NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

October 1, 1998

Parent Line: Screens Scream for Attention

Kim Bushaw, Parent Line Program Specialist
NDSU Extension Service

Mary is a charming, quiet 4-year-old. She attends the Head Start program in her town. When she is not at school she is home with her grandmother. Mary's mother and father both work long hours and feel fortunate to have Head Start for their daughter to attend. They are also thankful that Grandmother is willing to take care of Mary. But they do worry, because on most long afternoons at Grandmother's, Mary watches TV for hours. Sometimes she talks about the actors as though they were really a part of her world.

Brian is 8 and already looks for ways to make money so he can buy new video games. At first his parents thought it was a great idea that he was so industrious, but now they are rethinking having bought the setup in the first place. Brian races home from school and rarely invites others over to play any more. His parents were hoping the newness would wear off, but 10 months later Brian seems more determined than ever to play until he is chased into bed at night.

TV, videos, movies, video games, computer games—even the Internet—can become a source of concern for parents. Statistics that detail how many hours of TV the average child watches don't include these other forms of screen-staring.

Watch children's programming. Commercial minutes are often filled with foods high in sugars and fat. Time spent sitting in front of the TV is time not spent burning many calories, and often screen-time is spent consuming more high-calorie foods. After all, what's a movie without buttered popcorn?

A second issue is social skills. Children who relate well to a screen, or whose electronic punching and kicking earn them top-scorer status, need to learn a whole different set of skills to get along in the real world, where people are supposed to talk about problems and solve them together.

Children can be desensitized to violence by watching enough of it. This can produce children who may become less sensitive to another human's suffering and more fearful of their world. Hollywood says it isn't so.

Even many parents will say that they grew up watching TV and it never hurt them. But tune in a police or medical drama, watch a slasher video, or try out a violent head-bashing video game—and then remember back to your youth. Did you really have access to this degree of murder and mayhem? Or sexually explicit information?

Albert Bandura of Stanford University was one of the first to research this area and found evidence to conclude that children are more likely to behave aggressively when exposed to TV violence. Hundreds of other studies have made similar claims. And here's an added incentive for keeping tabs on your child's screen-time habits: Children who spend too much time in front of their screen-of-choice may also suffer lower school performance and reading ability.

Experts suggest no more than two hours of screen time per day for children school age and older. They recommend very little screen time for preschool children, and no screen time for children younger than age 2 who need humans to attend to them.

To prevent too much screen time, plan fun alternatives. Be available for your kids. Make a family rule to turn the screen-of-choice off after a limited amount of time.

Preview videos or tape favorite programs of quality. Decide on a viewing schedule together. Try unplugging the set on weekdays during the school year to simplify getting ready for school and bed routines. Watch shows with your children at least periodically to see if programs you once approved of have changed. Talk about it. Play video and computer games together to monitor content. Know what sites your children are visiting on the Internet. Talk about safety and limits.

Good luck, parents, and please, watch your own screens in moderation.

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More than 100 Parent Line columns are in the book "Please Tell Me This is Just a Stage." To order, send $9.95 per copy to Distribution Center, Box 5655, NDSU, Fargo, ND 58105-5655.

Kim Bushaw answers the Parent Line, an information and listening support line for North Dakota parents from the NDSU Extension Service. Call the Parent Line at 1-800-258-0808 (231-7923 in Fargo) with questions about this column and other parenting topics. The Parent Line is answered 7:30 a.m. - 9:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Friday.

Source: Kim Bushaw (701) 231-1070

Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136