The popular consensus these days is that screen time is really, really, bad for kids. Gone are the days of the iPad kids - well, mostly - as parents try to grapple with getting their kids' time back.
But, it turns out that all those hours staring at a bright light might not be so bad for your kid after all... and no, we're not kidding.
And, who else could it be telling us this but the Finns? Per Dexerto, Finnish researchers recently released a bombshell study they conducted over eight years.
The study followed 260 teenagers with an average age of 15.8 by the end of the study. Researchers looked to find out how their learning, attention, and working memory were affected (or not) by how much screen time they had.
To make things fair, they also looked at physical activity, sedentary behavior, and screen use from when they were even younger - just to keep the scales balanced.
And the conclusion to the study is pretty damning. "Accumulating less unsupervised physical activity and more screen time from childhood to adolescence was associated with better cognition in adolescence."
Let's translate that from academic researcher-y speak into plain English. Children who used their phones and tablets more ended up being able to think better!
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There Is One Key Caveat in the Screen Time Study
Of course, there's a caveat. While they said the evidence "suggests that screen time can support children's and adolescents' cognitive processing," it was important to know "what kinds of things they do in their screen time".
It's one thing to be just lazing about scrolling social media all day. But when kids are doing activities that support "active thinking, problem-solving, creativity and learning," that's when things get golden.
They were quick to note that screen time shouldn't be considered this dark horse in a child's day-to-day life. "We should not regard screen time solely as harmful," they explained. They instead preached a "balance between physical activity and screen time that promotes active thinking".
So, all in all - I think I won't be giving my kids the iPad or my phone every day. But - and this is a big but - maybe screen time shouldn't be 100% demonized.
