I was in England over the Christmas break and the topic of screen time for children came up, which caught my attention for both personal and work reasons. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health says parents should take a balanced approach to screen time and that it cannot be prescriptive. This is different from Canadian guidance which recommends no screen time for children under 2 and only one hour a day for children 2-4 years old. You can read the full article here.

An interesting study on Oppositional Defiance. The steps suggested seem overly simple and I look forward to reading the book when its released, where this is explained in greater detail for parents. Healthier use of screen time is mentioned briefly, and there's certainly more information needed in how it relates ODD and its triggered response in children. https://www.monadelahooke.com/oppositional-defiance-faulty-neuroception/

ClassDojo is a system for smartphone and desktop that allows teachers and parents to quickly share information, including homework assignments and pictures and video from school. ClassDojo is used in 70 per cent of Canadian elementary schools, according to numbers obtained from the California-based company. “ClassDojo has helped demystify what we do in class,” said Alexandra Blais, a Grade 1 teacher at École Jules-Verne in Montreal North. Blais uses ClassDojo’s “class story” feature to open...

Grandparents have long been associated with letting their grandchildren do things their parents would never permit. Candy. Extended bedtime. Too much television. Carefree fun. They like to spoil their grandchildren. A new study by Rutgers and other researchers finds that today's grandparents are still true to their traditional fun-loving image -- allowing their grandchildren, while under their supervision, to spend about half of their time on a mobile phone, tablet, computer or TV. The study...

Interestingly, the majority of their sample was related to watching TV, not playing games / cellphones / computers. I think this is a serious limitation of this research, as there are many significant differences in terms of interactivity, reward expectation, and level of stimulation between watching TV and playing online games, for example. As a psychiatrist, I will point out this limitation to my clients and continue to follow Canadian guidelines.

These statistics are interesting. The struggle is real on some level for every generation it seems. I recently addressed a group of 85 concerned grandfathers about screen time with their grandchildren and was inspired to write a blog to help them manage better. https://eyespyhealth.ca/grandp...-with-grandchildren/

The Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM) just launched a new online resource - the Parent Hub - that provides parents/caregivers with information and guidance to help support young people to engage with and enjoy the world of video games while being safe online. Although designed for parents/caregivers, this is also a great resource for teachers, youth workers, mental health clinicians, and anyone who works with young people and their families. (Note: YGAM is a UK-based...

This looks like a great resource for family members - and at every range of the continuum of use. Both visually appealing and informative!

Photo by Ravi Sharma on Unsplash There is rising concern over the impacts of social media on children and teenagers. Lawmakers in California recently proposed a Bill to target Social Media companies and their role in negatively impacting the mental health of children and teenagers. Bill 2408 the Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act was created to help protect these vulnerable groups. Currently in the United States, Social Media companies cannot legally be held responsible for the...

Common Sense Media have published their annual report from a large-scale, national survey of U.S teens and tweens on their media use habits. The report compares media use by teens and tweens before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Within the report, the authors present some recommendations for caregivers and parents as well as policymakers about healthy and safe media use for young people. Below are some key findings from the report: Media use in tweens and teens has grown faster since the...

Curiously following what is going on in the States with social media apps aimed at children and teens... it's a rare issue that seems to get bi-partisan support and traction! The UK is rolling out similar legislation too. This was an interesting article where TikTok and Snapchat in particular were being targeted in the US: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/0...arental-control.html . I think that companies putting the onus on parents with parental controls is a partial solution but also they need...