essay screen time

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Screen Time Essay

Material and procedure, a.1. inattention.

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Makes careless mistakes in school work.
Has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities.
Does not seem to listen when spoken to directly.
Does not follow through with instructions, and fails to finish work.
Has difficulty organizing tasks and activities.
Is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental activity.
Loses equipment necessary for activity e.g. pencils, books.
Is distracted by extraneous stimuli.
Forgetful in daily activities.

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Stanford University School of Medicine blog

Screen time: The good, the healthy and the mind-numbing

Thomas Robinson , MD, professor of pediatrics and of medicine, has been studying the effect of watching mobile and video screens since the early 1990s. But before your thoughts go to Tamagachis and Gameboys, Robinson took an interest in screens for their potential to support (and undermine) one's health.

"Even back then, well before smartphones, children were already spending more time watching screens than they were spending in school or doing any other single activity," Robinson said. "Adults were watching even more."

Robinson suspected that even if the daily effects on health and well-being are relatively small, over the course of months and years, those hours accumulate to something that has a major impact on health and development. As a pediatrician, Robinson believes it's crucial to understand the effects of such a major activity in the lives of children and families.

In the following Q&A, Robinson discusses the controversies over screen time and usage, how screens affect health, and his approach to studying such a complicated topic, among other matters.

Your research prioritizes approaches that yield solutions, something you've dubbed the "solution-oriented research paradigm." What does that mean? Can you give an example?

A lot of research is focused on discovering causes, risk factors and correlates of diseases, but it does not directly tell us how to prevent or treat them -- that is, solutions. Changing how one frames research questions and designs studies can get to solutions more directly. For example, in our early screen media research, it was hypothesized that screen time caused obesity, aggression and other problems.

Many epidemiological studies, including our own, found relatively weak associations between screen time and these outcomes but they were limited by the difficulty of measuring screen time accurately. The media industry, arguing that the studies did not show cause and effect, blocked practice and policy initiatives. But even if one could prove, with experimental studies, that screen viewing caused health problems, the findings still wouldn't tell us what to do about it.

Instead, we designed behavioral interventions to help reduce children's screen time, and we tested the approaches in a series of randomized controlled trials to observe the effects. We showed that children who receive our interventions to reduce screen time -- which helped the children stay under weekly screen time budgets -- gained less weight, were less aggressive to their peers and asked their parents to buy them fewer advertised products, compared with kids who did not receive the intervention.

We didn't have to first prove the ill effects of screen viewing -- we were able to prove the benefits of an intervention to reduce screen time, directly discovering a solution that could be applied.

There's quite a bit of controversy about how screens affect kids - what do we know and what are the big unknowns still to decipher?

It seems obvious that screens, particularly smartphones, are affecting kids -- and adults. The list of suspected effects is long: It is not unusual to hear digital media blamed for everything from mental and physical health problems to impaired brain development and social skills to the downfall of democracy, but it's also credited with improving lives by helping kids stay safe and in touch with distant family members. Many of these impacts are backed up with plausible mechanisms and observations.

Unfortunately, after literally thousands of studies, we have very few clear answers. Some of this stems from problems of measuring screen use and of differences among children and how they use screens. Those are problems we are trying to help solve with our Human Screenome Project. But what we know from studies of screens before smartphones, such as television and video games, still holds. Kids learn behaviors -- such as aggression and gender and racial stereotypes -- from what they see portrayed in media. The time spent on screens can displace time spent doing other activities, such as time with family, playing outside and schoolwork. And while we're waiting for research to catch up, we can base our parenting, school and public policies on what we know from research on earlier media, along with the impacts that seem obvious to us.

Tell me about the Human Screenome Project, and what you aim to do with it.

With my colleagues Byron Reeves, professor of communication, and Nilam Ram, professor of communication and of psychology, and many other collaborators across campus, we are trying to address some of the limitations of past media research by measuring exactly what people are seeing and doing on their screens.

Consented volunteer participants use an app on their devices that unobtrusively records a screenshot every few seconds, encrypts the image and accompanying data and securely sends it to our research servers. Machine learning and analytics software identify what's on each screen -- all the words, images and other screen characteristics. We called it the screenome , like the genome, because it creates a record of individuals' unique experiences on their screens. It feels like what it must have felt like to invent the electron microscope or MRI, to be able to observe a part of life that has been, up until now, invisible.

To date, we have collected screenomes and accompanying surveys for up to one year from several hundred adults and adolescents and their parents. It immediately became apparent that no two people share similar screenomes and that no person's two days or two hours in a day are the same. Our goals for this project are to obtain the first detailed understanding of how people are using their screen devices and what they are seeing; to test relationships between the many hypothesized health, psychological and social effects of screen media and specific screen exposures and behaviors, such as social media, misinformation or jumping from screen to screen; and to design and test precision interventions based on specific moment-to-moment screen experiences.

What advice do you have to help parents manage their child's screen use, especially mobile phones?

For infants and young children, I recommend avoiding screens altogether. Young children benefit from more face-to-face time with their parents and other family members. That means it is also important for parents to limit their own screen use when they are with their children. I also recommend delaying children's use of screens as they grow.

We recently published a study that followed kids from as young as 7 to as old as 15 as they received their first phone. We found, on average, getting a phone at a younger age was no better or worse than getting it at an older age, in terms of depressive symptoms, sleep and school grades. Although some children experienced negative changes after getting a phone, the age of receiving a phone did not appear to be a key factor in determining these outcomes. It is possible that parents are matching their decisions about when to give their child a phone with their child's readiness and their child's and family's needs.

I recommend parents wait to give their child a phone until they are mature enough to regulate their own use and not allow it to distract them from sleep, homework, family time, and playing and socializing with other kids in the real world. Parents must also be aware that once their child has a phone they may be exposed to cyber bullying, body shaming, discrimination and racism, violence, pornography, predatory advertising and other content they may not want their child to experience.

I also suggest families have rules about screen use, such as limiting kids' time on screens, limiting the shows they are allowed to watch and apps they are allowed to use, creating phone-free activities (like spending time with family, eating meals, doing homework and sleeping) and creating phone-free spaces, like bedrooms. There are parental controls and apps to help parents enact some of these limits. And, I tell parents it's OK to take away a child's phone if they do not demonstrate sufficient responsibility to follow the rules.

Lastly, instead of simple screen ownership and screen time, we believe the key is how children and adults use their phones - what they see and do on their phones. We are studying this now in our Human Screenome Project .

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Should Parents Limit Screen Time for Kids. An Argumentative Essay

Should Parents Limit Screen Time for Children

Defining Screen Time

Arguments for limiting screen time, impact on physical health, sedentary lifestyle, sleep disruption, impact on mental health, anxiety and depression, attention and focus, impact on social skills, impact on academic performance, arguments against limiting screen time.

Should Parents Limit Screen Time for Kids: An Argumentative Essay

Benefits of Technology

Educational resources, developing digital skills, parental involvement and balance, a leading parental control platform.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the recommended amount of screen time for children.

For children younger than 18 months, avoid the use of screen media except for video chatting.
For children 18 to 24 months, parents should choose high-quality programming and watch it with their children to help them understand what they're seeing.
For children 2 to 5 years, limit screen use to 1 hour per day of high-quality programs.
For children 6 years and older, establish consistent limits on the time spent using media and ensure that media does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, and other essential activities.

How can parents help their children develop healthy screen time habits?

Are there any benefits to screen time for children, how can parents help their children find a balance between screen time and other activities, how can i tell if my child's screen time is negatively affecting them.

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What do we really know about kids and screens?

Research by psychologists and others is giving us a better understanding of the risks and potential benefits of children’s and teens’ use of digital devices

Vol. 51, No. 3 Print version: page 42

Digital Impact
Social Media and Internet
Video Games

By the time research on screen time reaches the public, it’s often framed in black-and-white terms: guidelines setting out strict time limits, or news reports with titles like “Are Screens Bad for Kids?”

In reality, though, screen time research has been less than definitive, mainly owing to a lack of strong longitudinal studies to date. That’s now beginning to change as psychologists and other child development experts take a deeper and increasingly nuanced look at children’s and teens’ use of tablets, phones and other screens. Researchers are now paying close attention to the kinds of content kids are consuming via digital devices. They’re looking at the environment that surrounds screen time, including parenting and socioeconomic status. And they’re buckling down for the long haul, building new longitudinal studies that will help answer complex questions about kids, teens and screens.

In particular, they’re studying both the potential benefits of screens—if they can be used as teaching tools—and the potential physical and mental health drawbacks.

The picture that has emerged suggests that the youngest children don’t learn well from screens. As kids get older, they can learn meaningful information from screens, but the ubiquity of digital devices also means that children can easily spend far too much time being sedentary. Nevertheless, total abstinence from recreational screen time may backfire for older kids and teens.

Meanwhile, many questions remain about how much screen time is too much and about the effects of different types of activities that involve screens.

“As psychologists, it’s really important for us to have scientific-based evidence behind what we’re recommending. We’re not there yet,” says Jerri Lynn Hogg, PhD, a media psychologist at Fielding Graduate University. “We have ideas, but the problem is that the technology is getting more and more sophisticated and more ubiquitous.”

adult helping child in front of a laptop

The challenges of screen time

In all the popular-media hubbub and scientific debate over screen time, it’s easy to forget how quickly these issues have evolved: The first-generation iPhone was introduced only 13 years ago, in 2007, the same year Netflix introduced streaming services. The iPad just saw its 10th birthday. Television and video games have been around for decades, of course, but never so portably and easily accessed.

Amid this rapid change, professional organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have stepped in with recommendations. AAP calls for no screen time at all for children until 18 to 24 months, except for video chatting, and says kids ages 2 to 5 should get an hour or less of screen time per day. It has also developed the Family Media Use Plan for older kids, in which parents and children negotiate limits and boundaries around screen usage. In its guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleep for young children, WHO similarly recommends no screens for kids under 2, and less than an hour a day for kids 2 to 5.

However, some critics charge that much of the research backing up the guidelines is correlational, cross-sectional or based upon self-report—though there are longitudinal studies in the mix, too. And not all research effectively differentiates between different types of screen time. Many studies lump all screen time together into one category, though it seems unlikely that video chatting with Grandma, for example, would have much in common with playing “Grand Theft Auto V.”

Isolating the effects of screens from all the other experiences kids are exposed to is a challenge as well. It would be difficult indeed to run a long-term, randomized study in which children were assigned to different amounts of screen time each day and then tracked over their life spans to measure well-being outcomes. Imagine the look on a parent’s face when told their child would be required to watch six hours of television every day—or that they could never watch a screen at all.

What is clear is that many parents often don’t enforce the screen time limits suggested by the guidelines. For example, a study led by economist Weiwei Chen, PhD, of Florida International University, found that, as of 2014, children age 2 and under in the United States averaged 3 hours, 3 minutes a day of screen time, up from 1 hour, 19 minutes a day in 1997. Three- to 5-year-olds got 2 hours, 28 minutes a day of screen time, on average, during that time period ( JAMA Pediatrics , Vol. 173, No. 4, 2019 ).

Qualitative studies suggest several reasons for the widespread screen use. One survey of 133 parents of preschool-age kids led by Rutgers University professor of nutritional sciences Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, PhD, for example, found that many parents reported lacking affordable alternative entertainment for their kids. Others cited factors such as their own exhaustion, the need to get things done around the house and bad weather for excess screen time ( Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior , Vol. 47, No. 4, 2015 ).

Babies, toddlers, preschoolers and screens

Research has, however, turned up evidence to support limiting screen time for babies and young children. One longitudinal study of 2,441 mothers and children, led by University of Calgary psychologist Sheri Madigan, PhD, found that more time per week spent on screens at ages 24 months and 36 months was linked with poorer performance on screening tests for behavioral, cognitive and social development at 36 months ( JAMA Pediatrics , Vol. 173, No. 3, 2019 ). The opposite association (poorer development leading to more screen time) was not seen, suggesting that the linkage wasn’t a matter of parents leaning on screen time to handle a challenging child. Instead, the excessive screen time seemed to precede the developmental difficulties.

Despite experts’ concerns, media for babies and toddlers has been on the market for years, often with promises of stimulation and education—the "Baby Einstein" videos are one prominent example. But the evidence is strong that screens aren’t an effective teaching tool for the baby and toddler set, and they could displace the kinds of face-to-face interactions that actually help young kids learn. A 2005 review led by developmental psychologist Daniel Anderson, PhD, now a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, found that television viewing consistently failed to teach kids age 2 and younger as much as live interaction ( American Behavioral Scientist , Vol. 48, No. 5, 2005 ). This “video deficit” was seen in simple imitation tasks, in language learning and in emotional learning.

“The basic pattern that has been found in dozens of studies is that children learn better from a person who is with them face-to-face than from a person on a screen, even if it’s the exact same person doing the exact same thing,” says Georgene Troseth, PhD, a psychologist at Vanderbilt University.

More recently, researchers like Troseth are trying to understand why this screen learning gap occurs in toddlers. That toddlers struggle to learn from videos does not seem to be perceptual, Troseth says, but conceptual: Until they’re around age 3, kids seem to view video as irrelevant to real life. In numerous studies, toddlers shown video of an experimenter hiding a toy in the room next door are terrible at finding that toy in the real room immediately afterward. In one study co-authored by Troseth, however, toddlers who watched a toy being hidden on a screen disguised to look like a window were much better at finding the toy than toddlers who saw the toy hidden on a regular screen ( Child Development , Vol. 69, No. 4, 1998 ). “When they were told they were watching through a window, they were willing to take in the information,” Troseth says. “The idea when they’re watching on TV seems to be, ‘You’re not going to fool me, I know that’s not real.’”

Though screen time recommendations for the youngest kids now make exceptions for video chatting, the evidence also suggests that toddlers find this medium confusing and that they struggle to make sense of video chat unless they have help from an adult who is physically present. In one study by Troseth and her colleagues, for example, 2-year-olds were assigned to either watch a prerecorded video intended to teach them new words or to engage in a word-learning video chat session with an experimenter. In half of the cases, the child’s parent simply sat with the child. In the other half, the parent followed the experimenter’s directions, modeling interactions with the video screen. A live video chat kept the kids’ attention better than a prerecorded video, but only kids whose parents participated alongside them were able to learn new words from the screen ( Journal of Experimental Child Psychology , Vol. 166, 2018 ).

Three- to 5-year-olds, on the other hand, are a bit more savvy. Since the early days of “Sesame Street,” research has found that this age group can learn from slow-paced, thoughtfully designed children’s media. For example, in tests of prereading skills such as alphabet recognition and letter sounds, kids who were randomly assigned to watch a 20-episode run of the literacy show “Super Why!” outperformed kids who were assigned to watch an educational science series, according to a study of 171 preschoolers conducted by Deborah Nichols, PhD, the director of the Children’s Media Lab at Purdue University ( International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education , Vol. 6, No. 1, 2015 ). Children from low socioeconomic backgrounds generally saw greater gains than children in the wealthiest families, possibly because the more privileged children were already exposed to more literacy enrichment than the less-advantaged group.

Television’s educational potential isn’t limited to academic skills: A study of the PBS show “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” led by Texas Tech University media researcher Eric Rasmussen, PhD, found that kids who were randomly assigned to watch the program showed greater emotion recognition, empathy and self-efficacy—if those children also came from homes where parents consistently talked to their children about their TV viewing ( Journal of Children and Media , Vol. 10, No. 4, 2016 ). As with toddlers, preschoolers seem to benefit from adults co-viewing their media.

Co-viewing may seem a steep price to pay for parents who are desperate to use their child’s screen time to make dinner or pack tomorrow’s lunch, but it doesn’t have to be a full-time job, Hogg says. Rather, she recommends parents should aim to scaffold their child’s screen time, first watching a few episodes with them and talking about the content, then stepping back and checking in as the child becomes familiar with how media works.

Growing up digital

As children mature, they’re exposed to more screens, with more diverse content via television, video games and social media. A report released in October 2019 by the nonprofit organization Common Sense Media found that 8- to 12-year-olds in the United States now use screens for entertainment for an average of 4 hours, 44 minutes a day, and 13- to 18-year-olds are on screens for an average of 7 hours, 22 minutes each day ( The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens , 2019 ). These numbers don’t count time using screens for schoolwork or homework.

Common Sense Media’s data also reveal a substantial disparity in media use based on socioeconomic status, with 8- to 12-year-olds from high income families using 1 hour, 50 minutes less of media each day than kids of the same age from low income families. Teens show a similar gap. Previous research has suggested that increased screen time in poorer families may be an attempt by parents to protect their children; studies in multiple countries have found that parent anxiety about neighborhood safety and actual neighborhood safety are linked to more screen time and less physical activity. For example, health researchers Valerie Carson, PhD, of the University of Alberta, and Ian Janssen, PhD, of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, found that kids who lived in neighborhoods with the highest social and physical disorder (such as crime, graffiti and gang activity) had a 40% to 60% higher likelihood of high screen use ( International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity , Vol. 9, No. 66, 2012 ). Higher-income families may also have more alternatives to screen time available, in the form of extracurricular activities and safe recreation areas.

As with young children, there are reasons for concern over large amounts of screen time in tweens and teens. Correlational studies have shown that 8- to 11-year-olds who exceed screen time recommendations scored lower on cognitive assessments, with compliance with recommendations explaining about a fifth of the overall variance in cognitive scores ( The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health , Vol. 2, No. 11, 2018 ). A combination of screen time and too little sleep has also been associated with heightened impulsivity in the same age group ( Pediatrics , Vol. 144, No. 3, 2019 ).

These studies weren’t designed to show causal relationships, though, says Gary Goldfield, PhD, a psychologist at the University of Ottawa who coauthored both studies. It could be that increased impulsivity or struggles with cognition drive the excess screen time. Nevertheless, in numerous studies, Goldfield and his team have consistently found the best mental health and cognitive outcomes in teens who do one hour of physical activity each day, sleep eight to 10 hours a day and use screens recreationally less than two hours a day.

Researchers have also found links between screen time and various health outcomes in teens, though again, establishing definitive causal relationships is difficult. The firmest associations are between screen time and obesity and screen time and depressive symptoms, according to a systematic review of reviews published by University College London (UCL) psychologist Neza Stiglic, PhD, and Russell Viner, PhD, a professor of adolescent health at UCL ( BMJ Open , Vol. 9, No. 1, 2019 ). Most research on obesity focused on television viewing and found that more time spent watching TV was associated with a higher body mass index or body fat composition. Multiple studies also found that screen use of more than two hours a day was correlated with depressive symptoms. The reviewers found moderate evidence linking screen time to poorer quality of life, higher caloric intake and less-healthy diets. Evidence linking screen time to other problems, such as behavior issues, anxiety, and low feelings of well-being and self-esteem, was weak, with studies on these outcomes returning mixed results.

A study led by psychologists Amy Orben, PhD, of the University of Cambridge, and Andrew Przybylski, PhD, of the University of Oxford, found that screen time as measured by time-use diaries (as opposed to retrospective self-reports, which many studies use) in large did not have noticeable effects on teen psychological well-being, according to nationally representative data sets in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland ( Psychological Science , Vol. 30, No. 5, 2019 ). But other research points to complicated relationships between screen time and well-being. For example, a study led by physician Pierre-André Michaud, MD, of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine in Lausanne, Switzerland, found a U-shaped relationship between internet use and adolescent mental and physical heath, such that moderate users were the best off ( Pediatrics , Vol. 127, No. 2, 2011 ).

“A lot depends on how kids are using media, how much their parents are monitoring their use, how much time they’re spending and what exactly they’re watching and using,” says Victor Strasburger, MD, a pediatrician and professor emeritus at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

Future research and recommendations

Fortunately, a new longitudinal data set may help illuminate some of the outstanding questions about adolescents and screen time. In 2015, the National Institutes of Health began funding the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, the largest ever longitudinal study on teen brain and behavioral development in the United States. More than 10,000 9- to 10-year-olds have been recruited and are being followed to young adulthood. Screen time data are among the information being collected, and researchers are already using the first wave: Goldfield’s cognition and impulsivity studies drew from ABCD data. “We’re pretty excited about this database,” he says.

In the meantime, some experts recommend a mindful approach to media. Simply banning screens may backfire, says Jon Lasser, PhD, a psychologist at Texas State University and co-author, with Mike Brooks, PhD, of the 2018 book “Tech Generation: Raising Balanced Kids in a Hyper-Connected World.”

“It’s important for kids to develop the capacity to self-regulate,” Lasser says, “and parents who try to micromanage screen time may inadvertently interfere with that self-regulatory development.”

Lasser and Brooks include a tool in their book called the Family Assessment of Screen Time, or FAST, which family members can use to gauge their feelings about screen time—their own and each other’s. The tool is similar to AAP’s Family Media Use Plan, in which parents and children, 5 years and older, negotiate limits and boundaries around screen usage.

Finally, parents should keep co-viewing media with their kids. Keeping an open line of communication around media helps protect kids when they inevitably run into content they aren’t ready to see, Strasburger says. A healthy, nonrancorous relationship around media also makes it easier to enforce boundaries when required.

“The number one recommendation that we give to parents is [to] spend time engaged with their kids,” Lasser says. “It’s simple, it’s good parenting and it promotes a healthy relationship.”

Key findings to date

Children under age 2 don’t learn from screens as well as they do from live interactions.
Co-viewing media with parents can protect young kids against many downsides of screen time.
Television viewing time is correlated with obesity in youth.
Meeting sleep, screen time and physical activity guidelines is associated with the best mental health outcomes in teens, but few adolescents meet all three.

Contact APA

Screen time for children: Good, bad, or it depends?

Subscribe to the center for universal education bulletin, kathy hirsh-pasek , kathy hirsh-pasek senior fellow - global economy and development , center for universal education natalie evans , and natalie evans postdoctoral student - university of virginia roberta michnick golinkoff roberta michnick golinkoff unidel h. rodney sharp professor of education - university of delaware, director - child’s play, learning, and development lab.

February 6, 2019

This is not the first time when technological advances have created a virtual riot in homes, schools, and offices. When telephones were first introduced in the late 1800s, debates ensued about whether they would interfere with office comradery and whether clients would find a call more off-putting than a face-to-face conversation. Television caused a similar stir as scientists and families debated whether the old-fashioned definition of screen time would create a generation of couch potatoes who could no longer think or communicate. So, the current spat over a more modern “screen time” that includes television, smartphones, tablets, and the varied media developed on these platforms is really nothing new. Yet, the debate rages on: Is screen time in its modern guise bad or good for children—and for us?

The past few weeks have seen a flurry of new pieces speaking to the hazards or benefits of screen time. In January, Jordan Shapiro released his new book, “ The New Childhood: Raising Kids to Thrive in a Connected World .” In this beautifully written text, Shapiro argues that screen time is here to stay and that children must merely learn how to navigate it well so that they do not overdose or view content that is not healthy for development. Again—not new. Similar discussions were popular as televisions became an indispensable feature of home life. The science, however, reassured us . If time on the tube could be monitored and we could ensure that our young children were not watching gunfire and gang fights, some kids could even benefit from educational TV. In short, the results suggested that “Sesame Street” and “Blues Clues” were great, and the nightly news should be avoided. However, the picture that emerged was more nuanced than “Is television bad or good?” and the answer to the question became “It depends.”

The crop of papers that appeared in the past few weeks suggest this more nuanced approach for digital screen time. On the one hand, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in London noted that children between the ages of 11-24 were spending approximately 2.5 hours on the computer, 3 hours on their phone, and 2 hours on the television per day. Did that amount of viewing hurt them in some obvious and measurable way? Looking at 940 research abstracts, the Royal College did find associations—though not causal links—between screen time and a less healthy diet, less energy, and higher obesity rates. There were also data linking screen time to poorer mental health. Yet, in the last week, a report also suggested that even these associations are weak at best, with new data touting that teen engagement with social media (screen viewing) is not associated with depression.

The inconclusive results and contradictory findings led the Royal College to conclude that a causal chain between screen watching and bad outcomes could not be established. It thus recommended that we find balance between screen and non-screen time—a balance that is dependent on the nature of the child (temperament), the child’s age, and the content in question.

This advice is consistent with Shapiro’s take. In the past few weeks, however, we have also seen several new studies that continue to raise a red flag. In one, we learn that increased face-to-face interactions emerge when we put Facebook use on hold for a year . In another, we learn that when we carry our phones in our pockets , have them on a desk in front of us, or have them more distant from us—in another room—we get different results on cognitive tasks. As you might guess, we do better when our phones are in another room. And at the end of January, we were told by author Sheri Madigan and her colleagues in the pediatric journal JAMA that screen time at 24 months of age relates to lower outcomes at 36 months and that screen time at 36 months relates to lower performance on a developmental screening task when the same children were 60 months of age. This latter study suffered from a few limitations that the authors themselves own: They lumped all screen time—computer, gaming systems, television—together and the effects they report, while significant, were not strong. Nonetheless, the results were suggestive: More screen time does likely reduce other activities children need to participate in to learn and grow.

What are educators and parents to do with this flurry of messages? Perhaps it is time for that more nuanced approach. Screens—be they television or computers—can transport us to places we have only imagined. They can present narratives that enrich our understanding of the world. At the same time, they can eat up precious time and draw our attention away from important human-to-human contact.

To date, the science cannot definitively say that there is a threshold for screen time use after which it is harmful for children. What the science can tell us, however, is that face-to-face interactions are critically important for development and that sometimes the digital technology gets in the way . When adults model poor screen manners by picking up a phone call in the middle of a conversation and fail to teach children how to wisely choose among social media options, then they do so at their own risk. It is our job as adults to help children wisely choose which programs to watch and for how long. Shapiro suggests that when we do this, we will need less surveillance of our children and their digital habits. We can become more like mentors, guiding children to make smart choices until they are old enough to do so—all while protecting their time to engage in crucial human relationships and generate their own imaginative worlds.

Should Parents Limit Screen Time: Analysis of the Argumentats

Table of contents, the health and development argument, the social interaction argument, the counterarguments, the personal responsibility argument, the conclusion.

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How Teens and Parents Approach Screen Time

Most teens at least sometimes feel happy and peaceful when they don’t have their phone, but 44% say this makes them anxious. half of parents say they have looked through their teen’s phone, table of contents.

Teens’ views on screen time and efforts to cut back
How teens feel when they don’t have their phone
Do teens think smartphones are negatively impacting young people?
How parents navigate raising teens in the smartphone age
Parents’ own struggles with device distractions, screen time
Acknowledgments
Methodology: Teens and parents survey

An image of a father and teen daughter in discussion while using a smartphone.

Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand teens’ and parents’ experiences with screen time.

The Center conducted an online survey of 1,453 U.S. teens and parents from Sept. 26 to Oct. 23, 2023, through Ipsos. Ipsos invited one parent from each of a representative set of households with parents of teens in the desired age range from its KnowledgePanel . The KnowledgePanel is a probability-based web panel recruited primarily through national, random sampling of residential addresses. Parents were asked to think about one teen in their household (if there were multiple teens ages 13 to 17 in the household, one was randomly chosen). At the conclusion of the parent’s section, the parent was asked to have this chosen teen come to the computer and complete the survey in private.

The survey is weighted to be representative of two different populations: 1) parents with teens ages 13 to 17 and 2) teens ages 13 to 17 who live with parents. For each of these populations, they survey is weighted to be representative by age, gender, race and ethnicity, household income and other categories.

This research was reviewed and approved by an external institutional review board (IRB), Advarra, an independent committee of experts specializing in helping to protect the rights of research participants.

Here are the questions among parents and among teens used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology .

Today’s teenagers are more digitally connected than ever. Most have access to smartphones and use social media , and nearly half say they are online almost constantly. But how are young people navigating this “always on” environment?

To better understand their experiences, we surveyed both teens and parents on a range of screen time-related topics. Our questions explored the emotions teens tie to their devices, the impact of smartphones on youth, and the challenges parents face when raising children in the digital age.

Key findings from the survey:

Phone-less: 72% of U.S. teens say they often or sometimes feel peaceful when they don’t have their smartphone; 44% say it makes them feel anxious.
Good for hobbies, less so for socialization: 69% of teens say smartphones make it easier for youth to pursue hobbies and interests; fewer (30%) say it helps people their age learn good social skills.
Parental snooping: Half of parents say they have looked through their teen’s phone.
Smartphone standoffs: About four-in-ten parents and teens report regularly arguing with one another about time spent on their phone.
Distracted parenting: Nearly half of teens (46%) say their parent is at least sometimes distracted by their phone when they’re trying to talk to them.

This Pew Research Center survey of 1,453 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 and their parents was conducted Sept. 26-Oct. 23, 2023. 1

Jump to read about views among teens on: Screen time | Feelings when disconnected from phones | Thoughts on smartphones’ impact

Jump to read about views among parents on: Parenting in the smartphone age | Their own screen time struggles

Fully 95% of teens have access to a smartphone, and about six-in-ten say they use TikTok, Snapchat or Instagram . But do teens think they spend too much time in front of screens?

A bar chart showing that About 4 in 10 teens say they spend too much time on their phone

More teens say they spend too much time on their phone or social media than say they don’t spend enough time on them. We found that 38% of teens say they spend too much time on their smartphone. About a quarter say the same regarding their social media use. 2

A dot plot chart showing that Teen girls are more likely than boys to say they spend too much time on their phone and social media

But the largest shares say the amount of time they spend on their phone (51%) or on social media (64%) is about right. Relatively few teens say they don’t spend enough time with these technologies.

Views on this differ by gender. Teen girls are more likely than boys to say they spend too much time on their smartphone (44% vs. 33%) or social media (32% vs. 22%).

Teens’ efforts to curb their screen time

A minority of teens have taken steps to reduce their screen time. Roughly four-in-ten teens (39%) say they have cut back on their time on social media. A similar share says the same about their phone (36%).

Still, most teens have not limited their smartphone (63%) or social media (60%) use.

A chart showing that Most teens haven’t cut back on their phone or social media use, but girls are more likely than boys to do so

How teens’ behaviors vary by gender

About four-in-ten or more girls say they have cut back on their smartphone or social media use. For boys, those figures drop to roughly one-third.

How teens’ behaviors vary based on their screen time

Teens who report spending too much time on social media and smartphones are especially likely to report cutting back on each. For instance, roughly six-in-ten teens who say they are on social media too much say they have cut back (57%). This is far higher than the 32% among those who say they are on social media too little or the right amount.

A bar chart showing that Roughly three-quarters of teens at least sometimes feel happy or peaceful when they don’t have their phone; 44% feel anxious

Teens encounter a range of emotions when they don’t have their phones, but we asked them about five specific ones. Roughly three-quarters of teens say it often or sometimes makes them feel happy (74%) or peaceful (72%) when they don’t have their smartphone.

Smaller but notable shares of teens equate not having their phone with more negative emotions. Teens say not having their phone at least sometimes makes them feel anxious (44%), upset (40%) and lonely (39%).

It is worth noting that only a minority of teens – ranging from 7% to 32% – say they often feel these emotions when they’re phone-less.

Teens’ feelings on this differ by some demographic factors:

Age and gender: Older girls ages 15 to 17 (55%) are more likely than younger girls (41%) and teen boys who are younger (41%) and older (40%) to say they feel anxious at least sometimes when they don’t have their smartphone.
Gender: 45% of teen girls say not having their phone makes them feel lonely regularly, compared with 34% of teen boys.

As smartphones have become a universal part of teen life, many have asked what impact, if any, phones are having on today’s youth.

Teens shared their perspectives on smartphones’ impact on people their age and whether these devices have made certain aspects of growing up more or less challenging.

A bar chart showing that Most teens say the benefits of smartphones outweigh the harms for people their age

Most teens think the benefits of smartphones outweigh the harms for people their age. Seven-in-ten teens say smartphones provide more benefits than harms for people their age, while a smaller share (30%) take the opposing view, saying there are more harms than benefits.

Teens’ views, by gender and age

Younger girls ages 13 and 14 (39%) are more likely than older teen girls (29%) and teen boys who are younger (29%) and older (25%) to say that the harms of people their age using smartphones outweigh the benefits.

The survey also shows that teens see these devices’ impacts on specific aspects of life differently.

More teens believe smartphones make it easier, rather than harder, to be creative, pursue hobbies and do well in school. Majorities of teens say smartphones make it a little or a lot easier for people their age to pursue hobbies and interests (69%) and be creative (65%). Close to half (45%) say these devices have made it easier for youth to do well in school.

About two-thirds of teens say phones make it easier for youth to pursue interests, be creative; fewer think it helps peers learn good social skills

Views are more mixed when it comes to developing healthy friendships. Roughly four-in-ten teens say smartphones make it easier for teens to develop healthy friendships, while 31% each say they make it harder or neither easier nor harder.

But they think smartphones have a more negative than positive impact on teens’ social skills. A larger percentage of teens say smartphones make learning good social skills harder (42%) rather than easier (30%). About three-in-ten say it neither helps nor hurts.

With the rise of smartphones, today’s parents must tackle many questions that previous generations did not. How closely should you monitor their phone use? How much screen time is too much? And how often do phones lead to disagreements?

We developed a set of parallel questions to understand the perspectives of both parents and teens. Here’s what we found:

A bar chart Half of parents look through their teen’s phone; 43% of teens think their parent checks their phone

It’s common for parents to look through their teen’s phone – and many of their teens know it. Half of parents of teens say they look through their teen’s phone. When we asked teens if they thought their parents ever look through their phones, 43% believed this had happened.

Whether parents report looking through their child’s smartphone depends on their kid’s age. While 64% of parents of 13- to 14-year-olds say they look through their teen’s smartphone, this share drops to 41% among parents of 15- to 17-year-olds.

Teens’ accounts of this also vary depending on their age: 56% of 13- to 14-year-olds say their parent checks their smartphone, compared with 35% of teens ages 15 to 17.

How often do parents and teens argue about phone time?

A bar chart showing that About 4 in 10 parents and teens say the time teens spend on their phone regularly leads to arguments

Parents and teens are equally likely to say they argue about phone use. Roughly four-in-ten parents and teens (38% each) say they at least sometimes argue with each other about how much time their teen spends on the phone. This includes 10% in each group who say this happens often .

Still, others say they never have these types of disagreements. One-quarter of parents say they never argue with their teen about this, while 31% of teens say the same.

Teens’ and parents’ views, by race and ethnicity

Hispanic Americans stand out for reporting having these disagreements often. While 16% of Hispanic teens say they often argue with their parent about how much time they’re spending on their phone, that share drops to 9% for White teens and 6% for Black teens. 3

A similar pattern is present among parents. Hispanic parents (19%) are more likely than White (6%) or Black (7%) parents to say they often argue with their teen about this.

Teens’ views, by frequency of internet use

The amount of time teens report being online is also a factor. About half (47%) of teens who report being online almost constantly say they at least sometimes argue with their parent about the amount of time they spend on their phone, compared with those who are online less often (30%).

How much do parents prioritize tracking their teen’s phone use?

A bar chart showing that Most parents say managing how much time their teen is on the phone is a priority

Most parents prioritize managing the amount of time their teen spends on the phone. Roughly three-quarters of parents (76%) say managing how much time their teen spends on the phone is an important or a top priority. Still, 19% of parents don’t consider this a priority.

Parents’ views, by race and ethnicity

Majorities of parents across racial and ethnic groups think of this as a priority. But some groups stand out for how much they prioritize this. For example, Hispanic (25%) or Black (24%) parents are more likely to say managing how much time their teen is on the phone is a top priority. That share drops to 10% among White parents.

Parents’ views, by household income

We also see differences between the lowest and highest income households: 22% of parents whose annual household income is less than $30,000 consider managing the amount of time their teen is on the phone a top priority, compared with 14% of those whose household income is $75,000 or more a year. Those whose household income is $30,000 to $74,999 a year do not meaningfully differ from either group.

Do parents set time limits on their teen’s phone use?

A split bar chart showing that Parents with younger teens are more likely to set time limits on phone use

There’s a nearly even split between parents who restrict their teen’s time on their phone and those who don’t. About half of parents (47%) say they limit the amount of time their teen can be on their phone, while a similar share (48%) don’t do this.

Parents’ views, by teen’s age

Parents of younger teens are far more likely to regulate their child’s screen time. While 62% of parents of 13- to 14-year-olds say they limit how much time their teen can be on their phone, that share drops to 37% among those with a 15- to 17-year-old.

How difficult is it for parents to keep up with their teen’s phone use?

A chart showing that Higher-income parents are more likely to say it’s hard to manage how much time their teen is on the phone

Managing screen time can feel like an uphill battle for some parents. About four-in-ten say it’s hard to manage how much time their teen spends on their phone. A smaller share (26%) says this is easy to do.

Another 26% of parents fall in the middle – saying it’s neither easy nor hard.

Higher-income parents are more likely to find it difficult to manage their teen’s phone time. Roughly half (47%) of parents living in households earning $75,000 or more a year say managing the amount of time their teen is on their phone is hard. These shares are smaller among parents whose annual household income falls below $30,000 (38%) or is between $30,000 and $74,999 (32%).

Teens aren’t the only ones who can be glued to their phones. Parents, too, can find themselves in an endless cycle of checking emails , text messages and social media.

With that in mind, we asked parents to think about their own screen time – both the time they spend on their phone, and if it ever gets in the way of connecting with their teen.

Do parents think they spend too much time on their phone?

A bar chart Roughly half of parents say they spend too much time on their phone, but this varies by income

Like teens, parents are far more likely to say they spend too much rather than not enough time on their phone. About half of parents (47%) say they spend too much time on their smartphone. Just 5% think they spend too little time on it. And 45% believe they spend the right amount of time on their phone.

Parents’ views differ by:

Household Income: 50% of parents with annual household incomes of $75,000 or more say they spend too much time on their phone. This share drops to 41% among those living in households earning $30,000 to $74,999 a year and 38% among those earning under $30,000.
Race and ethnicity: 57% of White parents believe they spend too much time on their phone, compared with 38% of Black parents and 34% of Hispanic parents.

How often are parents distracted by their phone when talking with their teen?

A bar chart showing that Nearly half of teens say their parent at least sometimes gets distracted by their phone in conversations; fewer parents see it this way

When it comes to distracted parenting, parents paint a rosier picture than teens. Nearly half of teens (46%) say their parent is at least sometimes distracted by their phone when they’re trying to talk to them, including 8% who say this happens often.

But when parents were asked to assess their own behavior, fewer – 31% – say this happens regularly.

Throughout this report, “teens” refers to those ages 13 to 17 and “parents” refers to those with a child ages 13 to 17. ↩
A 2018 Center survey also asked U.S teens some of the same questions about experiences and views related to smartphone and social media. Direct comparisons cannot be made across the two surveys due to mode, sampling and recruitment differences. Please read the Methodology section to learn more about how the current survey was conducted. ↩
There were not enough Asian respondents in the sample to be broken out into a separate analysis. As always, their responses are incorporated into the general population figures throughout the report. ↩

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ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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How Much Screen Time? That’s the Wrong Question

Instead of obsessing over the quantity of screen time, we should focus on improving the quality of it.

A girl hidden behind a tablet computer raises her hand.

At the end of 2016, I found myself mentally exhausted and barely able to string together a coherent thought or formulate an original idea. As I swiped through my social media feeds for inspiration—or maybe procrastination—a nagging feeling hit. I needed a break from screen time.

Pediatricians, psychologists, and neuroscientists warn of potential negative consequences associated with constant mental stimulation as a result of interacting with our devices. Without a screen-free space for my brain to relax, stop firing, and just think, I felt incapable of significant mental processing. I could blame the technology for thwarting my attempts at creative thought, or I could blame myself for taking the easy route and using my devices to constantly stimulate my brain. Though I chose to blame myself, I am finding a lot of support for the idea of blaming technology when discussing the idea of screen time.

Mobile devices have the potential to provide amazing learning opportunities as well as great distractions. They can further social interactions to help us build stronger connections in our communities, or allow us to destroy relationships by hiding behind a screen. In the book The Triple Focus: A New Approach to Education , authors Daniel Goleman and Peter Senge describe three essential skills for surviving in a society increasingly dominated by internet-enabled devices: focusing on ourselves, tuning in to others, and understanding the larger world. While the authors apply these concepts to the broader field of social and emotional learning, these same foci also apply as we address the issue of screen time with our students and children.

Inner Focus

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?

In a recent iPad workshop with a group of middle school teachers, we explored features such as Guided Access and Do Not Disturb—which let you restrict your device to a single app and silence calls, alerts, and notifications, respectively—to support self-regulation. These settings provide students with a means to control their digital environments. By leveraging both the technology and active reflection, we can help students recognize what they need to do to be successful learners and realize when to put devices away.

Outer Focus

Two years ago, a third-grade teacher wrote an essay for The Washington Post about her regret at providing iPads to her students. She lamented her decision as she felt that the students quickly found themselves drawn to the illuminated screens instead of each other. A professor of writing and editing responded with this question : “How would we react to the worrisome, antisocial behaviors [the teacher] notes in her essay if we simply replaced the iPads in her descriptions with books?” The professor argued that both digital and analog media encourage individual rather than social behavior, and that we need to recognize the balance between the two with our students.

Ultimately, students need the ability to tune in to others in both the physical and digital worlds. In “ Research Says Screen Time Can Be Good for Your Kids ,” Jordan Shapiro, an edtech researcher, explains that teachers and parents often use restrictive mediation as a means to limit screen time. Through filters, parental controls, and the banning of devices, adults attempt to limit students’ screen time. However, in the process, they inadvertently send the message that adulthood equates to unlimited and unfettered access. Shapiro explains the need for instructive mediation—engaging with students to model desired and appropriate behaviors and interactions with screens. For students to develop the ability to understand the context of their device use, they need to observe positive social behaviors in the adults around them.

Other Focus

Beyond helping our students develop the inner focus required to know how to best manage their interactions with their devices, and the outer focus of what positive use looks like, we also need to nurture our students’ abilities to recognize the context in which their interactions occur—the other focus. Screen time discussions often focus on just that: the screen. However, this may prevent students from grasping how their actions fit within a broader system.

In a classroom setting, consider the potential of asking students to define how their device use impacts the class culture. What norms might the class decide to establish? Can the students identify different contexts where they may or may not want screens involved? What actions might the students take if they feel as though the norms of the class have been violated? How can they collaborate to seek out solutions to new problems that may present themselves? To help students to develop this other focus, Goleman and Senge say teachers need to scaffold this sort of smart decision making. By learning to recognize a larger system, students build a greater understanding of the implications and consequences of their actions in both the physical and digital worlds.

If we consider the skills of focusing on ourselves, tuning in to others, and understanding the larger world as a framework for our thinking, imagine how the conversation about screen time could shift away from the amount of time spent with devices and toward how students might use them to become more productive citizens in a networked and global society. What if, instead of asking our students to put their devices away, we instead ask them to consider how they might be using those devices to improve themselves and their community?

Stop Counting Screen Time

rear view of a boy sitting on the coffee table looking at the tv

T racking screen time is like counting calories: It is partially accurate but misleading. The World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics provide time-based guidelines for screens in young children: For babies and toddlers, keep the screens to Facetime family and friends. For younger kids, 1 to 2 hours, and from ages 6 to 12, keep it to roughly 2 hours.

For those who are not raising children, the guidelines seem straightforward. Shouldn’t it be easy to count one hour of PBS before dinner? That’s not most people’s reality. Older siblings watch shows near younger ones. Tablets are in the car. Texting arrives earlier than parents expect and comes in spurts of screen time throughout the day. Even the most media-stringent parents get submerged by elementary school in a nebulous cloud. Screens bleed into play and school activities.

As someone who reads empirical research for a living, I am quite cautious about my children’s screen time. But screens are not the only source of childhood misfortune. The minute-by-minute guilt reminds me of the burden of counting calories. A push for detailed, numbers-driven control must surely tame the unruly beast. But it doesn’t.

Screens are too ubiquitous for minute-by-minute analysis. Counting screen time becomes an organizational feat—like pulling out a calorie app every time you try a bite of a friend’s parfait.

From the 1980s to the early 2000s, nutrition books focused increasingly on counting calories . It reached its peak around 2013. Yet, reducing calorie intake does not guarantee health. Consuming an appropriate amount of calories can still lead to anemia, high blood pressure, or metabolic dysfunction. Today, there is more knowledge dissemination around the quantity of sugar and the timing of food. Healthy interventions change how food is offered or address underlying issues. But while public dialogue around nutrition is imperfect, it has come a long way. Screen time needs the same conceptual shift.

Read More: Maybe Our Phones Aren’t the Problem, Argues a New Book

Parents say raising children today is hardest because of screens . Nearly half of 8-12 year-olds have phones, but almost 80% of parents don’t think it is right for them to. The average American child spends 5.5 hours of entertainment screen time per day (over double the guidelines), much of which is on YouTube and social media.

Screen-time guidelines are based on decades of research on only television. This is why the guidelines seem unglued from how screens are used in most families. Of course, the basic finding still holds true: more time on screens means less time outside and asleep. But there will never be decades of longitudinal evidence on updated technology. Media guidelines will inevitably be an educated guess.

What’s more, the focus on hours takes the focus away from content and context. Screens are no longer just television. Today’s screens are portable and individual. They pop in and out and layer on top of each other—texting while completing online homework with the TV on in the background.

Instead of counting screen time, parents can think about the time of day, what is on the screen, what it is replacing, and what it is adding.

Shifting the time of day (without diminishing the amount) is the most important thing to promote healthy screen habits. Three out of four children look at screens an hour before bed . When screens affect sleep , everything wilts: distractibility increases, metabolism slows, emotions dysregulate, and attention wains. A candy bar before bed, for instance, will be metabolized differently than a candy bar before a run. Even still, the nutrients in the snack still matter.

The difference between an avocado and a bowl of ice cream isn’t really in the calories; it’s in the nutritional content. The nutritional content of the screen also matters. From 2019 to 2021 , there was a larger increase in entertainment media usage than in the previous four years. While that is unsurprising, it would behoove us to ask what kind of screen time increased? The answer: It was primarily in social media and YouTube. There was no increase in reading on screens.

One study followed over 4,000 Australian children for five years and found that what was on the screen mattered more than the amount of time. Passive scrolling and watching videos are similar to the simple fats and sugars: Fastest to digest and most detrimental long-term. Interactive games with friends were better; the most nutritious options were educational games and reading.

Screens are often problematic because of what they are replacing. Screen time, for one, shouldn’t be a self-soothing hack. Rage and grief are often resolved by screen distraction instead of real coping. Screens bump out exercise, books, and, perhaps most importantly, free, unstructured time. Boredom stimulates creativity and often catalyzes new ideas and “aha moments.” Exercise activates the brain. Books teach children to focus and get lost in a narrative. Unstructured play time forces them to problem-solve and invent. Being frequently distracted, as a result, is a developmental dead-end.

To be clear, screens are not the only source of childhood misfortune. Other generations were failing children long before we all bought tablets. But screens can easily encroach on other life skills. Are children still learning to calm themselves down? Have eye-to-eye conversations? And fall asleep by themselves? When screens are used to avoid emotional meltdowns and fall asleep independently, they undermine the human capacity to process emotions and learn to rest. Empty calories.

But food is also for pleasure. Joy. Celebration. Likewise, screens add connection, play, and efficiency to life. It is wonderful to Facetime with grandma or play Minecraft with a cousin. School is better when gamified concepts or adaptive quizzing teaches a skill faster. People engage in online communities that share a similar interest, a rare disease, or a unique support system.

Counting calories can be a helpful first step to realizing the highest-calorie foods or recognizing unhealthy patterns. Counting provides the audit before an intervention. But it is an exhausting (and frankly useless) long-term option.

Counting isn’t a problem-solving strategy. Statistically, most people consume both too many calories and too much screen time. It is time to focus on when it is happening and what it is replacing. Ensure youth still get high-quality doses of boredom, exercise, sleep, and live friendships.

Screen time will pale in importance.

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v.15(6); 2023 Jun
PMC10353947

Effects of Excessive Screen Time on Child Development: An Updated Review and Strategies for Management

Sudheer kumar muppalla.

1 Pediatrics, PES (People's Education Society) Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Kuppam, IND

Sravya Vuppalapati

2 General Practice, PES (People's Education Society) Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Kuppam, IND

Apeksha Reddy Pulliahgaru

3 Pediatric Medicine, PES (People's Education Society) Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Kuppam, IND

Himabindu Sreenivasulu

4 General Medicine, PES (People's Education Society) Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Kuppam, IND

Children's heavy reliance on screen media has raised serious public health issues since it might harm their cognitive, linguistic, and social-emotional growth. This study examines the effects of screen time on many developmental domains and covers management and limitation techniques for kids' screen usage. Screen media has a wide range of cognitive consequences, with both beneficial and detrimental effects noted. Screens can improve education and learning; however, too much time spent in front of a screen and multitasking with other media has been related to worse executive functioning and academic performance. As screen time reduces the amount and quality of interactions between children and their caregivers, it can also have an impact on language development. Contextual elements like co-viewing and topic appropriateness are key in determining how language development is impacted. Additionally, excessive screen usage has detrimental effects on social and emotional growth, including a rise in the likelihood of obesity, sleep disorders, and mental health conditions including depression and anxiety. It can obstruct the ability to interpret emotions, fuel aggressive conduct, and harm one's psychological health in general. Setting boundaries, utilizing parental controls, and demonstrating good screen behavior are all techniques that parents may use to manage children's screen usage. We can reduce the possible negative impacts of excessive screen time and promote children's healthy development and well-being by increasing knowledge and encouraging alternative activities that stimulate development.

Introduction and background

New technologies, such as mobile and interactive screen media, are now ingrained in a young child's daily life. Children today are "digital natives," having been born into an ever-changing digital ecosystem augmented by mobile media. The age at which kids engage with media on a regular basis has fallen from four years in 1970 to four months in the present day [ 1 ]. Electronic devices have revolutionized learning, communication, and information dissemination, but recent research indicates that screen media use may have serious adverse effects on children's health over the long term, making this a pressing public health concern [ 2 ]. It has raised the likelihood that children will become obese, experience behavioral problems, sleep irregularities, poor academic performance, etc. [ 1 - 3 ].

This article delves into the profound effects of excessive screen time on children's cognitive, language, and social-emotional development, while also exploring the crucial strategies and responsibilities that parents and schools can undertake to effectively manage and diminish screen time in young individuals.

Impact on development

Cognitive Development

Screen media use may have both beneficial and detrimental effects on a kid’s cognitive results. Media devices with screens have the potential to improve education and learning [ 2 ]. For instance, research has suggested that electronic books and learning-to-read applications may improve young children's early reading skills and creative thinking capacities [ 2 , 4 , 5 ]. However, studies have also demonstrated the negative effects of screen media use on a number of cognitive areas such as executive functioning, sensorimotor development, and academic outcomes [ 2 , 6 ]. Media multitasking was found to have a negative impact on executive functioning in teenagers, notably on working memory, inhibition, and the capacity to switch between tasks [ 2 , 7 ].

The Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development cohort study found a long-lasting connection between early screen media exposure and cognitive abilities, with each one-hour increase in TV exposure at two years of age corresponding to a 7% unit decrease in participation in class and a 6% unit decrease in math proficiency in the fourth grade [ 8 ]. A Spanish research study discovered a negative correlation between the use of screen media and academic achievement, indicating that increased screen time was associated with lower academic performance. Similarly, a study conducted in the United States found a significant link between higher levels of media multitasking and lower scores on standardized tests measuring academic performance in mathematics and English [ 9 ].

However, adverse executive and academic outcomes may be confounded by the poorer attention and focus from multitasking behaviors rather than solely from screen media overuse, and more research is necessary to tease out this relationship. Language development has received the majority of emphasis in studies on screen usage and cognitive development in young children, whereas other cognitive development domains including executive skills have received less attention [ 10 ]. Thus, there are significant, albeit indirect, effects of screen media use on cognitive development in children [ 2 ].

Language Development

The early years of childhood are crucial for acquiring language skills and children develop various aspects of language, including vocabulary and phonology [ 11 ]. These skills are acquired through interactions with adults [ 11 ]. Numerous studies have highlighted the significance of human interaction, particularly the frequency and quality of exchanges between adults and children, in the development of language skills [ 12 ]. However, there is a growing concern that screen time diminishes the quantity and quality of interactions between children and their parents, resulting in fewer chances for the child to practice and develop their language abilities [ 11 ]. The relationship between screen time and speech and language development is complex, and there are multiple factors that should be taken into account [ 13 ]. The impact of screen viewing is predominantly influenced by contextual factors rather than the sheer amount of time spent watching [ 14 ]. The context encompasses several aspects, such as the behavior exhibited by adult caregivers during screen time, the appropriateness of the content for the child's age, and the level of interactivity provided by the screen [ 14 ]. Increasing the amount of screen time at an early age has negative effects on language development [ 13 ]. However, beginning screen time at a later age has some potential benefits [ 13 ]. The characteristics of videos, their content, and co-viewing also play a role in influencing language development [ 13 ]. However, other studies have reported negative effects on speech, language, motor skills, cognitive development, and social development [ 13 ].

Adults should be aware of the impact of background television when children are present [ 13 ]. Studies have shown that increased exposure to background television can have adverse effects on children's language usage, executive functioning, and cognition in children under the age of five [ 13 ]. Excessive television viewing can also potentially affect language development and reading abilities at a young age [ 13 ].

A few studies show a positive correlation between children's screen time when co-viewed with a parent and their expressive lexical, phonological, and overall language abilities [ 11 ]. Studies have indicated that compared to children who view screens for ≤1 hour per day, those who engage in two or more hours per day, or three or more hours per day, are more likely to experience behavioral problems and have poorer vocabulary acquisition [ 15 ]. These findings suggest the importance of monitoring and regulating screen time for young children to mitigate potential adverse effects on their development and behavior [ 15 ].

While it is true that screens have become ubiquitous in homes and are increasingly integrated into school systems, it is crucial to educate caregivers of children under the age of three years about the potential risks associated with prolonged screen exposure in inappropriate contexts [ 14 ]. The current findings suggest that future research should investigate the screen time patterns of the entire family and explore the cumulative impact of both children's and parents' total screen time on language skills, specifically focusing on lexical skills [ 11 ]. In addition to providing guidance, it is crucial to offer families alternative options to media use that promote positive development, such as parent-child play activities [ 16 ]. These alternatives should be made available in pediatric practices and early childhood centers to support families in creating enriching and interactive experiences with their children [ 16 ].

Social-Emotional Development

In recent years, the concept of screen time has become more complex, with a wide range of electronic devices available worldwide [ 17 ]. The advancement of technology in recent years has led to increased screen-based technology usage among young people, coinciding with a decrease in their engagement with nature and impacting their mental health and overall well-being [ 18 ]. Research has shown negative associations between screen time, particularly television viewing, and the development of physical and cognitive abilities. Additionally, screen time has been linked to obesity, sleep problems, depression, and anxiety [ 17 ]. The specific physiological mechanisms underlying the adverse health outcomes related to screen time, as well as the relative contributions of different types of screens and media content to these outcomes, are still not fully understood [ 17 ]. However, studies in very young children indicate that screen usage is an independent risk factor for reduced psychological well-being. One study shows that increased TV exposure between six and 18 months of age was associated with emotional reactivity, aggression, and externalizing behaviors [ 17 ]. Few studies indicate that higher screen time at the age of four years is associated with lower levels of emotional understanding at the age of six years. It also reveals that having a television in a child's bedroom at the age of six years predicts lower levels of emotional understanding at eight years [ 19 ]. Gaming was associated with lower levels of emotional understanding in boys but not in girls. This suggests that different types of screen activities may have distinct effects on the emotional development of children based on their gender [ 19 ].

Computer use and video gaming, but not television viewing, were shown to be connected with more severe depressive symptoms when looking at the effects of various types of screens. Video gaming, in particular, is correlated with the severity of anxiety [ 17 ]. These findings align with other studies showing a cumulative impact of high screen time on symptoms, with more pronounced effects emerging during early adolescence and beyond [ 17 ]. Screen time-induced poor sleep, nighttime use of digital devices, and dependency on mobile phones have been associated with depressive symptoms [ 20 ]. Sleep issues, excessive screen time, and exposure to content that is violent and fast-paced trigger dopamine and reward pathways in the brain, all of which have been associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related behavior [ 20 ]. Early and persistent exposure to violent content raises the chance of engaging in antisocial behavior [ 20 ]. Psychoneurological effects of addictive screen time use include a decrease in social coping skills and the development of craving behaviors resembling substance dependence [ 20 ]. Structural changes in the brain related to cognitive control and emotional regulation have been observed in individuals with addictive digital media behavior [ 20 ].

It is worth noting that screens can also have positive educational and informational benefits [ 17 ]. For example, many schools are effectively using blogs as educational tools to improve written English, and the Internet provides access to health resources, including information on sexually transmitted infections and mental health [ 17 ]. Starting around the age of two years, high-quality television programs that are designed for specific educational purposes can serve as an additional means for early language and literacy development in children [ 21 ]. Such programs can also support cognitive development, promote positive racial attitudes, and encourage imaginative play [ 21 ]. High-quality content can enhance social and language skills for all children aged two years and older, particularly for those who are living in poverty or facing other disadvantages [ 21 ]. The presence of smartphones blurs the boundaries between work and home life, making timing unpredictable, and frequently requiring emotional investment to respond to them [ 21 ]. These findings emphasize the potential negative consequences of excessive screen exposure during early childhood, particularly when screens are present in a child's personal space, such as their bedroom [ 19 ]. This study emphasizes the significance of face-to-face interaction, especially with primary caregivers, in promoting the development of social-emotional competence in young children [ 19 ]. Further research is needed to investigate the mechanisms underlying the connection between screen time and developmental vulnerabilities [ 22 ].

Strategies for managing and reducing screen time in children

Strong evidence shows that parents' awareness-raising and other straightforward actions may significantly lower children's screen time [ 23 ]. Early excessive screen-watching habits seem to follow throughout time and tend to cluster with other harmful lifestyle behaviors including a poor diet and lack of sleep [ 24 ]. The amount of time spent watching television and other forms of screen time among teens decreased only when the intervention included specific elements or activities aimed at reducing it [ 25 ]. Possible additions to interventions include the use of an electronic monitoring device to restrict screen time (which allows users to set time limits for TV, digital versatile disc (DVD), computer, or video game use), the TV Turn-off Challenge (a campaign to turn off the TV for a specified number of days), the conditional use of screens on physical activity, or education via mass or small media (such as newsletters, brochures, or billboards) [ 26 ]. Birth kits distributed to moms by maternity wards should contain information regarding newborns and toddlers seeing screens [ 23 ]. Health visitors should provide new parents with advice and be aware of medical evidence [ 23 ]. Schools should take a stand on how much time kids spend using screens both inside and outside of the classroom and let students and parents know about it [ 23 ].

Role of Parents in Managing Screen Time

Parents sometimes used screen time as a reward but also believed digital technology would have a negative impact on their child’s behavior, social skills, sleep, and physical activity [ 27 ]. Parents have the chance to implement behavioral control in the home as the primary caretakers, frequently through observation and rule-setting [ 27 ]. In fact, treatments designed to enhance common parenting techniques at home have proved effective in raising a child's desirable behavior [ 27 ]. In line with this viewpoint, some research indicates that parents' usage of restrictions regarding the use of technology such as television, cellphones, tablets, and computers is linked to children spending less time on screens (such as television, video games, and computer/internet use) [ 28 ]. Parental controls, which are frequently present in the form of extra settings and password safeguards for different technical devices (such as televisions, laptops, cellphones, etc.), may offer a viable answer to parenting challenges around children's screen time [ 27 ].

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other organizations/studies have indicated that parental restrictions on screen time and the absence of screens in bedrooms both significantly lower screen time [ 29 , 30 ]. Ideal discretionary screen time limits are 0.5-1 hour/day for three to seven-year-olds, one hour for 7-12-year-olds, 1.5 hours for 12-15-year-olds, and two hours for 16+-year-olds. Role modeling is also another crucial element. The amount of screen time parents and kids watch is closely associated; kids who live in homes where watching TV is encouraged (e.g., meals eaten in front of the TV and the TV is on when the child gets home from school) are more likely to engage in binge-watching themselves. If parents watch television for more than four hours every day, their sons and daughters will, respectively, have a 10.5-fold and a three-fold increased likelihood of doing the same [ 31 ].

Conclusions

Excessive screen media usage in children can have both positive and negative impacts on their development. Regarding cognitive development, screens have the potential to enhance education and learning. However, studies have shown that excessive screen time and media multitasking can negatively affect executive functioning, sensorimotor development, and academic outcomes. Early screen exposure has been associated with lower cognitive abilities and academic performance in later years. Language development is also affected by screen time, as it diminishes the quantity and quality of interactions between children and caregivers. Contextual factors such as co-viewing and appropriateness of content play a role in determining the impact on language development. Excessive screen usage can also lead to problems in social-emotional development, including obesity, sleep disturbances, depression, and anxiety. It can impair emotional comprehension, promote aggressive behavior, and hinder social and emotional competence.

Parents play a crucial role in managing and reducing screen time by raising awareness, setting boundaries, and providing behavioral controls. Parental limitations and the absence of screens in bedrooms have been found to significantly reduce screen usage. Parents should also set an example by managing their own screen time. Overall, it is important for caregivers, educators, and healthcare professionals to understand the potential risks of excessive screen usage and implement strategies to promote healthy development in children, including alternative activities that foster cognitive, linguistic, and social-emotional skills.

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Essay on Should Parents Limit Screen Time

Students are often asked to write an essay on Should Parents Limit Screen Time in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Should Parents Limit Screen Time

Introduction.

Screen time is the time we spend watching TV, playing video games, or using smartphones. Some people think parents should limit this for their children. This essay discusses why it might be a good idea.

Health Concerns

Spending too much time in front of screens can lead to health problems. It can hurt your eyes and make you sit too long, which is bad for your body. It can also disrupt your sleep if you use screens before bedtime.

Impact on Studies

Too much screen time can distract you from your schoolwork. It can make it hard to focus on your studies if you’re always thinking about games or social media.

Social Skills

When you spend a lot of time on screens, you might not spend as much time talking to people in real life. This can make it harder for you to develop good social skills.

250 Words Essay on Should Parents Limit Screen Time

Why limit screen time.

Screen time refers to the time spent using digital devices like computers, phones, or televisions. Nowadays, children spend a lot of time on these devices. This raises the question, should parents limit screen time? The answer is yes. Here’s why.

Health Risks

Too much screen time can lead to health problems. Staring at screens for a long time can strain the eyes and cause headaches. It can also lead to obesity because children may not move around much when they are using screens. They might also eat too many snacks while watching TV or playing video games.

Impact on Sleep

Using screens before bedtime can make it harder to fall asleep. The light from screens can trick the brain into thinking it is still daytime. This can lead to poor sleep, which can affect a child’s mood and performance in school.

Effect on Social Skills

When children spend too much time on screens, they may not spend enough time playing with friends or talking to family. This can affect their ability to develop good social skills.

How to Limit Screen Time

Parents can help limit screen time by setting rules. For example, they could set a time limit for each day or only allow screens in certain parts of the house. They could also encourage other activities, like reading, playing outside, or doing crafts.

500 Words Essay on Should Parents Limit Screen Time

In our world today, screens are everywhere. They are on our phones, our computers, and our TVs. Kids love them because they can watch shows, play games, and even do their schoolwork. But is too much screen time bad for them? Should parents set limits? Let’s find out.

Spending too much time staring at screens can lead to problems. One problem is that it can hurt your eyes. When you look at screens for a long time, your eyes can get tired and sore. This is called digital eye strain. It can even cause headaches.

The Connection Between Screen Time and Sleep

Screen time can also affect sleep. The light from screens can make it hard for kids to fall asleep at night. This is because it tricks the brain into thinking it’s still daytime. When kids don’t get enough sleep, they can have trouble focusing at school. They might also be more likely to get sick.

Screen Time and Social Skills

Spending a lot of time on screens can also affect a child’s social skills. When kids are on their devices, they’re not talking or playing with others. This can make it harder for them to learn how to get along with people.

How Much is Too Much?

Setting limits.

Parents can help by setting limits on screen time. This might mean no screens during meals or before bed. It could also mean setting a timer to remind kids when it’s time to stop using their devices. Parents should also encourage other activities, like reading, playing outside, or doing crafts.

In conclusion, while screens can be useful and fun, too much screen time can cause problems. It can hurt your eyes, make you less active, affect your sleep, and make it harder to learn social skills. That’s why parents should consider setting limits on screen time. It’s all about finding the right balance.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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Too Much Screen Time for Children Essay

To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
As a template for you assignment

Nowadays, the development of modern technologies causes the fact that children from a very young age use a variety of electronic devices extremely a lot. There is no doubt that it is impossible to imagine a life without digital gadgets and its help in different everyday situations. For example, people can find any necessary information and keep in touch with friends, colleges and family wherever a person is. However, too much screen time has also an adverse effect on humans’ life, especially on the children’s one.

According to statistics, adolescents spend about 3 hours a day using smartphones and other gadgets, while the American Academy of Pediatrics (2016) recommends watching on an electronic screen no more than one hour a day. Unfortunately, many parents do not pay enough attention to this rule and allow their children to spend hours in front of the screen, which leads to various problems. It should be taken into account that too much screen time causes emotional and social disorders. As a result, there are problems with attention, education, and sleeping.

A lot of researches in this area suggest that scientists consider this situation to be very serious. For example, Blum-Ross and Livingstone (2017) name the following general risks connected with long and improper use of the screen time: “conduct, content, contact and commercial” (p. 9). Firstly, using digital and online media do not give any guarantees in keeping secret personal information. School-age children may not understand that all confident materials, messages, and photos may be out of safe hands. Secondly, the Internet (and sometimes TV as well) is full of pornographic, racist and violent content. Absolutely anyone can access such web sites, and, in some cases, it may seduce and then destroy the child’s psyche. Finally, children may be affected by “stranger danger” and then become a subject of stalking or harassment.

On the other hand, there are several positive outcomes as well. Proper use of modern technologies and the Internet give unlimited possibilities in humans’ development. It is quite apparent that children from a very young age need to accustom to the use of human achievements because the future is behind IT technologies. For example, access to scientific and fiction literature, information of academic accomplishments, educational videos provide learning, creating and personal expression. Another positive point is an opportunity of connecting with people, for example, family, friends and teachers.

However, the negative impact is still very high and the possible advantages do not overlap the disadvantages. The reason is that a small minority uses opportunities of electronic devices in appropriate way. Unfortunately, most parents are not able to set a positive example for the kids. The saddest thing is that smartphones harm the relationship between parents and children. This is more adults’ fault who also feel quite uncomfortable without sending posts, liking photos or replying to every news even during a conversation with the kid. In this case, the child possibly gets the message that he or she is less important than the phone.

In conclusion, despite possible advantages of digital technologies, too much screen time may have harmful effects on the children’s development. For example, behavior and educational problems, potential violence and sense of uselessness may occur. This is the reason why parents should give an example of how to use smartphones and control the time of using gadgets. Competent use of modern technologies is the key to a happy future for our generations.

American Academy of Pediatrics Announces New Recommendations for Children’s Media Use . (2016). Web.

Blum-Ross, A., & Livingstone S. (2017). Families and screen time: Current advice and emerging research. London, England: Media Policy Project.

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1. IvyPanda . "Too Much Screen Time for Children." July 8, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/too-much-screen-time-for-children/.

Bibliography

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Screen Time and Sleep—It’s Different for Adults

By Mary Grace and Sharon Brock, MEd, MS

Many of us have heard that looking at our phones late at night can keep us awake due to light exposure, however, research shows this may be true for children, but there is not sufficient evidence to support this claim for adults .

“Young children have a greater sensitivity to light because more light gets to the retina of a child than an adult,” says Jamie Zeitzer, PhD, Co-Director of the Stanford Center for Sleep and Circadian Sciences. “Since adults have more opacities in their eyes and smaller pupils than children, less light passes through adult eyes, so there’s less of an effect on melatonin production.”

Melatonin is a hormone that makes us feel sleepy and is released when the eyes perceive darkness. Conversely, when we see natural light in the morning, we feel more awake because light hitting our eyes stops the production of melatonin.

Given this logic, it would seem reasonable that looking at our screens (smart phones, computers, iPads, etc.) at night could delay melatonin production and inhibit our ability to fall asleep, but Dr. Zeitzer says this is not the case.

While darkness enables melatonin production, suppressing melatonin production works by the brain comparing the amount of light we receive during at night with how much we received during the day. It’s the shift from light to dark that cues the release of melatonin, which is why we start to feel sleepy after the sun goes down.

Since natural sunlight emits 10,000-100,000 lux of light and phone screens emit 25-50 luxunder usual conditions at night, Dr. Zeitzer says the light from our screens doesn’t have much of an impact on the melatonin cueing process.

“There just isn’t that much light coming from your phone,” says Dr. Zeitzer. “As long as you go outside during the day and get exposed to the intensity of natural light then the amount of light from a screen in the evening most likely won’t halt the production of melatonin.”

If it’s Not Light, What Keeps us Up at Night?

Rather than light exposure, Dr. Zeitzer believes that what is keeping us awake is what we are watching on our screens. Millions of Americans stay awake at night scrolling on social media looking at page after page of emotionally activating content and writing posts that lead to likes, comments, and followers. Others stay up to play games on their phones or computers, all of which stimulate the dopamine reward system in the brain, which is the basis of addictive behaviors .

“In the past, when a television show ended, you turned off the TV and went to sleep because there was nothing else to do,” says Dr. Zeitzer. “But now you could watch Netflix, look at apps or play computer games all night because this entertainment has been commodified to engaged with it for as long as possible; it’s optimized to never stop playing and this is causing sleep deprivation.”

When watching screens before bed, Dr. Zeitzer recommends that we not only avoid content that could be distressing, but also content that could stir excitement within us.

“In order to fall asleep, we need to reduce stimuli exposure and calm our mind and body,” says Dr. Zeitzer. “Even if you’re watching something positive, if it stirs excitement, the brain will release dopamine, and over time we can develop a dopamine addiction, making staying awake playing games or on social media much more fun that going to sleep.”

Lastly, Dr. Zeitzer says that he can’t make a general statement that nighttime screen use negatively affects everyone’s sleep. For some, their addiction to games or apps could make falling asleep a challenge, while others may watch soothing nature videos on their phones to help them relax and fall asleep. Therefore, Dr. Zeitzer suggests that you take note of how screens are impacting your sleep health by asking yourself these questions:

Is the content of your screen time making you feel distressed or excited? If yes, then you should not look at screens for about an hour before bedtime to calm the mind and body and prepare for sleep.
Also, do you engage with screens throughout the night when you could be sleeping? If so, you may have a dopamine addiction that is making screen time activities more enjoyable than sleep.

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Is The Whale Based On A True Story?

Disney confirm plans to release three new star wars movies in 2026 & 2027, warner bros. reportedly backed out of releasing another completed movie.

The Whale's ending is devastating as it sees the end of Charlie's life. He tried reconnecting with his daughter Ellie, but it was always one-sided.
Ellie was cruel to Charlie throughout the movie, but there is hope she could finally see in herself what Charlie did all those years.
The Whale tackles themes of redemption, being oneself, and dealing with grief. Brendan Fraser showcased that and ultimately won an Oscar for his performance as Charlie.

The Whale ending brought the powerful and intense drama to a conclusion that requires some more analysis. The movie has Brendan Fraser in an Oscar-winning role, as a teacher who battles with an eating disorder that has left him at over 600 pounds and on the verge of death. All he wants in life is to reconcile with his daughter and possibly help her, knowing she has a hard life of her own. However, The Whale 's ending brings about a bittersweet resolution for the two characters.

The Darren Aronofsky movie ends with the heavy implication that Charlie has died. He tried reconnecting with his daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink), and he did everything he could to make progress throughout the film. However, this was always one-sided, and in the end, he refused to give up on his daughter and tried to give her the one thing she asked for the first time she appeared in the movie. This all led to The Whale ending where Charlie finally seemed to die and pass on to the other side.

Darren Aronofsky’s critically acclaimed The Whale features a stunning lead performance from Brendan Fraser, and it has an interesting backstory.

Why Charlie Kept The Moby Dick Essay For So Long

The essay highlights qualities in his daughter that he wished he had.

Throughout The Whale' s story, Charlie is shown reading from a Moby Dick essay which calms him and brings him solace. The Whale ending explained that the essay was written by Ellie, and he considered it the most honest piece of writing he ever read .

Charlie held that close to his heart because it was honest in a way he or his students never were.

Charlie was constantly frustrated with the students he taught online because they would give him generic responses or write what they thought would please him enough to get a good grade. Ellie’s essay had an opinion and a strong perspective that conveyed how she felt about the novel and Captain Ahab. Charlie held that close to his heart because it was honest in a way he or his students never were.

What Happened With Ellie In The Whale?

Ellie's final scene with her father could give her hope.

...there is hope she could finally see in herself what Charlie did all those years

The Whale was met with a lot of controversy with how Charlie is depicted and the insulting way Ellie interacts with him. The first time she appeared, she told him that he disgusted her , regardless of his appearance, and said if he loved her, he would walk to her without assistance, which she knew he couldn't do, and he sadly fell, breaking his table. She kept returning because he promised to write an essay for school for her and offered her all his money, which totaled over $120,000 since he never spent money on anything but food and rent.

When Charlie's ex-wife Mary showed up to talk to him about their daughter, Ellie's dark and cruel side appeared again. Mary (Samantha Morton) and Charlie divorced when Charlie left them for a student named Alan. Mary severed Charlie's contact with Ellie and wanted to raise her on her own which didn't work out well. When Mary lashed out at Charlie at the end, she admitted that Ellie had turned into a "monster" and was cruel to her fellow students and others. This was also shown when Ellie drugged her father and took photos of him to share online.

Ellie was still working through her problems at The Whale’s end. Ellie refused to reconnect with her dad , even at the end, but she did one thing that might be a glimmer of hope. Knowing he didn't have a lot of time left, Charlie asked her, before she left for the last time, to read her Moby Dick essay to him again. Ellie read the essay and Charlie rose and attempted to walk like at the beginning.

It was full circle, as he wanted her essay to be the last thing he heard before he died . When he rose to walk, he floated into the white sky, and it seemed he died. With Ellie reading to him as he died, there is hope she could finally see in herself what Charlie did all those years.

Sadie Sink was nominated for a Critics' Choice Award for her performance.

How Did Thomas Affect Charlie In The Whale?

Charlie plays into the movie's theme of forgiveness.

Another character in The Whale cast that plays a role in Charlie's final days is the missionary, Thomas. It's revealed in The Whale 's ending he wasn't really a missionary after having a lapse in his faith, stealing money from his youth group, and running away from home. However, this all crashed down on him when he admitted this to Ellie. What he didn't know was that she was recording what he said. At the same time, she took pictures of her dad to humiliate him and she sent the recording to Thomas' parents and former church to humiliate him.

Charlie could see the good in anyone, even when their intentions were evil.

This backfired, as his parents offered to take him back in, and he found forgiveness . This also allowed Charlie to see what he wanted, as he told Mary that Ellie was a good person because she helped Thomas reunite with his parents. Charlie could see the good in anyone, even when their intentions were evil. Even when Ellie lashed out at her dad, humiliated people around her, and lived a self-destructive life, Charlie could only see the eight-year-old girl who wrote an essay about Moby Dick .

Why Charlie Finally Shows His Face To His Students

Charlie exposed himself as he faced his end.

Brendan Fraser smiling slightly in The Whale.

As The Whale ending explained, Charlie really wanted to die. He had the money for a hospital stay but refused to spend it and lied to the only person who cared about him. He didn't care about his life anymore and just wanted to save his daughter. As he told his wife, he just wanted to do one good thing in his life. Charlie saw all the lies - from himself, his daughter, the missionary, and more - just caused more pain.

He was tired of lying, and he decided that he would finally be honest. After lying to his students about his laptop camera being broken, he finally let them see what he looked like, showcasing Brendan Fraser's transformation in The Whale role . His students were shocked at his appearance and he broke his laptop, severing his final ties with the outside world .

How The Whale Compares To The Play (Biggest Differences)

The movie ending adds a more hopeful message.

Playwright Samuel D. Hunter also wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation , making The Whale fairly loyal to the original play. However, one of the biggest differences between the movie adaptation and the play is director Darren Aronofsky's more hopeful ending. This was executed in the visual appearance of the two endings.

As The Whale ended, Charlie went into a white light and the last thing he saw was an image of him, his wife, and their daughter on a beach from the past. It was a sign of hope. The stage play kept showing how bad things were getting until Charlie died, and it all went black and deathly silent. Despite the heartbreaking tone of the movie, it at least ended on a more positive note.

The Real Meaning Of The Whale’s Ending

Charlie's purpose is linked to ellie's journey.

The film suggests redemption has to be earned... but that it must also come from the desire to make amends.

The Whale tackles many subjects, including abandonment, loss, broken families, sexuality, and the need for connection. The film’s most powerful theme is redemption. However, as with The Wrestler' s ending and Black Swan 's ending , Darren Aronofsky left viewers wondering what happened when the movie ended.

The Whale ending explores Charlie’s desire to help Ellie find happiness before he dies . This is the only way he feels will absolve him of his past mistakes. Thomas also wants to be redeemed by bringing Charlie back to religion and puts forth tremendous effort to do so. The film suggests redemption has to be earned, and Charlie works hard for it, but that it must also come from the desire to make amends, to begin with.

The Whale also touches upon the theme of being oneself, no matter what others think. Charlie feels a lot of shame — be it because of his sexuality or weight — and he hides a lot, fearing judgment despite his own compassion for others. However, the ending implies there is beauty in honesty — with others and oneself — and being unafraid of boldly being true to oneself.

Crucially, The Whale also explores the variety of ways an individual might deal with grief, be that in losing a significant other to death or dealing with the absence of a parent. Everyone handles it differently, and Aronofsky’s film showcases the breadth of experiences.

Brendan Fraser Won An Oscar For The Whale

Fraser's win completed his hollywood comeback.

Brendan Fraser as Charlie sitting on his couch in The Whale

Brendan Fraser took the dramatic role in The Whale and delivered a critically acclaimed comeback performance . In Charlie's interactions with Liz, he shows his undying optimism in the people around him, even as he hates himself. When he talked to his daughter Ellie, he saw the good in her, even as she did everything in her power to hurt those around her. As a reward for this performance, Fraser picked up his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

He received the same nomination from the Golden Globes, but he lost out in that ceremony to Austin Butler ( Elvis ). Despite that loss, Fraser rebounded at the Oscars and took home wins at other ceremonies like the SAG Awards. On top of Fraser, Hong Chau also received a nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and The Whale won the Oscar for Makeup and Hairstyling.

How The Whale Ending Was Received

The reaction to the whale's ending highlights the divisive response to the movie.

Brendan Fraser looking worried in The Whale

Brenda Fraser's lead performance in The Whale and the performances of the rest of the cast were praised, but the movie did receive a rather mixed reaction from critics. The Whale earned a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes , making it one of Darren Aronofsky's most poorly reviewed films to date. However, the movie also holds a 91% audience score as well as a 7.6 IMDb score, showing a strong divide. The reception to The Whale's ending seems to highlight that divide further.

There are some who see the ending as a bittersweet moment of redemption for Charlie after living with so much pain. Many audiences spoke about the emotional experience of the movie and the ending continues that tone with it being a tragic moment of Charlie passing on, but comes at a moment of him achieving that connection to his daughter that he sought for so long .

However, others felt that the ending leaned into melodrama, with the quick shot of Charlie apparently being lifted to heaven feeling over-the-top. With Aronofsky's The Wrestler delivering a similar ending that subtly hints at its protagonist dying as the screen cuts to black, some viewers felt the filmmaker did not have the same faith in his audience this time around, with no subtlety to be found.

The movie has also been criticized for how it depicts an obese person and the ending has been criticized as feeding into that notion . Beth Younger of Salon wrote about the movie's depiction of Charlie's weight, suggesting it is depicted as monstrous and disgusting. She interprets the ending of the movie as suggesting Charlie's death allows him to escape the burden of his obese body, a feeling other viewers of The Whale have echoed.

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Directed by Darren Aronofsky, The Whale is based on a 2012 stage play of the same name by Samuel D. Hunter. The film star Brenden Fraser as Charlie, a reclusive and obese English teacher who, faced with his own mortality and guilt-ridden over his past, attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter Ellie, played by Sadie Sink. The film was part of Fraser's comeback to acting and earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor.

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An Olympics Scene Draws Scorn. Did It Really Parody ‘The Last Supper’?

Some church leaders and politicians have condemned the performance from the opening ceremony for mocking Christianity. Art historians are divided.

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A screen depicting a person painted in blue near fruit. Behind is a rainy Paris street with part of the Eiffel Tower and Olympic rings visible.

By Yan Zhuang

A performance during the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony on Friday has drawn criticism from church leaders and conservative politicians for a perceived likeness to Leonardo da Vinci’s depiction of a biblical scene in “The Last Supper,” with some calling it a “mockery” of Christianity.

The event’s planners and organizers have denied that the sequence was inspired by “The Last Supper,” or that it intended to mock or offend.

In the performance broadcast during the ceremony, a woman wearing a silver, halo-like headdress stood at the center of a long table, with drag queens posing on either side of her. Later, at the same table, a giant cloche lifted, revealing a man, nearly naked and painted blue, on a dinner plate surrounded by fruit. He broke into a song as, behind him, the drag queens danced.

The tableaux drew condemnation among people who saw the images as a parody of “The Last Supper,” the New Testament scene depicted in da Vinci’s painting by the same name. The French Bishops’ Conference, which represents the country’s Catholic bishops, said in a statement that the opening ceremony included “scenes of mockery and derision of Christianity,” and an influential American Catholic, Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota, called it a “gross mockery.”

The performance at the opening ceremony, which took place on and along the Seine on Friday, also prompted a Mississippi-based telecommunications provider, C Spire, to announce that it would pull its advertisements from Olympics broadcasts. Speaker Mike Johnson described the scene as “shocking and insulting to Christian people.”

The opening ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, said at the Games’ daily news conference on Saturday that the event was not meant to “be subversive, or shock people, or mock people.” On Sunday, Anne Descamps, the Paris 2024 spokeswoman, said at the daily news conference, “If people have taken any offense, we are, of course, really, really sorry.”

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