Has Increased Screentime During The Pandemic Hurt Our Kids?

When schools shut down last spring no one knew how long it would be until they re-opened. Most of us assumed it would be a matter of weeks or months. But, now, one year later… many  schools around the country are still fully or partially virtual. 

This shift to virtual learning has caused us all to reevaluate our relationship with screens. While in the past, we may have had deep concerns about how much time our children were spending online, in many cases this year has altered our perspective.

The Good

For so long we’ve thought of screens as a subpar replacement for real in-person interactions. But, with face-to-face contact not an option for many people, we’ve started to find that there are some benefits to learning and socializing online.

Easing the isolation

The pandemic has been an extremely isolating time for our kids. So much of childhood is about learning how to socialize in healthy ways. Without the everyday interactions of school and friends, kids can feel lonely and even slip into depression. 

Screens offer kids the opportunity to interact with their peers in a whole myriad of ways. Facetime and group calls can be a great way for more extroverted kids to feel social, while texting and online chats may be a bridge for kids who are more reluctant to socialize in in-person groups.

 In fact, some kids have even found online socializing to be more fulfilling than being with classmates because it allows them to connect with kids who have similar interests instead of just those who are geographically convenient. 

Opportunities to pursue interests

Being online so much is allowing kids opportunities to discover and pursue interests they may not have had time for or access to before. This is especially true for kids who struggle with traditional school. Exploring online can help them discover topics that pique their curiosity far more than the standard public school curriculum. Pursuing independent interests has the added benefit of helping kids find more like-minded friends and mentors.

Improves mental health

While excessive screen time during normal years can sometimes hurt mental health, this isn’t a normal year. Community, new interests, and things to look forward to are all important components of good mental health… and all things that kids can use technology for. For example, in the past, we may have thought of things like group video games as something we needed to limit. But, now, when kids aren’t able to meet in person as much, allowing them more time to play video games with their friends may actually be just what they need to boost their mood.

The Bad

While technology has filled in a lot of the gaps during the pandemic, it has also brought its own unique challenges.

Health concerns

In December, the American Academy of Pediatrics warned of vision problems from staring at screens too long or too close. Previously, they’d cautioned about obesity and other health issues from too much technology. While there are many apps and websites that promote physical fitness and good health, the reality is that it can be harder to stay motivated to be active while learning alone.

Adapting

Kids who have been in traditional school since they were young often have a harder time adapting to virtual learning than newer students. The lack of in-person social interaction and instruction was a big change that made learning much more difficult for many of these kids. In contrast, younger students who had little or no traditional school previously haven’t had much to compare virtual learning to and may have actually thrived.  

Racial and income disparities

Education is one of the many areas in which the pandemic has worsened disparities for kids who were in difficult situations before the schools shut down.  Kids with parents who work full time or who come from low-income households faced a whole host of additional challenges. For instance, there is a big difference between learning at home with the proper technology and a parent supervising and learning alone without the right devices.

These disparities can sometimes lead to missing students who haven’t been logging into school at all. There is also concern that the dropout rate will be noticeably higher when districts open up full-time, in-person schooling.

Racial differences have also had an impact on how kids fared in school. For instance, last year’s switch to remote school in the spring set white students back by one to three months in math, while students of color were set back three to five months.

Special education

A particular concern this year has been the difficulty for children who need extra help. Children with special needs often rely on in-person support to succeed in school. While many schools offer supplemental services online, kids with special needs may not even be able to access those services properly over the computer. If the parents don’t step in, kids are likely to fall further and further behind. 

Finding Balance

While we’ve been conditioned to think of screen time as negative, this year has taught us that maybe what matters is not how much time kids are spending on devices, but what they’re using the devices for. By using the internet to stay in touch with friends, play games, and pursue interests, kids are finding ways to adapt to their circumstances. Ultimately, this resourcefulness will serve them well with whatever life challenges they’re presented with in the future.