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  • Screen time tips to support 0-5 year olds

Balancing screen time

Top tips to support children 0-5 (Early years)

 

A balanced use of screen can offer children key benefits to help them to learn, explore and interact with the world around them.

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Get simple tips to put balance and purpose behind screen time to help young children in Early Years (0-5) benefit from their screen use.

5 top tips to help 0-5s balance screen time

Get simple tips to put balance and purpose behind screen time to help young children benefit from their screen use.

How are children using screens?
  • 36% play games online for nearly 6 hours a week
  • 69% use tablets to go online
  • 8 out of 10 of 3-4s who use YouTube watch cartoons and funny videos
  • 52% are online almost 9 hours a week

Source: Ofcom children and parents media use and attitudes 2018

What are the benefits and challenges of screen use?

Screen time benefits

  • Screen use provides a range of opportunities for creativity and learning – 70% of parents strongly agree that using devices is essential for their child’s development – Source: Internet Matters Look both ways report.
  • Screens can be a great tool to allow children to maintain relationships with family and friends.
  • For low-income households, screens can help ease the burden when looking to entertain children.

Screen time challenges

  • Young children might stumble across inappropriate content that may have a negative impact on their digital wellbeing.
  • Passive screen time could have a physical effect on their development (i.e. eyes, brain), sleep cycle and behaviour.
  • Younger children may not understand the concept of what the internet is and how it works so could find it hard to differentiate between what is real and what is fake.
Tip 1 - Set rules on the use of screens in and out of the home
  • Establish a family agreement together to manage expectations of how screens and online platforms should be used and why.
  • Set rules to meet the needs of each child based on their use, interest, and engagement of screens and consider how screen time can complement what they do offline.
  • Make sure to stick to the rules and model the behaviour you’d like to follow to make it a success. It’s a good idea to review the rules as children grow and become more active online.
  • For younger children, it’s important to prioritise face-to-face interactions and apps that encourage active play to support their development of language and other skills.
Tip 2 - Make family time and sleep a priority over screens

By creating device free zone at meal times and around the home and making use of tools to set limits on when screens can be used, you can improve family interactions and reduce interruptions to children’s bedtime routine.

Experts recommend switching off screens at least an hour before bedtime to give young children time to wind down.

Tip 3 - Play, watch and discover together

As young children take their first digital footsteps, play, watch and discover together to stay engaged in what they are doing and create spaces to talk about what they enjoy and how to stay safe.

This will help them feel more confident in coming to you if they get stuck or see something that makes them feel uncomfortable. It’s also important to stay calm and not overreact when children tell you what has gone wrong.

Tip 4 - Take the lead when choosing what they see and do on screens

Together find age-appropriate apps, websites and games that will give your child a way to explore their passions, enhance their skills while building their confidence in navigating the online world.

Be sure to make use of free tech tools on the apps and devices they use to create a safer space for them to explore online.

Tools like Apple’s Screen time and Google’s Digital Wellbeing dashboard can give you an overview of what they are spending their time on which you can use as a starting point to talk about ways to improve their screen use and protect their digital wellbeing.

Tip 5 - Set a good example with your own screen use

Children will tend to model their behaviour on you, so if you encourage them to take breaks when on screen or leave phones out of the bedroom at night, they will follow your lead.

How to recognise when screen time is ‘too much’

Often a sign that a child is spending too much time on screens is when they may feel anxiety or stress if they are disconnected or separated from their phone.

Lack of sleep and exercise and no willingness to visit friends may be a sign they need to take a break from their device.

The truth about screen time

Not all screen time is created equal so it’s important to encourage children to have a healthy balance between passive screen time (i.e watching YouTube) and interactive screen time (i.e. creating content or playing games online).

There is no safe level of screen time but it doesn’t mean that all screen time is harmful. Lack of evidence has meant that experts have found it hard to recommend a cut-off for children screen time overall.

One size does not fit all when it comes to screen time – it’s more about getting it right for your families needs.

See other screen time age guides

5-7s screen time tips

7-11s screen time tips

11-14 screen time tips

14+ screen time tips

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More to explore

See related advice and practical tips to support children online:

  • Advice for 0-5 years
  • Inappropriate content resources
  • Screen time resources
  • Support wellbeing with tech

On site links

  • Digital Resilience Toolkit
  • Online safety issues
  • Screen time advice hub

Related Web Links

UK CMO commentary on screen time and social media map of reviews

RCPCH – The health impacts of screen time – a guide for clinicians and parents

Childnet – Young children and screen time guide

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