Germana Carillo In the first two years of life, children should not be exposed to any type of screen, while the maximum for teenagers is three hours. Swedish health authorities have issued new recommendations to limit screen time for children and adolescents. How online are we?
Guidelines by the Swedish public health agency, Folkhälsomyndigheten, advise that children under two years of age should not use any digital devices, and children over that age should greatly limit the time they spend on a screen.
The recommendations are among a spate of public health rules designed for parents, amid growing calls across the globe for such regulations. Something needs to be done: the time in front of the screen in Sweden already surpassed four hours per day for children aged 9-12 years and more than seven hours per day among teenagers aged 17-18 years.
We also know that digital media consumption may have adversities for health, such as poorer sleep and symptoms of depression,” said Minister of Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed. “With these age-specific recommendations, we give important support to children, young people, parents, and guardians for healthier, more conscious, and more responsible use of digital media.”
Recommendations by age
According to Swedish authorities, children aged between 2 and 5 should use a screen not more than for one hour in a day, while between 6 and 12, they do not have to use them for more than two hours at most. Teenagers, aged between 13 and 18 years, should limit their screen use to three hours per day.
Folkhälsomyndigheten also recommend avoiding screen use during the period leading to bedtime and not leaving screens on in their bedrooms throughout sleep.
The basis for these strict recommendations is well understood. There is now consensus that anxiety, stress, and panic attacks can be a product of excessive exposure to electronic devices even among the smallest children. This disease, popularly coined as “nomophobia“, has reached the ratio of becoming a common malady of the era. Furthermore, long exposure to digital technology before the age of two causes obstruction in the development of socio-cognitive-emotional development and creates physical problems like “smartphone hump” and curved spine.
