Taming the Daniel Tiger King: Managing Children's Screen Time

Raise your hand if you got sucked into the Tiger King documentary during the stay-at-home order!

No one can see you raise your hand! :)

Netflix seems to have timed out a binge-worthy (and cringe-worthy) documentary perfectly with our inability to leave our homes, and I know many adults who have, yes, binged on this documentary. I even have a...friend...who watched it in its entirety in less than a week.

And adults are not the only ones getting sucked into screens during these isolating times.

Raise your hand if your child has already watched the new Daniel Tiger season...in its entirety...more than six times...in the last week. Remember, no one can see you raise your hand!?

Managing children's screen time can be difficult, mostly because parents often use screen time to manage children's behavior. 

Here are two reasons you want to manage your child's screen time, and three tips to get started.

Reason #1: Screens change our brains…and not always for the better

Exposure to screens has a weird effect in that screens can light up the brain with dopamine (a pleasure-related neurotransmitter), and therefore influence future behavior (i.e., SnapChat makes me feel awesome, therefore I will spend more time on SnapChat). When this spirals out of control, kids (and adults) can become sucked into screen time.

Exposure to screens can also make us stressed out and lead to the release of cortisol (the stress hormone). Think of the things that are transmitted by screens these days...important phone calls, assignments, family members asking for favors, cyberbullying, etc. So, exposure to screens can stress us out, even when we don’t think of it.

Reason #2: Screens change how we think…and not always for the better

As we established in a previous post in this series (Parents vs. Professionals), children are social learners - they learn just by watching!

As neuroscience has developed, we have learned that watching is even more than watching. Mirror neurons (cells in the brain) have been shown to light up in the same area of the brain that would control the behavior of the person being watched. You throw a baseball, and the part of my brain that would control that motor movement lights up faintly. We are wired for social connection!

We all know that the Internet is full of inappropriate social models. Heck, sometimes even cartoons can be full of inappropriate social models! A second reason to manage screen time is to make sure your child is not inadvertently picking up social cues from the wrong source.

So, how to manage screen time?

Tip #1: Put a time-limit on screen time each day. 

This may seem like an obvious recommendation, but raise your hand if you have a solid number of minutes that you give your child per day to have screen time?

Remember, no one is watching!?

Set a limit, and stick to it.

Check out these resources from the American Society of Pediatrics to get you started on setting boundaries around screen time.

Tip #2: Plan pleasurable activities throughout the day.

This may also seem obvious, but there are MANY ways to release dopamine - not just three hours of Bubble Guppies!

Plan activities for your child throughout the day that are fun, that are active, and that are novel.

Keep it simple, but plan it out.

Tip #3: Watch something together.

I recently introduced my son to The Lion King [read: not the Tiger King!]

We popped popcorn, hung out, and stopped right before the scary Scar scene (for the win!)

If your child is going to be engaged with a screen, make it collaborative, and don’t miss the chance to create a memory you can share afterward.

Thank you for following along in this series, A Skilled Parent! Feel free to drop questions or thoughts in the comment section below.

Up next - What to Say When Your Child Makes You Angry. I’m sure no one can relate :)