Most parents aren't stressed by kids' screentime

Having grown up in a world packed with gadgets themselves, most parents of younger children aren't stressed about the potentially damaging effect of too much screentime on their offspring, a new US study finds.

A study of more than 2,300 parents of children up to age eight found that 78 percent report that their children's media use is not a source of conflict or concern. Nearly 60 percent said that they aren't concerned about their kids becoming addicted to media.

"Today's parents grew up with technology as a central part of their lives, so they think about it differently than earlier generations of parents," says lead author Ellen Wartella, director of Northwestern University's Center on Media and Human Development.

"Instead of a battle with kids on one side and parents on the other, the use of media and technology has become a family affair."

The researchers found that children in what they call "media-centric" households spend three more hours every day with screen media, such as TV, computers, video games, smartphones and tablets, than those in "media-light" homes. About 39 percent of families were rated as media-centric, while 45 percent were considered media-moderate, with parents in this group spending an average of just under five hours a day using screen media. Their children spent just under three hours a day using some form of media.

The study was released June 4 at the Pew Charitable Trusts Conference Center in Washington DC.

Findings also showed that 70 percent of parents say smartphones and tablets do not make parenting any easier. Parents say they are most likely to turn to toys or activities (88 percent), books (79 percent), or TV (78 percent) when trying to keep their children occupied. Of those with smartphones or iPads, 37 percent say they were more likely to turn to those devices.

Even when trying to calm an upset child, parents say they are still more likely to turn to a toy or activity (65 percent) or to a book (58 percent) than to media; of those who have them, only 17 percent say the same about letting the child play with mobile devices like a smartphone or tablet.

While parents feel positively about the impact of most forms of media on their children's reading and math skills and creativity, they felt video games did more harm than good. Parents rated video games as more likely to have a negative influence on their child's academic skills, attention span, creativity, sleep, and social skills than other forms of media, such as TV or computers.