Considering The Issue of Screen Time

The news has been full of stories lately about the effects of "screen time" on children and teens. Just last weekend, 60 Minutes ran a story about a new research study that will follow 11,000 kids (currently ages 9-10) for the next ten years to determine changes in their brains related to time spent on digital devices. Pediatricians advise avoiding screen time for children under 18 months, with the exception of video chatting. There are suggestions that time spent on screens can lead to mental health problems.

So what should we, as teachers, know about this issue? How can we prepare our students for a digital world without exposing them to harm in the process? What role do we play in helping students learn to manage their own behavior in order to limit any negative impact from time spent on devices?

As we work to develop resilient, self-directed learners, critical and creative thinkers, collaborative team players, and productive responsible citizens, perhaps finding an answer to these questions begins with the ideas of balance and purpose. If we intentionally plan our instruction to include technology use that promotes those skills and habits defined by our mission statement, and balance that with "unplugged" activities and face-to-face social interactions, we can model for our students safe and effective attitudes and behaviors surrounding digital devices. Mitchel Resnick of MIT's Media Lab says, "The focus shouldn’t be on which technologies children are using, but rather what children are doing with them." Read on for ideas on how we can help students learn, create, and connect with technology in positive ways.

CREATE...

We learn by doing, so it's important for students to have opportunities to make things that demonstrate their learning. This can include physical objects or performances, but it can also include digital artifacts such as videos, podcasts, computer code, websites, etc. If we want to maximize the positive impact of the time students spend on devices, we'll look for ways to have them create. Creating in the physical world is still vital and shouldn't be replaced by digital creation, but digital tools provide one more way for students to express themselves and share their learning, often with an audience beyond just the classroom.

Students can create images, videos, audio recordings, podcasts, presentations, and more. Providing choice in how they demonstrate their learning honors the human lens by allowing each student to leverage their own interests and abilities.

• Create digital stories using tools such as WeVideo, Adobe Spark, or iMovie.
• Turn data into an infographic using Canva (13 and over), Piktochart (16 and over), or Google Drawings.
• Build an app or game in Scratch or Scratch Jr.
• Write code to make a robot demonstrate a skill or retell a sequence of events.
• Publish a website using Google Sites.
• Design and create a digital breakout (and see if classmates can solve it).
• Use SketchUp for Schools or Tinkercad (13 and over) to design a 3-D model.
• Report "from the scene" of an event using the green screen features in WeVideo or the Green Screen by DoInk app.

Balance and purpose For All

As with anything in life, balance is key. In today's world, it's important that students learn to use and manage a myriad of digital tools and resources. But they also need to cut and glue and draw. They need to build block towers and fly paper airplanes. They need to talk to one another and learn to argue appropriately. They need to sit in a beanbag chair and read. They need to run and jump and play on the monkey bars. They need time to unplug and just breathe.

As Beth Holland wrote in Edutopia: "Technology and mobile devices provide students with both ubiquitous access to information and unlimited distraction. The challenge is how to teach self-awareness and self-management. Do our students know how to control their devices instead of the other way around? Do they know what they need to do to maintain their focus and allow their brains to process the context around them?"

Most kids will require our guidance and support to do learn to do all of this successfully. We can't control the time our students spend on devices outside of school or what they're doing with that time. But we can control what happens in our classrooms. As the lead learners, it's up to us to ensure that their "screen time" in school is meaningful time, intentionally designed to help them learn, create, and connect.