Monitor screen time, content

Common Sense Media out with new rating tool.

A study last year found that teens spend nearly nine hours every day consuming media of some kind, whether it’s TV, music or video games. It’s a staggering amount of time, and the study hit a nerve with many who are concerned about whether all that screen time is creating a glassy-eyed generation of digital natives with stunted social and emotional skills.

The issue, of course, is a little more nuanced than that. And that’s what Common Sense Media, a Web-based media ratings resource for parents, is trying to get at with a new tool that gives parents better resources to judge what’s on their kids’ screens rather than simply monitoring how much time their children spend with gadgets. The group will now rate media not only by looking at violence levels and language, but also by examining what positive character traits kids can pick up from what they watch — making it easier for parents to look at screen time as a tool for development rather than as a thing to be feared.

“The truth is that both screen time and content matter,” said Jim Steyer, executive director at Common Sense Media, which also published the screen time study last year. “You want to limit the amount of screen time and choose good content. We’ve always said we wanted to get parents to the good stuff fast.” It’s a media-saturated world, he said, and it’s become vitally important for parents to be able to understand what their kids are watching and to be able to talk to them about it.

When looking at what shows to rate, Common Sense Media was careful to take a realistic approach to what kids may actually want to watch, rather than simply sticking to educational programming or shows specifically designed to teach lessons. For example, the group’s ratings say that “The Simpsons” can be used teach kids lessons about self-control and the power of communication. “SpongeBob SquarePants” offers lessons about gratitude. “Black-ish” is a good starting point to talk about humility and compassion.

The group has always thought of itself as being a sort of “nutrition labeling” for media, Steyer said, and this latest initiative expands that mandate. And while the ratings rubric is meant to be useful for parents, it can also be a tool for kids — particularly preteens and teenagers — who may want to talk to their parents about why they’re choosing the media they are.