Thank you. So then what matters is how how devices are used. That would suggest that users have choice. If only the tech companies we choose from were more humane.
Yes, I agree, but we could help parents and children with this by setting up best-practices an guidelines, at least 
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I might add it’s the displacement of time spent on screens is very important. Displacing a child’s use time contributes to childhood obesity and lack of critical needed 3D peer contact needed for social development. There are only so many hours in a day to develop a human being.
It takes a sophisticated study to consider the health consequences of modern life.
This research sounds quite interesting – does anyone know if the two studies themselves have been published online yet?
Several parents told me that they limit their children’s screen time to certain hours or days of the week but still see their kids being harmed by tech. In particular, they mentioned that their children seem to “binge” on technology during their allotted screen time. Some also said their kids seek out extreme forms of stimulation during their time online, such as hardcore pornography or images of violent crimes. I wonder if the studies were able to quantify these phenomena…
Interesting:
It was written in reaction to a large study:
and other related studies.
Big list of resources and research on blue light in screens:
Personally I experience sleep issues when I’m on my phone or laptop after 7pm- this is with warm hues and orange tinted blue blocker glasses too. This phenomenon is real for some people.
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I came to the same conclusions - if I cut my screen time (phone/laptop/TV even) 1-2 hours before going to bed, the sleep quality goes much higher, and in general I feel much less stressed during the day as well. It might not be true for everyone, but highly recommend more people at least try it out.
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I agree. It isn’t just social media.
A new Stanford study shows people were slightly happier on average, less depressed and anxious, after staying off Facebook for one month.
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There is also a counter-narrative to many of the harms to kids (screen use as well as other harms). Whether the science holds up or not, or is even independent at all, I really don’t know, but following article is representative of this contrary experiences:
And there is a hacker news discussion that may have some good counter-counter-arguments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19069440
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It’s not that simple, displacement of time and the luring effects of dopamine surges will get the better of kids- these kids need outdoor and creative playtime and anything that prevents them from doing this is considered a distraction- and the lack of activity that supports development is harmful in itself.
How many of you remember playing ball and changing rules together as kids? Well not doing this- negotiating rules etc… is harmful. It’s impossible to prove these things yes, but who ever lived their lives making decisions based on whether something had to be proved or not?
We need to use our brains when we think of our kids future- if something doesn’t feel right for your kid- don’t do it. If your kid can manage screen time without falling apart developmentally- go ahead and take the risk if it seems right. We can’t live our lives in fear- but we must make informed decisions and to do this we must talk about harms we’ve seen already.
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I’d love to decrease my screentime and I want to implement a digital sunset after 8PM. However, it can be hard to enforce this. I made this separate topic to discuss the options.
Having a digital sunset between 8PM and 8AM will save me a lot of screentime! Usually, I’m on my phone and laptop a lot between 8PM and 2AM, mabe ±4 hours extra screen-time per day can be saved this way!
PS: I can’t get as low as 5hours/week because I use my laptop for work 40hours a week too, but I also try to lock away my smartphone during the day to increase productivity. For me, ±50h/week screentime could be achievable, I’m now on ±80h/week!!!1