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Sonday
Cole Sonday

Sara Denison

WR 122

24 May 2019

Rogerian Argument Essay

In recent years, parents have begun to make many arguments on how screen time

affects their children, whether to increase the discipline or allow kids more screen time. Screen

time discipline has been recently brought to attention by many research journals for its influences

on children’s lives, mainly discussing how parents should engage this form of discipline. Some

parents have begun to argue against the sense of increasing discipline on children’s screen time,

for many different purposes. Parents see screen time as a reward for children, a way to have fun

learning, and a chance for kids to learn social experiences. One article reinforced this belief by

stating: “Parents may introduce their young children to screen media because it is perceived as a

means offering benefits, of providing “uninterrupted parents to watch their own favorite shows””

(Schlembach and Johnson 97). Other parents, however, have begun to increase forms of

discipline on children and how much screen time they are involved in, so that they will not

become too attached to their devices. This has stemmed from the concern of mental health

problems and children’s dependency on their screen time. A journal mentioned this use of

discipline stating: “Regardless of how convenient e-discipline may be for parents and how

efficient it may be in shaping children’s behavior, it is highly likely to increase screen time”

(Rupert and Hawi, “Impact of e-Discipline on Children’s Screen Time.”). Both of the viewpoints

discuss and consider how screen time discipline can affect children in a negative or positive way.
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Parents opposed to setting time limits, have argued against increasing discipline on

screen time because they believe children should have access to their devices for two main

important factors: education and relaxation. Parents began to realize that increased screen time

allowed children to learn many different things, including increased social learning. As kids got

involved in more screen time, they began to learn new social skills through programs and tv

shows that taught these skills. Schlembach and Johnson mentions this learning ability in their

article when they observe, “A child’s ability to learn new words or prosocial skills from quality

educational content may be facilitated by parents co-viewing and engaging their children using

an instructional type of mediation” (96). This evidence reinforces the parents perceptions that

children’s ability to learn social skills through screen time can be a positive reason as to not

create discipline with children’s screen time. If children have the ability to develop “prosocial

skills” through screen time then parents should allow more screen time for the children.

The primary argument parents saw in allowing increased screen time was the ability to

allow kids a fun way to learn. Parents have begun to see a greater impact during children’s

screen time, when they became more involved in instructional and educational programs on their

devices. Many articles and journals have considered and studied this approach and found that

education was received better with children, when having the ability to learn it through their

screen time. The Canadian Pediatric Society promoted this reasoning when stating, “Well-

designed, age-appropriate educational programs and screen activities can be powerfully pro-

social, helping children to learn antiviolence attitudes, empathy, tolerance and respect” (462).

This statement reinforces the fact that more screen time through educational programs can have a

clear positive impact on children. Parents reason that if children are able to captivate themselves

with learning more knowledge and skills, through educationally positive programs and screen
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activities, then they should encourage more screen time interaction. Both of these factors play a

key role as to why opposing parents argue against increased screen time discipline.

This view is valid because increasing screen time discipline could have some

negative aspects to it. Children who are involved in screen time have shown increasing amounts

of involvement in educational programs on their devices. Parents argue against screen time

discipline for the fact that it encourages and promotes children’s interaction with education. The

Canadian Pediatric Society reinforced the benefit of educational programs by saying, “well-

designed age-appropriate programs with specific educational goals - can provide an additional

route to early languages and literacy for children” (462). This evidence clearly shows that many

educational programs can benefit children in their learning abilities. Children who are active with

their screen time can clearly benefit from it when they are able to learn more through it. With

this in mind, parents have argued this point to show that screen time discipline shouldn’t be

engaged in order to keep children interested in their education.

Another excellent reason, for which the opposing parents argue screen time

discipline shouldn’t be increased is that many children already realize the important of physical

activity. Physical activity has already been shown as a crucial developing process of children’s

and some have worried that kids are losing focus on it . Some children already see the dangers of

too much screen time and have showed that they are knowledgeable of what too much screen

time can do. One article acknowledged this fact when stating, “More than 95% of children

recognized the importance of physical activity, and more than half indicated that spending

several hours playing video games and using computer for entertainment was “bad” or

“unhealthy”” (Lauricella et al. 19). This statement clearly shows that most children have already

seen how crucial physical activity is to their health and how they have some knowledge of the
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negative effects that too much screen time can have on them. Children need to be aware of how

important physical activity is for them, while still balancing the amount of screen time in their

routine. Both of these points are justifiable in the argument against increasing screen time

discipline on children.

Other parents take the position that they should enforce and increase more

discipline on children’s screen time in order to help prevent negative side effects. There are

numerous reasons as to why parents should involve more screen time discipline on their children

and their devices. One reason for this cause of increase discipline is that children, recently, have

begun to display decreasing attention to physical activity which is proven crucial to their mental

health and health in general. One publication supported the obvious need for physical activity

when discussing, “Evidence suggests that physical activity is supportive of children’s movement

skills, attention and cognitive development and that screen time may be detrimental to children’s

language development, attention and social interactions” (Canadian Pediatric Society 463). This

article discusses that physical activity is required in order for children to learn basic abilities and

other skills that are imperative to their development, while screen time can be harmful to those

experiences. Increased screen time can cause children to lose focus on the things that are

important to their early life and can negatively affect them. Screen time needs to be decreased in

order to help keep the children physically and mentally healthy, and on the right path for learning

and physical development.

Furthermore, another equally important reason as to why parents should involve

more screen time discipline is that children have begun to exceed the suggested amount of 2

hours per day for their devices.1 Screen time discipline and the effect it has on children, has been

researched and has shown to help keep children from exceeding this healthy 2 hour daily limit.
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2 hours per day limit contributed to CPS and American Academy of Pediatrics (Lauricella et al. 20)
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Many different studies have shown that less screen time discipline has a negative effect on

children within their households. One article reinforces this evidence when stating, “studies have

shown that parents can positively influence children’s social adaptive skills, patterns and

behaviors by being involved with and setting limits on their screen time” (Canadian Pediatric

Society 463). This statement shows clearly that parents can influence children in a healthy and

positive manner by setting limits on their screen time. The basics of screen time discipline is to

help children not exceed the healthy amount, as well as helping them learn skills crucial to their

behaviors and development.

Canadian Paediatric Society, Digital Health Task Force, Ottawa, Ontario, Screen time and young

children: Promoting health and development in a digital world, Paediatrics & Child

Health, Volume 22, Issue 8, December 2017, Pages 461–

468, https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/pxx123

Hawi, Nazir S, and Maya Samaha Rupert. “Impact of e-Discipline on Children's Screen

Time.” Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking. Vol. 18, no. 6 , 1 June 2015,

pp. 337-42. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4491159/

Hinkley, Trina, and Jennifer R. McCann. "Mothers' and father's perceptions of the risks and

benefits of screen time and physical activity during early childhood: a qualitative

study." BMC Public Health, vol. 18, no. 1, 2018. Academic OneFile,

http://link.galegroup.com.proxy.chemeketa.edu:2048/apps/doc/A562830139/AONE?

u=oregon_chemeke&sid=AONE&xid=1cf32a8d. Accessed 26 May 2019.

Lauricella, et al. “Young Children's Screen Time: The Complex Role of Parent and Child

Factors.” Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, vol. 36, 2015, pp. 11–17.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0193397314001439.

Schlembach, Sue, and Marcus L. Johnson. "Parents' Beliefs, Attitudes and Behaviors Concerning

their Young Children's Screen Media use." NHSA Dialog, vol. 17, no. 2, 2014, pp. 95.

https://journals.uncc.edu/dialog/article/viewFile/89/284

University of Guelph. "Controlling children's behavior with screen time leads to more screen

time, study reveals." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 January 2019.

<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190109114811.htm>.