How to Measure Your Child’s Attachment to Screens
From the first time we cheer them on in front of the Mickey Mouse club to eat our dinner in peace, to the moment they lock themselves in their room to play Fortnite for hours , parents often ask themselves, “How much screen time is too much? ? “
Whether kids can actually become addicted to screens (in the same way we think of addiction to drugs, alcohol, or gambling) is still a matter of controversy. But any parent who has ever let their child entertain themselves with a TV, tablet, or smartphone can tell you that once they taste it, they tend to want more.
Dr. Dimitri Christakis, director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, told the New York Times that when we remove screens, our children lose their maximum dopamine levels:
Pleasant activity triggers the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that sends a signal to the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain involved in planning and organizing tasks. “Do it again, get more,” says Dr. Christakis. (Dopamine release, of course, is not related to screen time. In children, this can happen when they receive praise from their parents or eat a snack when they are hungry.) Then, when parents stop playing games or YouTube videos, kids begin to drop dopamine levels. “It feels painful to give up,” says Dr. Christakis. “You are experiencing temporary withdrawal, as if descending from the top.”
Removing screens altogether is a great idea, but simply impractical for most families. Parents of young children need to cook dinner from time to time, we need more silence and less “How many more minutes until we get there?” on trips, and screens are just the reality of how we are now having fun and interacting with others.
At the same time, we still want our children to play outside, build fortresses and read books, so there must be a balance. That’s why Sara E. Domoff, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Central Michigan (with colleagues from the University of Michigan and Iowa State University), developed a tool to measure problematic media use for parents of children ages 4-11.
If you’re worried that your family’s screen usage is getting out of hand, ask yourself the nine questions below. Rate your answers from 1 (never) to 5 (always). There is no hard and fast “if your score is X, your child is definitely addicted,” but if you have multiple threes, fours, and fives, it’s probably time to make some adjustments.
1. It is difficult for my child to stop using screen media.
2. Screen media is the only thing that seems to motivate my child.
3. Screen media is everything my child seems to think about.
4. The use of multimedia on my child’s screen interferes with family activities.
5. Using my child’s screen media creates problems for the family.
6. My child gets upset when he / she is unable to use screen media.
7. Continues to increase the amount of time my child wants to use screen media.
8. My child is sneaking using screen media.
9. When my child is having a bad day, it seems like screen media is the only thing that makes him / her feel better.
To cut down on screen time at home, you can try creating a family media plan , introducing them to podcasts, or even giving them all the time they want after they’ve completed these four tasks . And you can always use the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics as a guide.