talked about alternatives to technology, because as I was picking your brain earlier as a parenting specialist, just trying to take some information home for myself about alone time with children and how much independent play that they should have, that we can give them those downtimes without technology to help encourage creativity.

7:25  Dr. David Weisenhorn: Yes.

7:26  Dr. Jennifer Hunter: So, you know, bringing back out the box of crayons or the markers or letting them make their own game or playing make believe, that those are things that we can encourage and skills that we can develop within them as well.

7:37  Dr. David Weisenhorn: Yes, can and should. Absolutely, we should be allowing those opportunities. And I think as great as technology is, that when we use technology and children use technology, it does take away from some of this more creative play and some of the other things that a child needs to have and needs to experience in order to learn. And so yes, I 100% agree the fact that we need other activities; blow the dust off those crayons and those coloring books and reintroduce them.

8:04  Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right. Well, this is this is great, David and thank you so much for being with us today. I know this is a topic that's on my mind a lot. It's on a lot of my friends’ minds as well. As moms, we try to sit around and talk about, you know, the expectations that our kiddos might have for technology versus how comfortable we are allowing them to use technology, restrictions, etcetera. So, thank you for joining us today and sharing tips with us.

8:29  Dr. David Weisenhorn: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

8:32  Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition, health, resource management, family development and civic engagement. If you enjoyed today's podcast, have a question or a show topic idea, leave a like and comment on Facebook at UKFCSExt. Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu or contact your local extension agent for Family and Consumer Sciences. We build strong families. It starts with us.