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Beware the call of the modern siren

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There are screens all around us – from TVs to laptops, tablets and cellphones.

Many of us have more than one – some even have one of each.

While screaming at my 10-year-old to get off the iPad, I realised that I was being unfair.

The truth is, we are all slaves to the call of the screen siren.

While it matters less that we adults limit our potential and get fat by sitting and staring at said screens, it matters a whole lot more if we are actively undermining our children’s ability to become fully rounded, socially successful human beings.

This is what we seem to be doing when we let them stare for too long at the flickering lights and inane online content.

The researchers who collated the evidence to formulate Canada’s 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth say screen time is harmful and needs to be strictly controlled – like we do with sugar, fried foods, alcohol and tobacco.

Gayle Edmunds

South Africa’s 24-Hour Movement Guidelines were released in December for children from birth to five years old.

If you think we are doing okay, think again.

For example, from three to five years old our children are supposed to sit for only an hour a day in total, sleep for 10 to 13 hours and move around actively (as in run and jump) for three hours.

Is anyone managing that? I fear not.

Our outdated schooling system is one of the biggest culprits.

Kids who cannot sit still for hours on end are shipped off to specialist schools if you are middle class, and shouted at and labelled as stupid if you are not so lucky.

Our children’s own bodies are telling them they need to move – to jump, play and run – but society has few spaces and even less time for that to happen.

So, then we introduce the joker, a device with endless content that none of us can resist.

After our kids have sat through a day of school, they may do some exercise if they are “sporty” and then go home and do homework.

Then they have earned their screen time (TV, tablet, phone), going to bed with the screen flickering in their minds. In the morning, they start all over again.

On the weekend, screen time is stretched to hours and by the time a week is over, my child (and probably yours) has spent about double to triple the recommended time on a screen.

screen time is harmful and needs to be strictly controlled – like we do with sugar, fried foods, alcohol and tobacco.

We are modelling this behaviour. As he gets home, my husband fires up his tablet to finish the documentary he was watching yesterday; I trawl through my WhatsApp and scroll through Twitter.

The behaviour we are displaying shows our child that screens are an important part of our lives.

Often people say: “Oh, I watch very little TV.” But they are not re-purposing that time to spend with the family; they have simply moved to a different screen.

This year, we are dumping our devices in a bowl by the door as we get home and only fishing them out to go to work the next morning. We will start any day now. Who is with me?

Follow me on Twitter @GayleMahala

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