From Slate.com:”
On Friday morning, the American Academy of Pediatrics shifted its stance on what is commonly known as “screen time,” abandoning its controversial recommendation to keep children under age 2 away from screen media. Instead, it now provides mostly evidence-based guidance on how to use technology responsibly with kids of all ages.
For researchers who have lobbied the AAP for years to change its rules in response to new studies on children and media, there is one word: Finally.
The policy statements released Friday represent a pivotal moment for anyone who is raising or working with kids. For years, the AAP has been publishing statements on kids and screens in the journal Pediatrics after long periods of vetting and review. Many child-health advocates regard each new installment as the gospel of guidance on using media with children. And for years, those statements have emphasized the negative aspects of screen media and counseled against “exposing” children to it, often relying on older studies on how much time kids spend watching TV. Yet over the past decade, an increasing number of researchers, many educators, and not surprisingly, children’s media developers have pointed to a growing pile of studies that show how children, even at very young ages, can benefit from using media when it catalyzes conversation and is designed for learning. Even pediatricians started calling on the AAP to overturn what felt like arbitrary and unrealistic limits that did not reflect the current science.
The new policy statement on children ages zero to 5 takes into account much of that new research. Instead of recommending outright bans on screens, it directs doctors to ask parents about “family media use,” to help families develop plans for using media with different guidelines for each child, and to educate parents on the importance of “hands-on, unstructured, and social play.” It allows for video chatting no matter what a child’s age, citing new studies on how the use of FaceTime and Skype with distant relatives can benefit children.
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