ESK Principal, Mr. MacDonald, collaborates with educational leaders around the world, at the Society of Heads meeting, diving into crucial conversations about education worldwide! This month's topic - the 'Screen Culture'!
A number of the most successful academic institutions worldwide have been taking formal steps in guiding families with regard to ‘screen time’, which includes access to social-media by mobile phone use, and over-exposure to what could be called ‘Screen Culture’. TV, social media, gaming etc on tablets and laptops. An example is Eton College, a renowned all-boys private school in the UK, restricts the use of mobile phones amongst their boarding students, and those under sixteen years of age have their sim-cards placed into ‘Nokia-bricks’ which cannot access social media.
In systematic reviews of literature between 2011 and 2019 of 25 observational studies, it is found that poorer mental health in children and adolescents can be related to over-long exposure to ‘screen culture’. It is well known that a contributory factor is associated with sleep deprivation, and over-stimulation utilising a very narrow range of stimuli (visual/sound) without touch nor personal components.
Balancing Screen Time at Home
One of the simplest things all parents can do in support of good brain development, is to keep mobile phones away from their children overnight.Similarly you should switch off tablets and TV so that adequate sleep can be gained as their children grow. We advise giving thought to the variety of stimuli each child can be exposed to throughout their education.
Not to mention, the value of play, socialization, trips and outings, museums, theatre, concerts, sport and pursuing other interests that do not involve ‘screen time’.
Socially, I frequently witness young families settle for a meal in a restaurant and place the tiniest of children next to a screen to focus their attention. As such, the children then ignore their surroundings, and in turn are ignored in conversation by the rest of the family – the end result must be a form of social deprivation. Many blame the COVID pandemic for stunting social development in the young, however post-pandemic many of us have become addicted to ‘screen culture’. Children travel about inured to a variety of stimuli with headphones in, segregated from others.
Having helped to guide well over 400 talented young people to colleges at Oxford and Cambridge amongst other excellent settings world-wide, I would start your planning when the children are young, to not hinder their cognitive development and limit the prospects for happiness and fulfillment for your children.
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