Maximum "Screen Time" for a 9 yr old

[Ozweepay]

I'm a computer science professor at CU Boulder with a 9-year old son who is beginning to explore computer programming. Unsurprisingly his passion is writing video games.

We are following the recommended "maximum of 2 hours per day of screen time" that most authorities believe should be observed to fend off social, psychological and health problem associated to spending too long in front of a screen. However, this definitely hampers my son's ability to progress at the speed he would like in learning how to program. Especially during summers when he has 14 hours of free time each day; even if we spend 4 hours at the pool, 2 reading, 2 playing outside, there is a lot of free time left over.

So I'm wondering if we shouldn't relax the screen-time maximum provided it's spent doing "educational" things such as watching documentaries, programming, or doing math-based web activities.

Anyone have any feedback here?

[QuantMech]

If your son is working on programming, I see no problem in counting that as learning time, just as if he were enrolled in a summer class. I think you could add the time that seems reasonable for (formal) summer learning to the alloted "screen time" and it would be fine. This is particularly true if your son is interacting with other people while at the pool and playing outside.

[annoyingdad]

If he's truly spending 6 hours a day at physical activity that's plenty. A lot of the concern is a tendency toward obesity for the sedentary. Is he interacting with other kids at the pool and while playing outside? Does he watch any TV? That counts too. Considering programming isn't the same as staring at the screen continuously while playing a video game, I don't see a problem increasing his programming time. I would just divide the time into chunks several hours apart.

[noimagination]

As long as he is physically and socially active and has no issues with eye strain, the programming time is useful. Much more useful than playing video games.

[mathmom]

We struggled with this and ultimately made a decision that as long as our kid got enough exercise and outdoor activity he could spend as much time teaching himself programming as he liked. (I'm a big fan of unschooling and had spent a fair amount of time considering homeschooling though ultimately we didn't go that way. Here's a brief overview into to the theory if you want to feel more comfortable about this sort of thinking. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling)

My son is now 23 and I'd say the results were mixed. He doesn't do any sport or physical activity for pleasure, though he doesn't think twice about walking a mile or two to get some place. He's never been fat, mostly because he doesn't really enjoy food that much. Among non-computer types he's somewhat anti-social, but when he's around friends with similar interests he seems quite different, much more outgoing. However I'd do it again, and most of my family thinks that our kid wouldn't have been much different if we'd made him do more sports, he'd just have been unhappier.

Academically it was a complete success. He taught himself enough to take AP Comp Sci as a freshman and get a 5 on the B exam (they only offer A now). He was earning $25/hour programming in high school and twice that for college internships. He got into one of the best comp sci schools in the country (Carnegie Mellon) and had internships at Nvidea and Google. Google made him a job offer and he's there now.

I think if he's spending 6 hours a day in the summer doing other stuff, spending extra time on the computer will be fine. Don't let him neglect the reading, I'm convinced the fact that my son read at least 50 books a summer (usually sci fi or fantasy) is why he got an 800 on SAT critical reading section.

[martina99]

We are dealing with a similar situation with our 9 year old daughter. She is very interested in making and editing videos. So we do give her extra computer time, since this is her hobby and we view it more as a learning experience.

On weekdays she goes to day camp, and it isn't an issue, but we do have to monitor her time on the weekends otherwise she'd spend all day at it.

[davidthefat]

Definitely limit screen time to 4-5 hours a day. It was not uncommon for me to spend 6-10 hours just programming, neglecting food, when I was younger (11-15), just make sure he goes out and gets some friends. That can easily turn into an addiction (it did for me)...

[siliconvalleymom]

My perspective is probably biased because of where I live, but I think it's fine to spend as much time as he wants on a computer, where "screen time" means thinking, researching and learning. Our rules are: age-appropriate amounts of sleep, daily exercise, daily socializing with non-family members and eating at normal mealtimes. As long as those guidelines are met, if a kid wants to write all day or program every free minute, it is fine with me.

[moonchild]

While I think it's great that your son has a passion for programming, I'd be on the lookout for any other activities where he shows an interest. Once he's engaged in a couple of other types of activities that he's also committed to, you won't have to be counting hours on the computer because it will balance out. Having to say, "You've spent too much time on the screen today, find something else to do," is much harder than if he has to stop to go to his video class, a Scout meeting, or has to practice his magic show for his neighbor's birthday party.
And, ideally, the activities will involve other kids, so you won't feel so bad about letting him stay on the computer when he's home.

He's only nine, and you know he'll have many years where he has to look at a screen all day with school and later, work. I agree with you that this is an important time for growth in all areas, not just his intellectual passion. But you also want those other areas to be fun, too, so the challenge is finding things that are also engaging to his growing mind.

[Lakemom]

I remember having "screen" time rules for my S and it was also about 2 hrs a day.

What I don't see in your breakdown of how time is spent not looking at a screen is anything to do with your child's hands as in building things eg legos, kinects, painting or drawing, playing with clay, playing an instrument or even just looking at clouds or ants crawl by.

Your son has a whole life time to look at screens but only when they are young are their minds free enough to participate in activities that, well, only the young do or used to do when we were kids.

[Vladenschlutte]

Why would you listen to some "2 hour of screen time" rule that someone made up if it doesn't make sense in your family? It's not as if him spending more time on a computer will cause death or something. 2 Hours is just something someone made up. The whole gist of it is that you should try to spend (or have your kids spend) less time on the computer and more time outside. "2 Hours" is meaningless. These "authorities" have probably never met your kid. You have. Make up your own mind.

[limabeans]

There was an article in the WSJournal today that might be of interest. No one should sit at a computer screen or watch TV for long stretches of time. The critical factor is moving around every hour, just to get your circulation going. That's important for sedentary people, but even true for active people.

Sitting down for more than three hours a day can shave a person's life expectancy by two years, even if he or she is physically active and refrains from dangerous habits like smoking, according to a study to be published on Tuesday in the online journal BMJ Open.

Watching TV for more than two hours a day can exacerbate that problem, decreasing life expectancy by another 1.4 years, said the report, which analyzed five underlying studies of nearly 167,000 people over a range of four to 14 years.

"Several studies show that when you're sitting, your leg muscles are completely inactive," he said. "When you're sitting and completely inactive, this is when you run into trouble managing blood glucose."

I know the ^ wasn't why you posted here. On the topic you asked about, I think it's great that your son is excited about computers and wants to learn more about programming. You are the best judge as to how much time is "enough".

[Vladenschlutte]

Limabeans, I think his 2 hour a day rule comes from something like this: No More Than Two Hours of Screen Time « 5-2-1-Almost None « Nemours Health & Prevention Services « Preventive Services « What We Offer

I've seen the same sort of thing several times on the internet and on the news. It's a commonly perpetuated idea about social development of children.

[emeraldkity4]

It impacts their developing vision as well.
Monitor, limit child's screen time to avoid vision issues - chicagotribune.com

[emeraldkity4]

I guess I am not the only one concerned about children's vision.
China sees a big rise in vision problems | Health | The Seattle Times