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How Much Screen Time Do You Allow?

Yesterday, I had my first opportunity to see my three-month-old nephew. It was joyous, humbling, and put the importance of time into my life. My two and half-year-old niece was also there and it was both wonderful and difficult to realize I'd not seen her in over a year. Missing that year of her life has been stressful, but yesterday was magical. My eyes could not be taken off of them, and for the most part, theirs on me; except when we were in a public place with a television.

I had bought my niece a chrome book for Christmas, understanding this was jumping the gun, but wanting to be the person who pushes her educationally. I of course, do not understand the first thing about what a chrome book is or why it appears necessary for all school-aged children, because I'm from the school of thought that screens are bad. Apparently, my sister-in-law is from the same school with a more strict principle. The irony, of course, being, she and my brother are glued to their phones (before child two). So I asked her: "How much screen time is she allowed?" She said "With me? None. With your brother? That isn't enforced.

There was no judgment from me because I do know that there are things I'd view as "must see," where I'd allow, if age-appropriate her to watch with me. But I was pleased to hear it. I've long been a proponent of the thought that screen time during the first five years of life is detrimental to a child's ability to observe real-world things and understand how to interact with them. I also think this attention deficit world we live in is largely due to our obsession with screens.

I know I've written about this before, but not sure if it was here or on social media. I've written much more about how we, as adults, need to put down the phone. I saw a wonderful hashtag during Christmas called #DeviceFreeDinner. It made me happy at first and then sad when I realized this needed to be a thing. I can't imagine sitting down to a family dinner and having my phone anywhere near me, let alone on the table or in my hand.

Now, I'm not a phone guy, but I do spend a few hours a day on my laptop, mostly reading the news, history, literature, following sports, and communicating with friends who I can't otherwise. I also rarely watch TV unless it's a sporting event. I watch movies on my laptop, and yes, while my screen time during my times of solitude could be lower, it is almost nil when with another, unless of course, we're at a bar. Even then, I often lose track of who is even playing if the conversation and the drinks are flowing.

So I've thought about it and while I'm not a parent, I don't think this chart is unrealistic. It is not taken from anything and it is not scientific. It is my personal belief and I'd love to hear what yours are and even more so, why.  So how much screen time (phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, TV - shows, movies, gaming) is appropriate?

0-4: None
5-7: Never more than an hour a day
8-10: No more than 10 hours a week including schoolwork.
11-13: No more than 10 hours a week, excluding schoolwork
14-17: Attempt to have no more than 14 hours per week, excluding schoolwork.

I will be honest. I made the amounts higher as I typed this to be more realistic.
I should add, a family sitting down to watch a movie once or twice a week, as long as it doesn't interfere with homework and sleep, is a wonderful bonding moment, as long as mom and dad can keep their devices down too and the movie holds some value.

I doubt I will, but I'd love to hear comments and criticisms.

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