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Promoting healthy digital habits among children

PIXABAY

by Patricia B. Mirasol

More than a year and a half into the pandemic, Filipino parents are finding the right balance of online and offline activities for their young children.

“Screentime has increased during the lockdown partly because of school, but I noticed that [my children] know how to control themselves now as compared to when they were younger,” said Frances H. Ang, general manager in the Philippines of theAsianparent, a parenting platform.

Ms. Ang, whose 4-year-old twins attend one hour of nursery e-class, only have another hour of screentime at night. The rest of the day, Ms. Ang said to BusinessWorld in an e-mail, is for digital-free activities such as playing with clay and blocks, as well as physical endeavors such as swimming.

A report released this September by Kaspersky, a cybersecurity firm headquartered in Moscow, showed that 96% of the 11,000 parents surveyed set limits on their child’s digital habits, with 54% saying they set healthy digital habits for the whole family. This habit regulation includes putting limits on the videos they can watch (60%), as well the online games they can play (52%).

An April poll by theAsianparent, meanwhile, also found that 59% of Filipino mothers control how much their child uses a screen (whether from a smartphone, laptop, tablet, or TV). Only 31% said they let their child use a screen whenever he/she wants to.

ANALOG ACTIVITIES

When the lockdown started, the struggle was in looking for alternative recreational activities, according to Michael Vincent G. Cubillas, co-founder of digital marketing firm Red Five Digital, and father of a four-year-old.

“We are grateful that we live in a small subdivision with a lot of kids,” he said in a Facebook message. “Now that restrictions have eased, we allow him to go outside so that he can socialize with kids his age.”

The Cubillases only started allowing their son screentime when he turned two. Among the children’s programs the latter enjoys include Sesame Street, Storybots, and Blippi.

Blippi, an educational YouTube program for toddlers and children up to seven years, is also among the favorites of the 22-month-old son of Cathy M., a human resources specialist at a multinational firm, who declined to give her last name.

“I only allow an hour and a half of screentime per day,” she said. “As parents and psychology graduates, [my husband and I] believe that real interaction with people is more beneficial to the social development of children.”

The rest of the time is spent enjoying analog activities such as baking, storytelling, playing music, and doing living room camping as a family.

“These allow him to expand his imagination and creativity when it comes to play,” she added in a Viber message.

WHO RECOMMENDATION

To grow up healthy, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends children under the age of five to spend less time sitting watching screens and have more time for active play. Habits that are established early in life help shape habits through adolescence and adulthood.

“Achieving health for all means doing what is best for health right from the beginning of people’s lives,” said WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in an April 2019 post. “Early childhood is a period of rapid development and a time when family lifestyle patterns can be adapted to boost health gains.”

While parents worldwide worry about how digital devices will affect their children mentally, physically, and socially (60%), the Kaspersky report pointed out that parents are responsible for the example they set for their children with their own digital habits.

“Our dependence on our phones is why it’s all the more important to make this topic clear to all of us in the first place…,” said Birgitt Holzel and Stefan Ruzas, therapists who run the Munich-based counseling company Liebling + Schatz, in a press statement released by Kaspersky. “The most important thing for all parents is to keep talking to their children about media use.”

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