Malin Bergström says that children miss out on other types of stimulation and experiences when they look at screens a lot. At the same time, she emphasizes that in modern childhood, many spend time with their friends precisely through screens.
– The important thing is to look at your child’s entire everyday life.
Clara Linnros, child psychologist, says that the big risk with a lot of time in front of the screen is that the children can miss things.
– If you have an active child, who moves around a lot and has friends, it might not do much.
Screen time as emotion regulation
In the very youngest children, between the ages of zero and two, the brain develops very quickly.
– They need to be with others because that’s how they learn, says Clara Linnros.
Therefore, she recommends no more than a couple of hours of screen time for them. She further says that parents can use the screens to comfort or calm the child.
– So as an emotion regulation, and there you can miss quite a lot of this training that children need to get, i.e. to calm down with the help of an adult instead.
Adults should control screen time
Both agree that adults need to manage screen time and not let children decide for themselves.
– They don’t regulate when they should go to bed or eat sweets either, says Clara Linnros.
See the psychologists’ tips for reducing screen time in the player above.