Plenty of screen time isn’t always bad for kids

One night I was reading my younger sister’s day planner — the one every student gets at the beginning of the year. It included a checklist about staying healthy. One point that stood out to me was “two or less hours of screen time per day.”

It almost made me laugh. What could you do in two hours of screen time? That’s only two episodes of an hourlong show. And then you can’t do anything else on a screen that day.

Right now, in school, I’m using a computer. This counts as screen time, so I’ve already used up about half of my allotment, even though I’m doing something highly educational. This brings me to my question: Should parents limit their kids’ screen time? If so, how long should they have?

First of all, there seems to be a stereotype that, when kids use electronics, they’re wasting time, staring at a screen like a zombie. Nowadays, this normally isn’t the case. I can confidently say I learned more about current events from social media than I did from school last year.

Sure, you can say that “screen time” only counts if it’s non-educational, but where do you draw the line between educational and non-educational?

Video games are shown to help develop creativity, critical thinking and reading skills. A Huffington Post blog entry called “7 Ways Video Games Will Help Your Kids in School” outlines some evidence for this.

My second point is that the internet helps children find their interests. For example, I really like art, so I’ll draw digitally for a few hours or use my phone for a reference.

Does that count as screen time? What if one day I start a career as a digital artist because I’ve spent countless hours practicing on my computer? I sure wouldn’t have the same passion for art if I wasn’t constantly inspired by artists I see on the internet.

I know you may be thinking, if you don’t give kids rules, they’ll spend the whole day on their phones, computer or TV. I believe there are ways around that. For one, parents should be role models. Don’t be that parent who’s on their device 24/7 or your child will be, too.

I understand that, in some circumstances, kids do need guidelines. If I were to make a recommendation for screen time rules, it wouldn’t be “two hours or less.” It would be simply that, once a day, they need to put their devices down and do something else for an hour or two. That’s enough time for kids to complete things they could be putting off, like homework or physical activity.

My rule also stops kids from feeling like they should use up their two hours of screen time all in one sitting.

Finally, I don’t think it should be about whether you have spent more than two hours on a screen or not, but rather, whether you’re spending your time responsibly.

Can you put down your phone or step away from your computer when you should be doing something else? That’s the more important question.