![\"Image](\"https:\/\/alantierney.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/lovejoy3.jpg\")
<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nI have been in the camp that argues –\u00a0 “well I didn’t do that as a kid”, “when I was a kid we didn’t have tablets, or the internet and we didn’t wear helmets… and look how I turned out,” “kids today are soft…” etc. I am in this camp; however, I am not being completely ignorant of 21st century reality, and I generally accept change when it comes to technology. After all, this generation has tablets and the internet, their parents didn’t. My parents’ generation had polio and measles and mine didn’t. Not all change is bad.uardian,\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Screen Time Guidelines should be built on evidence, not hype<\/a>, <\/em>a larger societal problem becomes apparent. With the omni-presence of social media, and superfluous impact of traditional news media, society has become less critical of what they consume, and are quick to jump to generalisations based on the knowledge of a bygone societies norms without looking for that inconvenient truth in the matter. The article identifies that there is not sufficient evidence to support the detrimental effect of screen time on children, but the masses (who write to the Guardian anyway) see things differently, and source their views on public opinion and unsubstantiated\u00a0generalisations.<\/p>\n I am a hypocrite. I will still limit the screen-time of my kids despite the apparent lack of evidence to suggest that it is in anyway stunting the growth of Canada\u2019s future Prime Ministers and astronauts. Because, from my own casual observational research based largely on my knowledge of my own kids, and how I see their friends and the various hundreds that I teach operate, I don’t like the laziness I see in children whose parents are not active in their child’s lives. I don’t like the child who cannot hold a conversation, or complete an activity without looking at their phone every time it buzzes because they have not been shown how to function in a socially appropriate manner by their parents.\u00a0 Is screen time to blame? The research says no, but when screen time is coupled with laissez-faire parenting, it is difficult to argue. (here you could because I provide no scientific research to suggest that I am in fact right: I am a hypocrite). Social skills still need to be taught. I take solace in the knowledge that research does not seem to support any psychologically damaging impacts related to the amount of screen time a child has. But, to all of these parents writing to the Guardian demanding government regulations etc. I question how much of an active role they have taken in their child’s lives? Someone should research that, though finding willing participants could prove tricky. A Development Autistic Research Technology (2016) article\u00a0linked\u00a0within the Guardian article notes concerns of the Guardian readership:<\/p>\n Physical health problems like obesity continue to escalate, and mental health problems among children and young people are approaching crisis levels.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n The article rightly points out that video games and other screen time uses are not to blame exclusively, but they are relatively new, and do coincide with the “obesity epidemic”, so they are an easy scapegoat. More research, the article notes, is required, but so too is objective evaluation of all of the various distractions that life in the 21st century provides.<\/p>\n References<\/p>\n Guest Blogger. (2016). A response to “Screen based lifestyle harms children’s health”.\u00a0 Development Autism Research Technoloogy (DART).\u00a0<\/em>December 30, 2016. Retrieved from:\u00a0http:\/\/www.dart.ed.ac.uk\/guardian_letter\/<\/p>\n Etchells, P., et al. (January 6, 2017).\u00a0Screen Time Guidelines should be built on evidence, not hype<\/a>.\u00a0The Guardian<\/i>. January 6, 2017. Retrieved from\u00a0https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/head-quarters\/2017\/jan\/06\/screen-time-guidelines-need-to-be-built-on-evidence-not-hype<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have been a parent now for nine years, and while I have never written a scathing letter to the Guardian bemoaning societal neglect of children and the use of devices as digital babysitters, “screen-time” is something I have tried to regulate as a parent of three girls aged 3-9. I have been in the … Continue reading The Kids are Alright: Parents need to Parent<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt523","category-uncategorized","tag-rrumalat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":523,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions\/523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Image](\"http:\/\/tshirtsonfilm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Robbie-Williams-%E2%80%93-I-Blame-the-Parents-T-shirt.jpg\")
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