Navigating Technology and Screen Time for Preschoolers

Finding Balance and Benefits

In today's digital age, technology plays a significant role in our daily lives, this includes the lives of young children. As parents, navigating the use of technology and screen time for preschoolers can be both beneficial and a clear challenge. How can we harness the positive aspects of technology while also ensuring it doesn't overshadow the traditional learning and play that we know are so beneficial? Finding that balance will be the key! Let's explore the guidelines, concerns and benefits for appropriate use of technology for young children:

Balancing Benefits and Risks

As a preschool parent, here are the concerns that I have with screen time:

Developmental Impact: Excessive screen time can potentially affect children's cognitive and social-emotional development, especially screen time for children under 2.

Health Concerns: Sedentary behavior associated with prolonged screen time may contribute to physical health issues like obesity. I also believe the overstimulation or screen time right before bedtime can definitely lead to sleep issues or difficulty falling asleep.

Content Exposure: Inappropriate content or ads can inadvertently be accessed, impacting children's understanding of the world. Not only that, there is a lot of content out there that is designed for very young children that is overstimulating. They are created with the intention of having your child sit and watch for hours at end. I see a lot of this with Youtube content!

Guidelines for Appropriate Use

These are our suggestions and guidelines for appropriate use of technology and for ways to feel confident about your child’s screen time:

Age-Appropriate Content: Choose high-quality, age-appropriate apps, games, and videos that align with educational goals and promote positive values that you believe in! (This may vary from family to family).

Screen Time Limits: Follow guidelines from organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which recommends limiting screen time for preschoolers to 1 hour per day of high-quality programming. The screen time limits on Apple devices has been a HUGE help with this! (Thank you Apple!)

Co-Viewing and Engagement: Watch and interact with your child during screen time to promote active engagement and facilitate the learning opportunities that arise. Engaging, questioning and talking about the screen time with your child will bring so many benefits! This can be one of the large benefits of technology! For example, my son asked me about giraffes and how tall giraffes were. I pulled out my computer and we watched a whole segment about giraffes. We watched together and we both learned new things! If you’d like to learn a little about giraffes as well, here is the video we watched!

Balance with Offline Activities: Encourage a balanced approach. Try to make sure you also promote outdoor play, creative activities, and social interactions/play dates.

Educational Value: Try to prioritize educational apps and programs that encourage learning, creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. We created our Class with Chloe preschool platform for this purpose! We wanted safe, educational, interactive and ad-free content online that is not overly stimulating for young children…screen time you can feel good about!!

Addressing the Concerns

Monitor Usage: Keep track of your child's screen time usage and see if it changes their behavior. I knew I was allowing too much screen time when I started to see a change in behavior. It was then where I reassessed and adjusted our family’s screen time rules…which brings us to recommendation #2 below.

Establish Screen Time Rules: Designate areas or times where screen time is allowed or not allowed.

Model Healthy Habits: This is a hard one for some of us!! Be a positive role model by demonstrating healthy screen time habits (Yes, you!) and make sure you are engaging in screen-free activities together as a family.

Digital Citizenship: As children get older, it is important to teach children about internet safety, respectful online behavior, and the importance of privacy when using digital devices.

Benefits of Technology in Early Childhood Education

A Valuable Learning Tool: Technology can enhance learning experiences through interactive games and simulations that cater to different learning styles.

Access to Information: With technology, we also have a plethora of information at our fingers (something I did not have back in the day) - we can use this to our benefit!

Skill Development: Allowing limited technology at a young age supports the development of digital literacy, problem-solving skills, and familiarity with technology that will be essential for future academic and career success.

Navigating technology and screen time for preschoolers requires thoughtful consideration, balance, and a high level of parental involvement. Though it can often be a saving grace and/or a headache, by setting clear guidelines, selecting appropriate content, and promoting active engagement, we can harness the benefits of technology while mitigating those potential risks.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Remember, technology should complement, not replace, hands-on learning experiences, imaginative play, and social interactions essential for children's development.