Why we all really need Screen-Free Week this year

Follow me on Twitter @drClaire It’s Screen-Free Week this week: from April 30th to May 6th, families are encouraged to turn off the screens and enjoy the non-digital world. As a pediatrician, I believe that we need to do this more than we ever have before. It used to be that “screens” were only televisions (with video games possibly attached to them) and computers, which were used more for work than anything else. But now, screens are ubiquitous and intertwined with all aspects of daily life. There’s no denying that smartphones, tablets, and laptops have the capacity to make our lives easier and better. Information about anything is readily available, shopping is streamlined, we have the ability to be in real-time contact with anyone around the world, education and medical treatment can reach to places where both are scarce… the innovations are incredible. But there is also no denying that our screen culture has some serious downsides. Smartphones and other screens interfere with parental interactions with children, which can impact a child’s development — and impact relationships (if you haven’t watched Will Ferrell’s video for the Device-Free Dinner movement, you should — it will make you laugh and cringe at the same time). They interfere with everyone’s sleep, especially teens. They get us into accidents while driving or walking. They distract us from the world around us, in general. There is growing concern that some people are actually becoming addi...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Children's Health Parenting Source Type: blogs