Transcription
In a survey released by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information, nearly nine in 10 parents say they've introduced at least one type of action when it comes to guiding their child's digital habits. This includes restricting screen time or content types, but only about a third feel confident that they're doing it right. Many are also calling for more support.
Now, when it comes to screen time, many children are exceeding the health ministry's daily recommended limit. 1 hour per day is the suggested maximum for those aged 2 to six. On weekdays, nearly three in five exceeded that. While on weekends, that figure went up to four and five.
Now, for children 7 to 9, about 1 in four exceeded the 2-hour limit on weekdays and more than half on weekends. As for the children aged 10 to 12, just under half of them overshot the weekday guideline, while about seven in 10 did so on weekends.
The survey also looked at what worries parents most when their children go online. Four in five cited exposure to inappropriate content, and more than half were concerned about interactions with strangers, cyber bullying, and screen addiction.
Now, about three in five parents want more government support. The authorities have outlined these ways: more tailored digital parenting resources, community workshops and online guides, as well as partnering influencers, grassroots and industries to promote healthy digital habits. This is on top of online safety codes for social media and soon app stores. A new online safety bill will also be tabled next year to um make sure that these resources are available.
We try to sort of categorize it according to the age groups because that's how parents you kind of look at shape things to what they will need. The other way is also to try and go to where the parents are, where are the captive audience. So it is really finding um opportunities where we can reach parents in the community in the spaces where they are at to to help support them and provide this information.
And for more analysis, I'm joined by Chong EJ, a counselor and family life educator. Now EJ, thanks for joining us in the studio today. Now we've seen the figures earlier. Why is it so challenging for parents to restrict the screen time of their children?
I think the challenge of parenting is really real today in the digital age. I think uh from a lot of the stories that I've been hearing uh parents are struggling on the week days especi especially working parents when they come home they only have limited amount of time and the first thing they go to will naturally be school work and all that. And so when the kids want to have some downtime on screens, they naturally just say okay for it. And you know, and on the flip side, it happens on the weekends. We see the numbers shooting and rocketing through the roof. And I hear from parents that on the weekends while they're at home, they too want to have their me time and they want to relax. So the easiest way and screens have become a tool of convenience by allowing the kids on the screen, the parents can have their own relaxation time and the kids can also have their entertainment time as well. So you see the numbers going up extravagantly over the weekends. Yeah.
So the challenge is definitely there for the parents but at the same time it's also weighing the long-term consequences of prolonged screen time. So how concerned are you if uh things go down in this trajectory?
Actually I'm very concerned as a parent myself and in my professional work that I see working with parents um I'm already seeing some of the consequences from young age when there's that unhealthy dependency on screens. You see kids growing up there are some senses and of like um what we call like developmental delays whether in terms of learning in terms of speech. We also see kids who uh are less easy to focus on their studies which is which which needs to you know uh for the academic uh focus as well. So they're struggling in that aspects and of course in the long term we do see cases especially when they reach their teenage years um addictions and you see long hours and of course the other dangers which parents have cited like online dangers and bullying as well.
Yeah let's talk a bit more about that then. Right. So parents are expressing concern regarding online harm. What kind of measures do you think that the different stakeholders uh can also take into consideration when it comes to preventing online harm apart from what the parents can do?
Yeah, I think uh for a start I think the government has really done quite a good job with all the code of uh practices the safety measures that are coming in. I think maybe uh two other ways they have thought of that could come into possible u practices would be maybe from for example like the internet service providers point of view could there be considerations put in place where things like filtering software as well filtering these could be default or complimentary for parents to consider and maybe on the school's platform and these are what I really hear from parents themselves especially for lower primary kids there seems to be uh situations where the kids are overexposed to online platforms you in the school context and when they come home after school they sort of demand from the parents more screen time for the purpose of uh well academic usages but th those does contribute to the uh screen time hours.
Yeah. And in trying to manage this as well the parents are actually feeling a little bit uh pressured right they're saying that only a third of parents in this survey feel that they are confident that they're doing it right and they've been calling for a lot more support. What kind of support do you think might be helpful for them?
Uh well I mean from my experience many years ago I always thought that it would be more like resources and uh digital parenting workshops. I think now because the so-called village has increased uh we have more people in the family trying to get involved to support the children in managing their screen habits. So perhaps some of these resources also do need to incorporate reaching out to grandparents and maybe even uh helpers or uncles and aunties who are involved in the process too. And creating that balance is also very important.
And I know you mentioned earlier that in schools of course the digital literacy element of it is very important. But then how do you balance all of that right as a parent when it comes to allowing them to be exposed uh to digital literacy but also not wanting to expose them too much to online harm.
Well personally I believe in setting up the boundary from it has to start from a very young age. How young would you say? Um I would say the moment you're prepared to let them have a view of the screen, you need to start setting the boundaries in terms of what can be viewed, what can be seen or what cannot be seen and how much time uh and how you set the time as well. I mean some parents that I know of, they literally went back old school and have an analog timer kind of thing at home because kids can't have a good sensing of what is 5 minutes for example even if you cue them. So some of these we need to set the boundaries and then within this boundary that's when parents educate parents manage monitor the child's usage their habits and more importantly I find this is ever so important parents role modeling on the device usage how much time especially because so much often the kids are complaining that the parents are themselves using the devices but they are not able to or told not to as well.
Yeah do as I do not as I say you know as the saying goes. So in this case, you know, the survey also shows that the biggest concerns among the parents actually include exposure to inappropriate content. There's cyber bullying that's also very worrying for them and then also screen addiction. So what are some examples you've encountered maybe in your practice that have been quite effective in tackling uh these concerns?
Uh well I actually I used to always think that there needs more high tech solutions. Uh what I found that worked a lot with parents is that it comes back to the old school measures. It comes back to spending quality time with the children to better understand their community. That's when you talk about things like uh dangers of online strangers, issues regarding to cyber bullying and then um spending time with the kids so that they don't get hooked on the digital play but they are more interested in playing with the parents board games you know uh real socialization. So I guess as parents we can't run away from spending quality time with the kids as much as is a challenge.
Yeah, that might also help with the parents screen time also in this case, right? So, in this case, what what can the community uh do? What role can the community play? I know it's mentioned in the story earlier that there's hope of getting influencers, grassroots um and also industries involved. Do you think that can play a part in terms of the involvement of the wider community?
Definitely. I think the the big message that has to come across you know that this is something that we want to help better support families with not just the children because the children will say that the parents are also struggling uh with this uh issue. So as the ho saying goes takes a village to raise a child we all need to chime in together. I think community of influencers and especially parents as we come together we need to upsell or uppromote uh real play more than just digital play. Um and of course I've mentioned earlier community partnerships with social service agencies, workshops that can be run but more than just parenting workshops but I think workshops that involves the whole family uh and coming to learn about this digital age together as well.
Right. EJ, thank you so much for sharing your tips and your insights with us. I've been speaking with Chong EJ. He's a counselor and family life educator.