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1. Screen Time Effects on Children

Guarding Vulnerable Brains

intro and encouragement

1. Screen Time Effects on Children

  1. Your role in online safety for your children! 

  2. Stats since pandemic 

    1. Children’s screen time surged during pandemic, study 

    2. Children spent triple the recommended screen time during pandemic, Ontario study  

      1. School's out: Parenting stress and screen time use in school-age children during the COVID-19 pandemic, December 2021  

  3. What is too much screen time?

    1. Canadian Paediatric Association (Screen time recommendations 2022)  

    2. American Paediatric Association (Screen time recommendations 2020)  

  4. Screen time effects on children and teens:

    1. Nicholas Kardaras, addictions expert and author of Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids, cited from Winnipeg CTV News, by Beth Macdonell, February 2017

    2. Heavy Screen Time Rewires Young Brains, For Better And Worse, NPR, November 2016 

    3. The Effects of Too Much Screen Time  

    4. The Age Of Distraction? What Do We Know About Attention During Adolescence?, May 2016

    5. How Tech Addiction Hijacked Our Brains | NBC Left Field, 2019, video  

  5. Screen time and sleep:

    1. Blue Light, Technology, and Teen Sleep, December 2018

    2. Texting at night affects teens' sleep, academic performance, January 2016, Rutgers University  

    3. Sleep in Middle and High School Students, (CDC, US)

    4. How Smartphones Affect Your Sleep, video  

    5. Texting at night affects teens' sleep, academic performance, January 2016, Rutgers University

  6. How screen time changes our behaviours and thoughts:

    1. 3 Ways That Social Media Knows You Better Than Your Friends and Family Do 

    2. NEW! Most Popular Social Networks 2003 - 2022 (Video) 

    3. "State of the Kid", Survey  2013

    4. Former Facebook executive: social media is ripping society apart  

Screen Time Advice for Parents


Children and teens don’t have the impulse control or risk management skills of adults, nor can they imagine the consequences in the future.


  1. Set screen time limits for children and teens:

    • Start with awareness! Begin to track (using built-in settings) the amount of time your children and you spend online each week. 

    • Have a conversation about how everyone feels about how much time they are spending online. 

    • Set ‘sleep’ time for every device.

  1. Have tech-free zones and experiences in your home and with your family:

  1. Have rules about no screens at mealtimes, no screen time for 60 minutes before bedtime, and no devices while driving to and from school or on family vacations.

  1. Recommended sleep and device rules: 

  • No screens in bedrooms. No computer, phone or game console in the bedroom at night.

  • Turn off devices and no screen time for an hour before bed.

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