Screen-Free Week

Mon Feb 14 20:42:06 UTC 2011

Hi Mohinish,

You raise some important questions.  You can find out more about more details about Screen-Free Week and its philosophy, implementation, as well as a fact sheet citing studies about kids and screens at www.screenfree.org<outbind://87/www.screenfree.org>. You can also see a list of SFW's organizational endorsers, which is growing every day and currently includes an interdisciplinary set of organizations across disciplines that represent people working with a wide and diverse spectrum of the U.S. population. SFW is focused on entertainment screen media, and not about talking on cell phones, email, texting, or doing homework on line.

An important component of Screen-Free Week is to spend time before hand getting kids on board and encouraging families to make decisions together about what their participation will look like--or whether they want to participate at all.  But one thing I wonder, however, is at what age, or level of development, you think that children should be able to call the shots about the amount of time they spend consuming entertainment screen media?

Best,

Susan

Susan Linn, Ed.D., is Director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Contact Information:
CCFC
Non-Profit Center
89 South Street, Suite 405
Boston, MA 02111
617-896-9370
www.commercialfreechildhood.org<http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/>

________________________________
From: info-childes at googlegroups.com [mailto:info-childes at googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Mohinish
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 9:22 AM
To: info-childes at googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Screen-Free Week

Hi,
I'm wondering - do children do this willingly? Or are they forced by their parents and other elders? Who makes the individual decisions to turn of the tellys? The children or their parents/teachers? (I'm guessing the latter).

I'm not certain if such blanket calls for turning off all TVs is fair to the children who perhaps watch just one or two favorite shows a day, but are forced to give that up. It's like if there were an alcohol-free day - which is all well and good, and I'm sure there might be social drinkers who would gladly stand in support. But of course, it will be these social drinkers making the decision, not having the decision made for them by their seniors.

Kids have it hard enough with everyone pushing their own agendas onto them; must the solution to the problems that TV creates be to force those children who are not affected to get their TVs, computers and consoles turned off?

I hope at least that the final decision in each case is left to the children. It would be interesting to see the statistics. Perhaps we would all be pleasantly surprised :)

Mohinish

On Feb 4, 2011, at 8:58 AM, Susan Linn wrote:

On April 18-24, children around the world will celebrate Screen-Free Week (formerly TV-Turnoff) by turning off televisions, computers, and video games and turning on the world around them.   Given the links between excessive screen time, and poor school performance I am hoping that your organizations or institutions will support, promote, and participate in the week.
On average, preschool children spend over four and a half hours a day consuming screen media [1], while older children spend over 7 hours a day [2].  Excessive screen time is linked to a number of problems for children, including childhood obesity [3], poor school performance [4], attention span issues [5], and psychological difficulties [6].  And it's primarily through screens that children are exposed to harmful marketing [7].  That's why interventions like Screen-Free Week - which get children actively playing with peers and spending quality time with their families - are more important than ever.  Reduced screen time can help prevent childhood obesity [8] and lead to better school and health outcomes [9].
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) is proud to be the new official home of Screen-Free Week.  When TV-Turnoff's former home, the Center for Screen Time Awareness, closed its doors, the board unanimously chose CCFC to continue their important work of helping families discover alternatives to screen time.  At its heart, Screen-Free Week has always been a collaborative effort that relies on the endorsement of prominent organizations. There are a number of ways to get involved in this year's week; please check what you are willing to do.
___ Please list my organization (me) as an official endorser of Screen-Free Week 2011
___ I (or someone from my organization) will give a quote in support of Screen-Free Week to be used in promotional and press materials.
___ We will include information about Screen-Free Week in an e-blast or newsletter to our constituents.  (CCFC is happy to provide text for any announcements).
___ We will promote Screen-Free Week to our constituents on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Please let me know by February 17 if your organization is willing to be an active participant in this year's Screen-Free Week.  And if you have any questions, feel free to contact me.  For more information about participation please visit www.screenfree.org<http://www.screenfree.org/>.
Sincerely,
Susan Linn
Susan Linn, Ed.D., is Director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Contact Information:
CCFC
Non-Profit Center
89 South Street, Suite 403
Boston, MA 02111
617-896-9370
http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/
[1] The Nielsen Company (2009).  TV viewing among kids at an eight-year
 high.  Retrieved July 19, 2010 from
 http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/tv-viewing-among-kids-at-an-eight-year- high/<http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/tv-viewing-among-kids-at-an-eight-year-%20high/>.
 [2] Rideout, V.J., Foehr, U.G., Roberts, D.F. (2010). Generation M2:
 Media in the lives of 8- to 18-Year Olds.  Kaiser Family Foundation.
 [3] Danner, FW. A national longitudinal study of the association of
 hours of TV viewing and the trajectory of BMI growth among U.S.
 children.(2008). Journal of Pediatric Psychology. 33(10), 1100-1107.
 [4] Pagani, L, Fitzpatrick, C, Barnett, TA, & Dubow, E. (2010).
 Prospective associations between early childhood television exposure and
 academic, psychosocial, and physical well-being by middle childhood.
 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 164(5), 425-431.
 [5] Swing, EL,Gentile DA, Anderson CA, Walsh DA. (2010). Television and
 video game exposure and the development of attention problems.
 Pediatrics. 126(2), 214-221.
 [6] Page, AS, Cooper, AR, Griew, P, Jago, R. (2010). Children's screen
 viewing is related to psychological difficulties irrespective of
 physical activity. Pediatrics. 126(5), 1011-1017.
 [7] Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Economics Staff Report. (2007,
 June 1). Children's Exposure to TV Advertising in 1977 and 2004. Holt,
 DJ, Ippolito, PM, Desrochers, DM & Kelley, CR, p.9.
 [8] Epstein LH, Roemmich JN, Robinson JL, Paluch RA, Winiewicz DD,
 Fuerch JH, Robinson TN. (2008).  A Randomized trial of the effects of
 reducing television viewing and computer use on body mass index in young
 children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 162(3):239-45.
 [9] Mistry KB, Minkovitz CS, Strobino, DM, Borzekowski, DLG. (2007).
 Children's television exposure and behavioral and social outcomes at 5.5
 years: Does timing of exposure matter? Pediatrics, 120, 762-769.
________________________________
Susan Linn, Ed.D., is Director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and Instructor in Psychiatry, HarvardMedical School
Contact Information:
CCFC
Non-Profit Center
89 South Street, Suite 405
Boston, MA 02111
617-896-9370
www.commercialfreechildhood.org<http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org>

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Info-CHILDES" group.
To post to this group, send email to info-childes at googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to info-childes+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/info-childes?hl=en.

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Info-CHILDES" group.
To post to this group, send email to info-childes at googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to info-childes+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/info-childes?hl=en.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/info-childes/attachments/20110214/8d553f97/attachment.htm>