Advice on screen time

Please find this useful article written by a US teacher, which provides five handy tips for parents when responding to the digital needs of your children:

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/school-year-screen-time-rules-from-a-teacher

In summary, these points cover the following five suggestions:

• Be Present – Perhaps easier said than done in Hong Kong with our busy lives but my own advice is to take an interest in the online activities of your children, whether that be homework, research, gaming, social media etc. Remember that we should be good role models as adults and think about the extent and regularity of our own screen time.
• Control the Wi–fi – This involves some simple rules and time limits. I would suggest that you also include your child in this agreement, so that they agree that the rule is designed to support their learning and well-being.
• Remove the Temptation – Whilst as a school we favour the ‘empowerment model,’ which foregrounds children learning from their own mistakes in using digital technologies we do agree that wherever possible and especially in the lower year groups (7-9) that mobile phone and laptops should be recharging in a communal space rather than in the child’s bedroom.
• Parental Control-Apps – These can help (https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/parents-ultimate-guide-to-parental-controls) but the article also provides parents with a more salient tip, namely the importance of work being completed at the dining room table and not in bedrooms.
• Balance – Games and social media are not intrinsically bad and indeed some recent studies suggest that the negative impact on most children is negligible. However, setting time limits (perhaps 1 hour per day or at weekends) will provide a healthier balance between screen time and other activities, with the wellbeing of our children always being forefront in our approach.

Iain Williamson
Digital Literacy Coordinator