What is the right age for children to have access to screens?

Today, it is difficult to find a child who is not connected to any screen with a game or watching a drawing. It is also rare to see a teenager without a smartphone in his hand. The new generations, which were born with the digital revolution, are hyperconnected and this reality worries experts and parents due to the impacts on mental and physical health.

Recently, the death of two children, 8 and 11, related to online challenges, caught the attention of parents and medical society to the content accessed by children. Both victims had inhaled aerosol in a deodorant challenge.

In addition, according to a survey conducted in April by Porto Digital, in partnership with Offise, a company specializing in market studies in Latin America and the Hispanic universe, nine in 10 Brazilians believe that young people do not have enough emotional and social support on social networks.

Another recent work, published this month in the journal Nature Human Behavior, showed that adolescents between 11 and 19 years old with mental health problems spend more time on social networks than those without disorders.

It is in the face of this scenario that initiatives such as the disconnect movement arise. The organization aims to reduce, control and postpone access to smartphones and social networks by children and adolescents. For this, she proposes a collective agreement for postpone the delivery of the phone up to at least 14 years and access to social networks up to at least 16 .

“These ages were chosen by the movement because they are the most common recommendations made by specialists in child development, psychologists and all professionals working with mental and digital health of children and adolescents,” says Antonia Brandão Teixeira, co-founder and member of the Movement Executive Committee to disconnect CNN .

Why postpone access to screens and social networks?

According to Lilian Vendrame, psychologist and neuropsychologist specializing in adolescence, it is important to postpone access to screens and social networks by children to preserve cognitive and social development . She cites the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation, which states that children under two should not have access to screens, for example, and for children from two to seven years, this access should be only one hour a day.

“Today we see children up to a year with tablet in hand, and there may be a loss in the process of cognitive development, social skill, memory and attention,” he says to CNN . “In this age group, the child is developing sensations, so much so that the baby always puts his hand in his mouth. If I do not make room for the development of attention and thought, there may be damage,” he adds.

In the case of older children, two to seven years old, and pre-teens, the risk is in the damage to the development of social, memory and language skills. “If I leave a child all day with a tablet, it may not have the memory ability developed,” he adds. “At the beginning of pre-adolescence, social ability needs to be developed in the guy,” he says.

According to the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics (SBP), the recommendations for the use of age screens are:

• Under 2 years : No contact with screens or video games;
• From 2 to 5 years : Up to an hour a day;
• From 6 to 10 years : between one and two hours a day;
• From 11 to 18 years : Between two and three hours a day.

However, Vendrame points out that the role of parents and responsible in the imposition of limits is important . “There are children’s books that talk about the limits of screens use, so I believe it is missing a lot today, even in the adult itself, to have notion of this limit,” he says. “Parents need to be aware of reading and talking to their children,” he adds.

My son already has a smartphone. And now?

In the case of parents who have already allowed access to screens for children and adolescents-and, in cases of children who already have their own smartphone or tablet for personal use-it is important to be aware of the care and measures that can protect them from eventual dangers of the Internet and the impacts of health screens.

“I believe that parents who have already given access to social networks did this without knowing all the harm. Until a few years ago, we didn’t have so much evidence about the risks. Today they are clear,” says Teixeira. “So it is up to us – fathers, mothers and families – to inform us and make us aware of these harms,” ​​he adds.

In addition, the co-founder of the disconnect movement considers families important bet on control tools . “It is important, when we give this device to our children, to have this control. There are tools that help us somehow control at least use time, block access to site that are not suitable for children and adolescents, limit access to games that we know are insecure, and exchange knowledge with other parents and other families,” he adds.

Added to these issues, Vendrame adds that parents must be needed Old Habits Resume with Children . “Due to hyperconnectivity [que os adultos também estão inseridos, segundo a especialista]we no longer expand our look at the problem solving. We need to do the exercise of looking back, seeing what was done in the past and trying to adapt it to the world we currently live in, ”he says.

In this sense, it is interesting to resume games outside the digital environment, such as games, physical toys, outdoor activities, readings, paintings, among other activities.

Warning signs for parents to be aware

Netflix’s “Adolescence” series has put out the dangers that social networks can offer teenagers such as cyberbullying. For the parents of the main character of the production, the revelation that his son was suffering a type of violence on the Internet is shocking: they were not aware of the harmful ideas to which children under their care are exposed and how it influences their lives.

Although fictitious, the narrative widens the possible disconnection that parents can have of their children in the adolescence phase, especially with regard to their presence on social networks. Therefore, it is important that those responsible are aware of warning signs that indicate damage to mental health or behavioral risks related to the internet.

According to Vendrame and Teixeira, they are:

• Disinterest in friends or outdoor activities;
• Disinterest in the practice of physical activities that were previously practiced;
• Spend many hours inside the room on the internet;
• Greater irritability or reactivity;
• Difficulty dealing with no and the limits imposed by parents;
• Behavior change;
• Abrupt change in the way of dressing.

Excess screens also affects mental health of adults; See Signs

This content was originally published in what right age for children to have access to screens? on the CNN Brazil website.

Source: CNN Brasil