How to improve children's screen time and strengthen family bonds

Parents often worry about their kids' screen time, but who's paying attention when Grandma and Grandpa are in charge? Are videos becoming the new bedtime story? Is quality time going digital?

Apparently, yes. At least sometimes.

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New published research shows that nearly half of the time American children spend with their grandparents involves interacting with or watching media on a screen. How that time is managed may not only shape children's media habits but also significantly influence family relationships, says Cecilia Sada Garibay, the study's lead author and a graduate student studying communication in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Working with Matthew Lapierre, associate professor of communication, Sada Garibay surveyed 350 U.S. grandparents about the most recent occasion they supervised their grandchildren. Grandparents reported how much screen time their grandchildren had, including TV, video games and other devices, and the strategies used to manage that time.

In this Q&A, Sada Garibay shares her own experiences with children's media use, discusses various mediation strategies, and offers advice for caregivers to better connect with – and understand – the media with which their grandchildren engage.

What drew you to studying screen time and its role in families where grandparents are secondary caregivers?

Widespread use of media has taken place for decades, but in the last decade we have seen an increase in children's media use due in part to the spread of mobile devices. Before smartphones, we were watching television in front of the TV. Now, you can watch television on your smartphone or tablet, and you can take that device with you wherever you want. It is also much more affordable to have multiple televisions in one home.

Personally, I have four children, and my mother frequently helped take care of them. I noticed that they used media differently when they were with her than they did with me. I try to set more limits on how much media my children consume, for example, but when they are with their grandmother, they have a little more freedom.

Your research discussed a variety of mediation strategies used by grandparents: supervisory, instructive, restrictive and co-use. Can you explain these strategies and how they work?

Supervising involves keeping a watchful eye on the child. So, if they are using a smartphone, then the grandparent would ask what they are doing, or just keep an eye on them. 

In the case of instructive mediation, that involves Grandpa hearing a bad word in a show and discussing the language. You can ask things like, "Do you think it's OK to say things like that? Should we use that kind of language in public?" Instructive can also involve discussing and explaining topics like advertising or sexual content.

The third strategy is media restriction, and that involves setting limits. That may look like telling a child they can only watch Netflix for one hour a day or not letting them watch anything rated higher than PG-13. 

When it comes to co-use, that means Grandma sitting down with the child to play Fortnite or watching shows and a movie together.

What are some of the benefits and drawbacks to the different mediation strategies?

In general, instructive mediation seems to be the style with the most positive effect because it protects against some of the perceived negative effects of media like substance consumption or exposure to sexual content – and there are not a lot of negative effects to instructive mediation. 

But when you compare that technique to more restrictive strategies, there are studies showing that if you restrict a child a lot, there will be some pushback. That pushback can generate a lot of conflict between the child, parent and grandparents as people try to work around the rules.

Unfortunately, there is very little research on the effects of supervision as it is a strategy that has only recently begun to be studied. As for co-use, the outcomes are quite mixed. On one hand, it is related to higher levels of children's media use – which is not positive – but it is also associated with some positive effects like strengthening parent-child relationships and, in some studies, it has been related to less exposure to inappropriate content.  

How have you seen the choice of mediation strategies affect the relationship between parents and grandparents?

When grandparents had an overall negative attitude toward media and considered it to be dangerous or harmful for their grandchild – and their opinions were different than the parent – there can be issues. The grandparents might think their adult children are not protecting the grandchild, and that can lead to a less positive relationship between the grandparent and their adult child. Those situations can also create resentfulness in the adults who think their parents are telling them how to care for their child.

What advice would you give to grandparents or another secondary caregiver who occasionally looks after a young child who enjoys consuming media?

I think the most important thing to remember is to be mindful. You can follow some popular sites like Common Sense Media or Protect Young Eyes, which provide general information about media, what to be aware of and even some of the advantages of consuming media.

I also want people to be aware of how much media children are consuming when they are with their grandparents, and to plan in advance when they know their grandchild will be staying with them. If you know you will be tired at night, plan non-media-related activities during the day so they can watch TV or a movie when you are tired.

I also think it is also important to understand that the differences in attitudes between parents and grandparents when it comes to media can affect relationship satisfaction. I think that parents and grandparents should talk together about media consumption and try to find some common ground in how they approach mediation.