American Academy of Pediatrics Calls for “Media Diet”
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently issued a policy statement calling on doctors to review patient media use and work with parents to scale back their children’s “entertainment screen time.” The latest in an ongoing series of policy statements addressing media violence, infant media use, and obesity and the media, AAP’s recommendations include encouraging parents to (i) “limit the amount of total entertainment screen time to <1 to 2 hours per day,” (ii) “discourage screen media exposure for children <2 years of age,” (iii) “keep the TV set and Internet-connected electronic devices out of the child’s bedroom,” and (iv) “monitor what media their children are using and accessing, including any Web sites they are visiting and social media sites they may be using.” In addition, AAP has requested that physicians “ask two media questions and provide age-appropriate counseling for families at every well-child visit: How much recreational screen time does your child or teenager consume daily? Is there a TV set or an Internet-connected electronic device (computer, iPad, cell phone) in the child’s or teenager’s bedroom?”
The policy also urges AAP and its local chapters “to challenge manufacturers of products with public health implications (tobacco, alcohol, food) to… make socially responsible decisions on marketing products to youth.” To this end, AAP has advised its members to back “strong regulations—self-regulation is not likely to work—that would restrict the advertising of junk food and fast food to children and adolescents,” as well as legislation that would ban alcohol advertising from television.
“A healthy approach to children’s media use should both minimize potential health risks and foster appropriate and positive media use—in other words, it should promote a healthy ‘media diet,’” one of the policy’s authors, Majorie Hogan, said in an October 28, 2013, press release. “Parents, educators and pediatricians should participate in media education, which means teaching children and adolescents how to make good choices in their media consumption.” See Pediatrics, October 27, 2013.
In a related development, NPR has published a special series titled “Raising Digital Natives: Technology and Our Kids” that focuses on issues surrounding the increasing use of electronic media by infants, children and teenagers. “It’s especially good timing — the American Academy of Pediatrics this morning released new guidelines on whether parents should allow screen time, updating previous rules for the touch screen generation,” writes NPR’s Elise Hu in an October 28, 2013, article announcing the new series, which includes segments on digital citizenship, teen social media use, and the effect of screen time on young children. “And the nonprofit Common Sense Media is showing that among children under age 2, 38 percent had used mobile devices like iPhones and tablets. For children 8 and under, the average amount of time they spend using mobile devices has tripled since a similar survey two years ago.”
