It was a week or so ago that a couple of school nurses in Växjö municipality sent out an email to guardians. One of the pieces of advice in the document, which came from Region Kronoberg’s eye clinic, was that screen time for children should be limited to a maximum of 40 minutes a day. A statement that, according to the clinic, comes from a lecture that one of their employees heard four years ago.
But that is not enough, according to Dino Viscovi, who is a lecturer in media and communication science at the Linnaeus University in Växjö.
– When you communicate research and recommendations, it should always be based on a research situation that you are aware of, not that you are aware of, he says to SVT Småland.
Sending information about a new study on school children
The eye clinic has also subsequently sent a link to a new study, conducted on school children in Ireland. According to it, the risk of myopia increases with more than two hours of screen time a day. But there is also nothing about the absolute limit of 40 minutes that the eye clinic sent out. In addition, a single study would not have been enough, says Dino Viscovi.
– Recommendations or ideas that we have must have solid scientific support and must be based on a research situation and not individual studies.
After SVT Småland started asking questions about the mailing, Växjö municipality has sent out a clarification stating that there are no general recommendations regarding screen time for school children. The eye clinic also says they have updated the document.