COLUMBIA, Mo. – Parents may find it staggering to know that 2- to 5-year-olds watch 25 hours of television each week, said Sara Gable, University of Missouri Extension human environmental sciences specialist.
National Screen-Free Week, May 5-11, is an annual event used to bring attention to the amount of time Americans spend with electronic devices, including televisions, computers, tablets and cellphones. “It is a celebration of the magic of being unplugged,” Gable said.
Read, play, think and spend time with family and friends instead, she said. “Use this time to take a look at your family’s screen-use habits. How many hours are spent using a screen compared to doing other activities?” In this day and age, electronic media blurs lines between work or school and home.
It’s important to unplug. Excessive screen time leads to poor performance in school, childhood obesity and attention problems, she said.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey, television watching is the No. 1 leisure-time activity.
Gable urges parents to kick-start Screen-Free Week by turning the television off during mealtime. Talk about other activities that your family can do.
Gable offers more tips for changing your family’s screen habits in the MU Extension publication “Play More, Watch Less,” available for free download at www.extension.missouri.edu/p/F280.
Screen-Free Week is coordinated by Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a national advocacy organization devoted to reducing the impact of commercialism on children. For more information, go to www.screenfree.org.
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