Reducing children's screen time: Improved sleep and better social skills

Families reported major improvements in their children's sleep and development of better social skills from reducing screen time. Photo /123RF

Dragging kids away from screens can be a nightmare for parents but a new trial has a strategy for getting mini-mes active outdoors.

It's called Play, a soon-to-launch app and rugby ball like no other, created by Spark.

Families who took part testing it for 10 weeks reported improved sleep and better development of their child's social skills.

Children were given a ball which contained a special microchip calculating their time spent outdoors using the ball. It then awarded the young'uns with a certain amount of screen time, which could be decided by the parents.

Though child psychologist Dr Emma Woodward stressed screen time should not be used as a reward, she did see the benefit in prompting a change of habit that could be developed over time.

"To be honest I struggled with the transaction idea of swapping screen time for play time. I don't think that's a good message to put out there because play time [being outdoors] is the reward in itself, it's not the work.

"But children being children, they don't have that mindset so it is helpful to kick-start the motivation until children realise there's so much more fun to be going out playing ball with mum and dad for example," Woodward told the Weekend Herald.

Ten families from across New Zealand took part in the trial, which ran over the Christmas and New Year break.

The results included some families reporting major improvements in their children's sleep and development of better social skills.

World Health Organisation guidelines say infants under one year should not be exposed to any screens, and children between the ages of 2 and 4 should have no more than one hour of "sedentary screen time" each day. For children aged between 5 and 18, it's two hours per day.

Ministry of Health 2019 research has shown a direct link between excessive screen time and an increase in behavioural and mental wellbeing issues, such as an increase in anxiety, poor attention span, acting out behaviours and reduction in quality sleep.

Woodward said parents were often busy and relied on screens more than they thought.

"It's not judgment, because I do it myself, but we do need to be very aware of the way screens impact developing brains and if we are not on top of that we will see a blip in a few years time of a generation who can't self-regulate."

She said screens weren't bad, because they could be a great tool to access information quickly, but the danger was the amount of screen time some children were getting and the unstructured leisure use of that time.

"For example the rolling over of Peppa Pig or flicking through YouTube videos.

"What we are seeing is that children can't tolerate frustration, can't tolerate boredom and they don't self-regulate because the screen has done all that for them, and as a result their brains are underdeveloped."

Woodward said devices don't provide all of the experiences or stimulation children need.

"With non-tech play, you're moving around, you're exercising your body and improving co-ordination and balance.

"When you interact face-to-face, you're using real-time communicative feedback. Real-world experiences are also slower paced and allow kids to learn how to tolerate feelings such as frustration and boredom.

"All of these elements are extremely important for developing resilience and good social skills, which are fundamental to our wellbeing."

The Play ball and app was still being developed and was expected to be made publicly available later this year.

The Mckay family put theory into practice

Auckland family reap the rewards of reducing their screen time. Chelsea Makay and her husband Dave, with their children Willow, 10, Archer, 7, and Wolfe, 4. Photo / Supplied

West Auckland mum-of-three Chelsea Mckay says at the start of the trial she was feeling daunted by her family's screen habits being exposed. "I've always said little to no screens during the week but weekends were just free range.

"They'd be knackered, I'd be knackered and there's no structure to how we monitored their screen time and it did feel like it was getting out of control."

The Mckay family wanted to take back the reins on the weekend, reducing screen time and spending more quality time together as a family.

When she and husband Dave broke the news to their kids that they would be taking part in the trial, they got a mixed response.

"My daughter who is the eldest was interested but my 6-year-old was like nah. His eyes went blank and I'd have to keep reminding him why. For my 4-year-old, it went over his head and he'd have big meltdowns every time I took his screen away."

But after a month, the Mckays had noticed a shift in their children's behaviour and the younger two were sleeping much better. They had no screen time an hour before bed.

"There's still the occasional meltdown but it has been better and I think it will keep getting better over time."

Mckay admitted her kids did try to cheat the system by rolling the ball across the lounge floor to clock more screen time but she eventually cottoned on to that.

"You can tell as a parent what screens do to their little brains. After being on screens, they fight and are moody and it's quite scary, it's like they have a hangover.

"I thought if this is how they act, what is it actually doing to their little brains and is it causing damage that we can't take back."