They make our education, work and social activities easier, quicker and slicker.

As the national lockdown continues, young people will be spending more time indoors which means more screen time. For a while now, we’ve seen debates about screen time pass in and out of the news cycle. One thing is for certain- too much screen time can impact our health.

Your screen time, as well as that of children in your care, is probably increasing. You might have already thought about your own screen time, but is it really that bad?

The truth is, no one is really certain. But some psychologists have expressed concern on the issue citing worrying impacts on brain matter and structure.

Multiple studies have shown shrinkage in the parts of our brain that are important for executive functions including: planning, processing, organising, completing tasks and impulse control.

But others say that experts are never going to be able to provide a definitive answer to the question of how much is too much, when it comes to screen time.

There are many factors involved and context is everything. For young people there are positive aspects of screen time, like creating artwork, playing or watching problem -solving and educational games/videos. During the lockdown, screens have become integral to young people’s education.

These can all be stimulating for the brain and greatly beneficial for young people and their development.

Like all things in life, moderation is key when it comes to screen time. To help you get it right, we’ve put together 5 ways you can support yourself and young people in your care to take back control of their screen time.

Spending too much time looking at screens can make our eyes dry and strained. It helps if we take a break every 20mins. This only has to be for less than a minute, to let our eyes rest. You should advise young people in your care to take regular breaks and allow their eyes to refocus.

Spending long periods using screens usually means young people are sitting down. We all know how easy it is for young people to binge watch on Youtube or spend a long time chatting with their friends.

Of course our current situation restricts our movement outside, but government rules for the lockdown still allow exercise outside once a day. So make sure children in your care take advantage of this whilst maintaining a 2-meter distance between themselves and others. Remember, this is not an excuse for children to meet up with friends!

The NHS says young people should be active (meaning slightly out of breath) for at least 60mins each day. This means their heart rate should be raised- as it would be if they were walking quickly.

You have probably noticed that handy screen time function on some of your personal devices. This is an attempt to make us more ‘screen aware’.

Games can be addictive, and apps are ‘gamified’ to encourage young people to keep using them- but having healthy boundaries and regularly thinking and reflecting on your screen time together has substantial benefits for everyone’s health. This is now more important than ever as it’s so easy to fill all this spare time with screen time.

The trick here is deciding when they can use screens, rather than allowing them to get lost in messages and ‘losing time’ to games, apps and social media. It’s important that all responsibilities are taken care of before screen time e.g. schoolwork, chores and family activities.

It can help to have designated times and places where phones are out of bounds,. This could be time during the day which would have been filled with class, during family mealtimes. or any time you deem suitable.

Family mealtimes are important for checking in with young people in your care, to help them explore issues, reflect on positive aspects of their day and share what they have learned. It’s really important to keep checking in with young people in your care during the lockdown and mealtimes are a perfect place to air any concerns or anxieties they might have.

But when screens invade dinner time, no one is fully present. Encourage young people in your care to be present and interact socially away from screens. Of course, if a call or text is important, exceptions can be made.

Someone once said “Children are great imitators. So, give them something great to imitate” they probably weren’t talking about screen time, but it still applies.

Young people in your care take their lead from you and the examples you set. We are all probably guilty of spending more time on our phones during the lockdown but it’s so important to be present when you’re talking to children in your care. We can all fall into bad habits of checking our phones during family time but keeping our own screen time in check gives us credibility and bargaining power when setting firm boundaries.