How to Find the Right Amount of Screen Time

Note to Self

WNYC Studios

Self-improvement, Tech, Note, Npr, Education, Public, Wnyc, Manoush, York, To, New, Self, Radio, Business, Technology, Relationships, City, Society & Culture, Zomorodi, Newtechcity

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2018

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Screen time is a daily battle. Between kids and parents, between ourselves and our better judgment. But maybe it doesn’t have to be. There is a better way.

Manoush gets the answers from Anya Kamenetz, NPR education correspondent and author of the new book, The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media and Real Life. Practical strategies, solid research, and some reassurance that mostly we’re all gonna be fine.

And we sneak a peek at Dina Temple-Raston’s new podcast, What Were You Thinking: Inside the Adolescent Brain.

-------

Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky.

Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	So I'd be playing for 10 hours straight 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.
0:08.0	This is Felix. He lives in the UK and after his dad left his family, Felix started distracting himself with video games for hours.
0:19.0	I stand up from my seat and the little stiff my eyes are going my heads are racing.
0:26.0	Take my heads off, then you go to bed and you think, I hate myself.
0:32.0	He felt awful, physically, emotionally, and Felix remembers the exact moment when he decided he needed to quit.
0:40.0	On that day, after playing for so long, I was making no progress. I kind of realised that it wasn't the solution to my problems. It was the cause of them.
0:52.0	The first step is admitting you have a problem, but then what?
0:57.0	I'm a new Samarote, your guide to this accelerating world, and note to self.
1:04.0	Screen time is a daily battle between kids and parents, between ourselves and our better judgment, but maybe it doesn't have to be.
1:15.0	Reporter Dina Temple Raston met Felix on her quest to try and understand how young people, some young people, get so hooked on screens.
1:25.0	He's in her new podcast, which is called What Were You Thinking, Inside the Adolescent Brain. Dina also travels to South Korea where she meets this guy.
1:34.0	My name is Song Yer, he's in Korean name.
1:38.0	He told us to call him YOL, until recently, YOL played a game called League of Legends.
1:44.0	When you were doing it a lot, how much a week?
1:47.0	12 hours a day.
1:49.0	8, play game, 8, eat, play game.
1:55.0	12 hours a day is kind of extreme, sure.
1:59.0	But I kind of have to admit that there are days when I am on a screen from pretty much waking up in the morning until going to bed at night.
2:07.0	I have to go to the screens on my commute, all day at work, on the couch to unwind.
2:13.0	There's that thing about glass houses or maybe glass screens and stones.
2:19.0	So, I mean, that's the question, right? Like, what is too much?
2:23.0	What about kids who, I don't know, they just want to get in some Minecraft time, or they want to update their Instagram.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.