this week Pew Research Center published a study on how parents coped screen time for their children under 12 years of age. The results weren't particularly surprising (or enlightening, if we're being honest). 90 percent of parents said their children watch TV, and 61 percent said their children interact with smartphones at least occasionally. Surprisingly, only 50 percent said it allows them to play on any gaming console. While 42 percent of respondents said they could manage their children's screen time better, 86 percent said they have rules about screens, even if they don't always stick to them.
However, you won't find in the Pew study what those rules are. The fact that a certain percentage of parents “ever” let their children watch TV doesn't give us useful information about how long they watch, what they watch, or how parents make sure they don't watch anything inappropriate.
With my eight year old, we have implemented a sort of barter system that I borrowed from Greg McKeown, author Essentialism. Each week they start with 10 tokens worth a total of $5 or five hours of screen time. They can earn extra time or money by reading. How they use that time is largely up to them: They might be playing Minecraft or watching shows on their kids' Disney+, Netflix, or Paramount+ accounts. They also have access to several music making apps and games on the iPad. But we don't give them unfettered access to the iPad.
Lest you think I primarily manage my kids' screen time with the iron, my youngest gets an hour of (mostly educational) TV a day, just so we can calmly help our elders with homework. And every Saturday we have a family movie night and we take turns choosing what to watch that week.
It also turns out that how much time kids spend in front of screens isn't the biggest problem. Time limits were general, but not universal.
Parents seemed to be most concerned about what their kids were doing with screen time. Social media has become a major concern, with 80 percent of Pew survey respondents saying it does more harm than good. Somewhat shockingly, 15 percent said their children use TikTok, although use of other platforms like Instagram and Facebook is much less common at just 5 percent. 74 percent said they watch YouTube with their children, while only 15 percent said their children don't watch YouTube at all.
The most popular time management tools were the good old fashioned jerking of the device or pressing the power button. Although some use Apple's Screen Time tool to specifically limit iPad use.
Telephones were not common among young children. A Pew survey found that only 29 percent of parents allow their children ages 8 to 10 to have their own smartphone. But as children reach adolescence, they become more common.
Remember that there is no right answer to how to raise children. What works for one parent may not work for another. We're all just doing our best. Or at least 58 percent of us think that weaccording to Pew.
