S'pore updates screentime guidelines, citing impact on cognitive development
It's not enough.
Singapore has updated its screentime guidelines. From my experience, it's the bare minimum and just keeping to it is not enough.
Earlier this week, the Ministry of Health (MOH) updated guidelines to provide stricter and clearer advice for parents. I've met and exceeded these guidelines for years with my kids.
And I'll say it plainly - it's hard! But that's a story for another day.
What I want to say is: I don't think it's adequate.
Updated guidelines
A truncated summary of the guidelines:
- Below 18 months: No screen use.
- Up to 6 years: Limit to < 1 hr a day.
- Up to 12 years: Limit to < 2 hrs a day.
And for all, no screens at all during meals or an hour before bedtime.
Apparently, there is a "strong association" between screen use and cognitive development in infants and toddlers.
MOH says: “We’ve reached a critical point. We have enough evidence that prompts us to want to do something than to wait for more evidence to come up.”
Helping kids be in the present
While much of the focus is on the first 1,000 days of a newborn, I've previously written about how unfettered smartphone use has reshaped how our children interact at gatherings.
There's more than one occasion where I'll bring my children to a party or get-together with other children... who then proceed to sit in a row fixated on their devices - without talking.
Or if there is only one kid with a smartphone, the other kids will invariably gather mutely around them watching them play a game – and there will always be one such person.
Setting screen time limits is a great start. But time limits alone won't stop smartphones from robbing our children of their childhood.
There is no simple solution. But unless the Matrix is already upon us, I think we need to do a lot more to help our kids interact - in real life.
