Doctors Urge Parents to Limit Kids' Texts, Tweets, Time Online With New Policy

[AustinTheIntern]

 

The recommendations are bound to prompt eye-rolling and LOLs from many teens, but an influential pediatricians group says parents need to know that unrestricted media use can have serious consequences.

It's been linked with violence, cyberbullying, school woes, obesity, lack of sleep and a host of other problems. It's not a major cause of these troubles, but "many parents are clueless" about the profound impact media exposure can have on their children, said Dr. Victor Strasburger, lead author of the new American Academy of Pediatrics policy.

 

Source

[Sarcasm]

Once again, Big Brother needs to step in, because parents don't know how to raise kids nowadays.

[Lord Pantaloons]

Once again, Big Brother needs to step in, because parents don't know how to raise kids nowadays.

Pretty much

[Maskot]

And Dr. Victor Strasburg has never used the internet for learning, if you know what I'm saying.

[SpaceSquid]

I learn more on 1 day on the internet than a month at school, just saying.

[AraSarkisyan]

Wanna know how to stop cyber-bullying? Turn off the computer and facebook. 

Wanna know how to be healthy? Eat right, and stay active. Works for me. 

The internet is the greatest thing that has happened to me. 

[Yoinkerman]

As someone who grew up on the internet, they're not wrong.

[EChondo]

As someone who grew up on the internet, they're not wrong.

I concur.

 

Different people have different experiences, I grew up with the Internet and it's the best thing thats ever happened to me. It's what got me the information on computers, it's how I self taught myself and experimented with software like Linux and it's the sole reason I currently have a job that I love.

 

It's not the Internet, it's a lack of parenting.

[MasterJV]

Can't understand how the Internet can make you obese. Does twitter feed you a hamburger whenever you tweet?

If your not taking care of your diet to be on the internet, than that's a problem.

[Giggitygoebbels]

Well this Dr Victor is just trying to use typical problems that arise from many things to explain that one specific thing should be avoided.That is just moving the cause of the problem to somewhere else.Blocking the internet from children does not fix anything,instead it creates new problems.

Negative Media impact on children?So watching drama on a TV or going to a One Direction concert is better than watching a VSauce video?

Dr Victor,are you alright?

[mvitkun]

Wanna know how to stop cyber-bullying? Turn off the computer and facebook. 

Wanna know how to be healthy? Eat right, and stay active. Works for me. 

The internet is the greatest thing that has happened to me. 

completely agree.

People see how the internet affects people and assume the internet is to blame,and while it's true to an extent the much larger cause is that children these days are way to sensitive;they allow what another person thinks of them define who they are,they allow themselves to fall into a rut of follow the leader.And while it's all good and fun when the leader is on your side,or the leader is ignoring you,the moment the leader goes against you so does everyone else,and children these days are so sensitive to everything that they don't know how to ignore what people say and do,or they don't want to ignore it;they'd much rather conform to everyone else's standards,at the loss of themselves.

[Opsilon]

Well no shit Sherlock, doctors urge parents.... 

This is the same as the post about video games turning people into killers.

 

I did not have internet till i was 9 years old, and i had 64k at that time, so my parents used it i was too young to know anything about that, i got my 1st family pc at that age.

I know how it is to live without internet, since i got DSL very late, i was 15. Kids today have no value of life without the internet at all, but all of this is not internet's fault. As always it's bad parenting.

I strongly believe children should not own a smartphone, have facebook, or any other social media, they should explore real life and use internet as a tool, not a time wasting luxury.

 

Children should go out and do sports, learn, play, but noooooooo, today everyone has a facebook, twitter, and plays CoD, some children don't even know that cow's are not pink, some young adults think going to the butchers shop prevents killing animals for food!?!?!?!?!?!?

Internet is awesome, don't get me wrong, but modern parents are leaving their kids unchecked on the web, just so they don't have to spend time with them, and since children can't say enough is enough, we get a generation of mindless zombies...

[JLCitadel]

Once again, Big Brother needs to step in, because parents don't know how to raise kids nowadays.

 

I agree. It's not just with computers or technology, but with attitude, mannerisms, and hygiene for some kids.

[DLM_012]

Common sense goes a long way. If you notice your child is doing too much of something, fix it. Find a way to restore balance. Too much of anything is bad for anyone no matter the age. What I do find disturbing is that everyone in my generation is absorbed in their phones 24/7 and have a lack of social skills as a result. I feel somewhat hypocritical saying all of this but I no longer have social media (unless you count Instagram?) and I too am equally as guilty for pulling out my phone to check tech/gaming news when eating with my mom.

[Fetzie]

And Dr. Victor Strasburg has never used the internet for learning, if you know what I'm saying.

 

You don't need to be on the internet all the time for learning. There are these places called "libraries", which contain "books".

[SSL]

Wanna know how to stop cyber-bullying? Turn off the computer and facebook. 

Wanna know how to be healthy? Eat right, and stay active. Works for me. 

The internet is the greatest thing that has happened to me. 

 

Couldn't disagree more.

 

"Eat right, exercise" sounds like a no-brainer, but there are many legitimate reasons that it might not be possible. Location, economic situation, available time, pre-existing medical conditions, to name a few.

 

Secondly, cyber-bullies are almost certainly assholes in real life, and that's a problem. Chances are they wouldn't be acting like that online - anonymously or not - if they learned early on that you can't get away with that kind of behavior irl.

[nicehat]

Believe it or not, it also makes you develop differently. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children less than 8 spend no more than 2 hours a day of any type of visual stimulation, be it TV, Video Games, Computer, Tablets etc. They also recommend that parents abstain from letting children less than 2 watch television or similar mediums altogether. Some of that is because of eye strain, but alot has to do with how the mind is wired, and the rewiring that happens when your brain is stimulated from such mediums.

 

To conclude, some food for thought:

 

Since 1999, 3 studies have evaluated the effects of heavy television use on language development in children 8 to 16 months of age. In the short-term, children younger than 2 years who watch more television or videos have expressive language delays,^12,43,44 and children younger than 1 year with heavy television viewing who are watching alone have a significantly higher chance of having a language delay.⁴⁴ Although the long-term effects on language skills remain unknown, the evidence of short-term effects is concerning.

Two studies have examined infant media use and subsequent attention problems in school-aged children.^45,46 One of these studies found that the effects of television watching on infants' attention span varied with the content of the programming.

Research findings to date might suggest a correlation between television viewing and developmental problems, but they cannot show causality. Are infants with poor language skills placed in front of the television more? Are infants with shorter attention spans more attracted to screens? Does media exposure contribute to a delay in social or communication skills and diminished attentional capacity? Because these questions remain unanswered, more research is needed.

 

Source:

http://pediatrics.aa...62-2ef44f314693

[YellowDragon]

You don't need to be on the internet all the time for learning. There are these places called "libraries", which contain "books".

The problem with libraries and many books is one thing.....THEY ARE OUTDATED, lots of the information in books can be flat out wrong, the most up to date information is always found on the web. Tell me the last time you picked up an encyclopedia? Last time for me was in middle school. In many fields you would never pick up a book because the information gets outdated so quickly. Take books on computer science for example you should never pick up a book on it because 9 times out of 10 something has changed to no longer make it a vaild source of information. You want current information? Then the net is your friend.

[Maskot]

You don't need to be on the internet all the time for learning. There are these places called "libraries", which contain "books".

I was making a porn joke.  Also, I don't want to waste time thumbing through a book that may have the answer to my question when I have so many resources (the internet) at my disposal right at home.

[mr moose]

Well this Dr Victor is just trying to use typical problems that arise from many things to explain that one specific thing should be avoided.That is just moving the cause of the problem to somewhere else.Blocking the internet from children does not fix anything,instead it creates new problems.

Negative Media impact on children?So watching drama on a TV or going to a One Direction concert is better than watching a VSauce video?

Dr Victor,are you alright?

 

Did you read the article?

 

It's not a major cause of these troubles

 

 

He knows this, he is quite a well educated man, He is simply saying that it can worsen these problems and that parents need to be aware of it.  If that is a bad thing then you clearly know nothing about the topic and are just defensive.

 

"I guarantee you that if you have a 14-year-old boy and he has an Internet connection in his bedroom, he is looking at pornography," Strasburger said.

 

Pretty safe bet there in my opinion.

 

 

I was making a porn joke.  Also, I don't want to waste time thumbing through a book that may have the answer to my question when I have so many resources (the internet) at my disposal right at home.

 

Did you read the article?

He said this:

 

Under the new policy, those two hours include using the Internet for entertainment, including Facebook, Twitter, TV and movies; online homework is an exception

 

Homework is the exception, He is specifically talking about facebook, entertainment, twitter etc.  Not about learning or education.

[flibberdipper]

I really hope they're not just figuring this out.

[Maskot]

Did you read the article?

 

 

He knows this, he is quite a well educated man, He is simply saying that it can worsen these problems and that parents need to be aware of it.  If that is a bad thing then you clearly know nothing about the topic and are just defensive.

 

Pretty safe bet there in my opinion.

 

 

 

Did you read the article?

He said this:

Homework is the exception, He is specifically talking about facebook, entertainment, twitter etc.  Not about learning or education.

Implying you can't learn from youtube, twitter, and facebook?  I see he hasn't used any of these nor cares to, he isn't a realistic example of the person that should be giving this opinion.

[mr moose]

Implying you can't learn from youtube, twitter, and facebook?  I see he hasn't used any of these nor cares to, he isn't a realistic example of the person that should be giving this opinion.

:rolleyes:

[Fetzie]

Implying you can't learn from youtube, twitter, and facebook?  I see he hasn't used any of these nor cares to, he isn't a realistic example of the person that should be giving this opinion.

 

Youtube, Twitter and Facebook aren't exactly known as reliable sources of factual information...

[LordTumnas]

Murica, encouraging children to stay in the dark since 2013