Expert reveals Australian kids have screen time of over 44 hours/week

While we all know children’s screen time these days is breaching the safe limit almost everywhere around the world, a new report from Australia tells how exactly the kids Down Under are performing on this front.

It’s being reported that on an average, an Australian kid (over five years of age) spends more than 44 hours per week, which is a whopping 30 hours more than the recommended screen time of 14 hours per week for children.

The numbers were shared by Dr. Justin Coulson in a recent episode of the Australian reality TV show Parental Guidance, wherein four regular Australian families with different parenting styles were asked to compile weekly screen time information for their kids. This information was then compared with each other, as well as with the recommended guidelines.

To give you more context, a USA today report from February this year states that kids in 5-8 years age group spend around 23 hours/week staring at their screen in the US. This means Australian kids are spending way more time on screen than their US counterparts.

During the episode, Dr. Coulson cited current scientific research, which associates higher screen time with mental issues. And he wasn’t just talking about kids’ screent time – there was a warning for parents as well. Here what exactly he said:

Kids who report that their parents are spending a lot of time on their devices, specially smart phones, have significantly higher levels of mental health disorders

However, he also shared some tips to tackle the screen time problem for both kids as well as parents.

That last point – which puts social media in the spotlight – is also on priority for the Australian government. For those who aren’t aware, Australia has passed a new law that bans children under 16 years of age from using social media.

While the law is set to take effect this December, latest reports on the matter indicate its implemention is proving to be tricky, with issues like what exactly makes any digital service a “social media” platform, what are the set of rules these social media platforms would be required to comply with, and what exactly would be called a violation.

If implemented correctly, the law will ensure that over a million kids are blocked from using social media platforms in the country.

Australia isn’t the only country that’s concerned with their kids using social media at a very early age. A lot is currently going on around the world on this front. As I recently covered, Brazil has revised its minimum age recommendation for accessing Instagram, pushing it from 14 to 16. Europe is also considering coming up with a Digital Majority Age.

While creating minimum age rules and limiting screen time will definitely help, parents would still have to shoulder the responsibility of dealing sensitively with kids facing anxiety and stress due to age-inappropriate digital exposure.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Feel free to drop by the comments section below.