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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| I’d like to ban screens. But sometimes domestic harmony depends on Peppa Pig | I’d like to ban screens. But sometimes domestic harmony depends on Peppa Pig |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| It is the Easter holidays, and on the streets of New York, the happy sounds of the coming of spring: children’s laughter, birdsong and the thin, repetitive jingles turned out by animation factories in distant lands and uploaded on to kids’ YouTube, to be consumed like crack. A few days into the holiday, and you can’t stand in line in a supermarket without the strains of a smartphone issuing from the depths of a stroller. | |
| WHO warnings over children's screen time disputed by UK experts | WHO warnings over children's screen time disputed by UK experts |
| I have never banned screens in my house, partly through laziness and partly through some vague notion that banning things only adds to their appeal. This has had mixed results, in line with most of my efforts to do psychology on my kids. I let them “choose” not to do homework, with the result that, after four months of not doing homework, they now rush in to do homework as if it’s the most thrilling thing. | I have never banned screens in my house, partly through laziness and partly through some vague notion that banning things only adds to their appeal. This has had mixed results, in line with most of my efforts to do psychology on my kids. I let them “choose” not to do homework, with the result that, after four months of not doing homework, they now rush in to do homework as if it’s the most thrilling thing. |
| I have been slack about not handing out snacks before mealtimes, and this definitely hasn’t worked. As a child I remember those households where my friends’ parents kept the biscuit tin under lock and key, a move that even at the time I thought neurotic. On the other hand, we have just emerged from a dark period when everyone in my house basically had Oreos for dinner. | I have been slack about not handing out snacks before mealtimes, and this definitely hasn’t worked. As a child I remember those households where my friends’ parents kept the biscuit tin under lock and key, a move that even at the time I thought neurotic. On the other hand, we have just emerged from a dark period when everyone in my house basically had Oreos for dinner. |
| It’s on the matter of screens that I vacillate most wildly. This week, the World Health Organization released new guidelines suggesting that infants under the age of one should have no exposure to screens whatsoever, and that those between two and four should have no more than one hour a day. | It’s on the matter of screens that I vacillate most wildly. This week, the World Health Organization released new guidelines suggesting that infants under the age of one should have no exposure to screens whatsoever, and that those between two and four should have no more than one hour a day. |
| This is broadly in line with guidelines issued a few years ago by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which suggested no screen time for those under 18 months and only “high-quality programming” under the age of two, always in the company of an adult. | This is broadly in line with guidelines issued a few years ago by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which suggested no screen time for those under 18 months and only “high-quality programming” under the age of two, always in the company of an adult. |
| It’s the latter provision that is the hardest to enforce. Peppa Pig clearly falls under quality programming, but does watching the same 10 episodes again and again negate that? I let my kids watch an hour of David Attenborough the other day – the very definition of quality! – then wondered if, for a four-year-old, the lion kill was too much like snuff. | It’s the latter provision that is the hardest to enforce. Peppa Pig clearly falls under quality programming, but does watching the same 10 episodes again and again negate that? I let my kids watch an hour of David Attenborough the other day – the very definition of quality! – then wondered if, for a four-year-old, the lion kill was too much like snuff. |
| In January, the “song” Baby Shark – to which nobody, apparently, owns the rights – accompanied by terrible animations, entered the charts, thanks to the millions of kids watching it on YouTube. Like the Finger Family Song, it is used by the content factories to drive senseless five minute clips that appear irresistible to small children. It’s better than the millions of videos aimed at kids that feature adults mindlessly unwrapping presents, but its addictive qualities are unnerving. | In January, the “song” Baby Shark – to which nobody, apparently, owns the rights – accompanied by terrible animations, entered the charts, thanks to the millions of kids watching it on YouTube. Like the Finger Family Song, it is used by the content factories to drive senseless five minute clips that appear irresistible to small children. It’s better than the millions of videos aimed at kids that feature adults mindlessly unwrapping presents, but its addictive qualities are unnerving. |
| I still can’t bring myself to issue an outright ban. The screen is too useful: the only surefire fix when everyone is too tired and cranky to play, and a dinner has yet to be made. But when the iPads broke, I didn’t replace them, and there have been a few occasions recently when one of my children has voluntarily put down the phone to go and do something more interesting instead. I know it’s only the beginning of what for them, as for us, may be a lifelong battle against screen addiction. But it feels like a start. | I still can’t bring myself to issue an outright ban. The screen is too useful: the only surefire fix when everyone is too tired and cranky to play, and a dinner has yet to be made. But when the iPads broke, I didn’t replace them, and there have been a few occasions recently when one of my children has voluntarily put down the phone to go and do something more interesting instead. I know it’s only the beginning of what for them, as for us, may be a lifelong battle against screen addiction. But it feels like a start. |
| • Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist | • Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist |
| Parents and parenting | Parents and parenting |
| Opinion | Opinion |
| Children | Children |
| Television | Television |
| Smartphones | Smartphones |
| Mobile phones | Mobile phones |
| Digital media | Digital media |
| World Health Organization | World Health Organization |
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