Kid-safe viewing
This post was originally published in the September 8, 2016 edition of the Southwest Journal, a Southwest Minneapolis community newspaper.#####On Aug.12, New York Daily News published the article “Junk food commercials are eating your kid’s brain.” The article discusses the negative effects that television commercials have on children, creating cravings specifically for the junk foods advertised in the many commercials children watch. At the very end of the article, the author suggests cutting screen time to reduce exposure or moving to commercial-free streaming services like Amazon Video or Hulu.The article got me thinking about my own kids and the screen-time safety we put into place at home. Having locks on tablets and specific apps is a great start, but we choose not to let our kids use their tablets anytime they want. Screen time is not all of the time.First, I couldn’t agree more that it is important to limit kids’ screen time and not begin screen time until an appropriate age. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests limiting screen time to no more than one or two hours per day.This is in alignment with what we try to do in our home. With a five and a three year old, they are often watching different programs, and this is where it is handy to have them on tablets rather than buying a TV for each of them [which we would never do].I also agree strongly with moving toward commercial-free services for kids’ screen time, rather than standard TV. In fact, while I do have live television via antenna in my house, it is not something my kids have access to or watch, and it very rarely used. We did recently watch some Olympics. Go Team USA! And until recently, my kids were not even aware of what television commercials were.In my home, we generally let the girls watch Netflix and YouTube Kids, which is obviously focused on kids. Funny enough, one of my 5 year old’s favorite type of program to watch on YouTube Kids is the unboxing of new toys. Many of these clips do tend to be similar to the commercials that she’s missing out on from television; however, others are more strongly focused on simply playing with the toys. And, fortunately, these “toy casting” clips don’t contain [junk] food promotions, inappropriate advertisements or movie trailers.Netflix also has a kids’ profile that can be set up which limits the type programs available for searching and viewing or even the programs that show up as recommendations. The interface itself is also kid-friendly, breaking into many categories and also listing many shows simply by a recognizable image or character from the show. Netflix’s catalog for children is also quite extensive.Amazon provides many shows for kids, but as far as I have seen, it is more difficult to create a kids-only environment. They do have a paid program that you can sign up for, and I would recommend testing the program for ease of use and appropriateness before granting children access.Amazon also has the option of adding a pin so that programs cannot be watched at all (or purchased!) without first providing the security pin. This feature can really lock down what is watched on Amazon.Streaming services are a very positive opportunity for monitoring the content a child is watching, and streaming is not a difficult thing to do. There are myriad options available for streaming: smart TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Chromecast, Playstation, Xbox, TiVo and many more. As long as you have a device capable of streaming Netflix and/or Amazon, you are off to a good start.Now you can limit exposure to commercials, allow or deny watching of specific programming and control the amount of screen time in general that your kids are watching. The best way to monitor your kids’ screen time is to be an active participant.
Paul Burnstein is a Tech Handyman. As the founder of Gadget Guy MN, Paul helps personal and business clients optimize their use of technology. He can be found through www.gadgetguymn.com or via email at paul@gadgetguymn.com.
