{"id":168,"date":"2017-10-16T18:53:33","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T01:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0037\/?p=168"},"modified":"2017-10-16T18:53:33","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T01:53:33","slug":"myths-hype-screen-time-guidelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0037\/myths-hype-screen-time-guidelines\/","title":{"rendered":"Myths & Hype: Screen Time Guidelines"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Etchells et al. (2017) responds to an article in The Guardian titled, “Screen-based lifestyle harms children’s health” (Palmer et al., 2016), disagreeing with the perceived underlying message of the article that screens are inherently harmful and implying that the article was “moral panic about the impact of new technologies on our behaviour and development” (Etchells et al., 2017, para 1).\u00a0 Specifically, Etchells et al. (2017) argues that there is not sufficient research to implement policy guidelines and that additional research is required.<\/p>\n

Despite the article’s title, Palmer et al. (2016) only mentions screen-time twice in the article, once in the first paragraph where they state four large issues that they believe are undermining children’s health and well-being and once in a subparagraph where the recommend, “National guidelines on screen-based technology for children up to the age of 12, produced by recognised authorities in child health and development” (Palmer et al., 2016, para 3).\u00a0 As Palmer et al. (2016) are recommending a recognised authority produces guidelines, this could in fact involve research if the recognised authority deems there is insufficient evidence.\u00a0 Additionally, Palmer et al. (2016) does recognise the issue is complex and there are numerous factors and has indeed cited four influential factors.\u00a0 So, in many ways although Etchells et al. (2017) are setting themselves up as an adversary, the desire to focus on children’s health and further understand and progress the issue appears to be something that they share with Palmer et al. (2016).<\/p>\n

As a mother, I found Etchells et al.’s response unhelpful as they did not provide any guidance that could help even though they linked to several articles that specifically identified areas where there are known impacts of technology.\u00a0 For example, George & Odgers (2015) noted, “Sleep is one area where there is now compelling evidence that adolescents\u2019 use of new technologies is having adverse effects on sleep duration and quality” (p. 16).\u00a0 A far more useful response is given by Livingston (2016) where she examines the American Academy of Pediatrics stance on screen time and the evidence behind it.\u00a0 This examination provides readers with a balanced viewpoint helping parents understand some of the nuances that Etchells et al. (2017) merely referred to as complex.\u00a0 Overall, Etchells et al. (2017) could have used the opportunity to help parents understand some of the things we do know about what is a very complex issue and instead their only recommendation is for more research.\u00a0 I find their approach to be antagonistic within the scientific community and uninformative to the public at large.<\/p>\n

References:<\/p>\n

Etchells, P., et al. (January 6, 2017).\u00a0Screen Time Guidelines should be built on evidence, not hype.\u00a0The Guardian<\/i>.\u00a0 Retrieved from:\u00a0\u00a0https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/head-quarters\/2017\/jan\/06\/screen-time-guidelines-need-to-be-built-on-evidence-not-hype<\/p>\n

George, M. J., & Odgers, C. L. (2015). Seven fears and the science of how mobile technologies may be influencing adolescents in the digital age.\u00a0Perspectives on psychological science<\/i>,\u00a010<\/i>(6), 832-851.\u00a0 Retrieved from:\u00a0https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4654691\/pdf\/nihms704598.pdf<\/p>\n

Livingstone, S. (October 21, 2016). New screen time rules from the American Academy of Pediatrics.\u00a0 Retrieved from:\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/blogs.lse.ac.uk\/mediapolicyproject\/2016\/10\/24\/new-screen-time-rules-from-the-american-academy-of-pediatrics\/<\/p>\n

Palmer, S., et al. (December 26, 2016).\u00a0<\/span>Screen-based lifestyle harms children\u2019s health.\u00a0\u00a0The Guardian<\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Retrieved from: https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/education\/2016\/dec\/25\/screen-based-lifestyle-harms-health-of-children<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Etchells et al. (2017) responds to an article in The Guardian titled, “Screen-based lifestyle harms children’s health” (Palmer et al., 2016), disagreeing with the perceived underlying message of the article that screens are inherently harmful and implying that the article was “moral panic about the impact of new technologies on our behaviour and development” (Etchells […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[42,41,40,43],"class_list":["post-168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt523","tag-activity-8","tag-debate","tag-screen-time","tag-sleep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0037\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0037\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0037\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0037\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0037\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0037\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0037\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions\/170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0037\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0037\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0037\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}