Parenting / 4 December, 2024 / Ellie Thompson
As parents, we’ve all been there. It’s the holiday season or perhaps your child is home sick or bored stiff on a long journey, and suddenly you’re faced with the challenge of keeping them entertained. The easy solution, of course, is to hand them a tablet or smartphone. Silence. Fully engrossed in a world of action and adventure. But the difficulty comes in finding a healthy balance between digital entertainment and other more valuable activities.
The Screen Time Dilemma
Just like us, children are spending more time than ever in front of screens. According to the Office of Communication in the UK, the percentage of children aged 3 to 17 who play video games increased from 57% in 2022 to 60% in 2024. (1) And when we say ‘play’, we don’t simply mean a brief moment here and there. Research shows that children aged 8 to 12 can spend up to 6 hours a day in front of screens.(2) That means after coming home from school, they’re essentially on their phones until bedtime.
These figures become even more alarming when you consider the potential negative impacts of excessive screen time on children’s development. (3) This list includes obesity, poor academic performance, sleep irregularities, and even impaired emotional regulation. As children become increasingly inseparable from their screens, it’s important that parents find a way to strike a healthy balance… without ruining all the fun.
The Positive Side of Screen Time
Although screen time can be damaging to children, it can also be incredibly positive. In fact, we know that moderate, purposeful screen time can actually benefit children’s development, particularly when it comes to learning. Why? Because we find it easier to learn new information if we have fun whilst we’re doing it.
When we do something that we enjoy, our brains release dopamine, a chemical linked to feelings of happiness. Children (and adults, for that matter) want to return to things they enjoy because of this release of dopamine (Wise, 2004). So if they discover a fun game that just so happens to teach them something, children will seek it out – not necessarily for the educational element, but for the mood boost it gives them.
A common feature of video game-play is collecting rewards such as coins. This specifically aids and enhances learning because rewards motivate us to work at challenges. As we acquire them, we feel more confident about our own abilities. In fact, the immediate feedback and satisfaction that the player receives when overcoming a challenge is an important reason why games are such good learning devices (Kapp 2012).
So therein lies the dilemma: when digital games are such good learning devices, but can potentially be harmful to children as they develop, what are parents supposed to do?
The Solution For Turning Screen Time Into Brain Time
Given the potential benefits of educational games, it’s crucial to choose the right ones for our children. One excellent option that strikes the perfect balance between entertainment and education is the Word Tag vocabulary app. This Mrs Wordsmith game sees children enhance their vocabulary as they encounter exciting missions set within fun, engaging landscapes. When a child comes across a new word, they’ll see it again over the course of a few days because repetition is crucial to learning and remembering. (4) By blending expertly-developed missions with pedagogically-sound learning strategies, Word Tag reinforces the different aspects involved in learning a new word, starting from spelling and pronunciation, to synonyms and word pairs, all the way through to use in context. What’s more, as it is designed to be played for approximately 20 minutes per day, Word Tag promotes a healthy amount of screen time, while at the same time enriching children’s vocabulary knowledge.
What Mrs Wordsmith says
“Data shows that children are spending increasing amounts of time in front of screens,” says Dr Eleni Savva, Director of Curriculum at Mrs Wordsmith. “We can either resist this trend or embrace it and make that time meaningful. With just 20 minutes a day, Word Tag can enhance a child’s vocabulary by approximately 1,000 words per year. In this way, Word Tag effectively bridges the gap between concerns about screen time and educational objectives, demonstrating that screen time doesn’t need to be excessive and can even be valuable”. Eleni is one of the many educators who work at Mrs Wordsmith, ensuring that every product they make packs in as much educational value as possible.
Word Tag isn’t just shaped by science – it’s shaped by Hollywood, too. Players get to pick between two loveable characters designed by Craig Kellman, the brains (and pen) behind the cast of movies like Madagascar, Trolls and Hotel Transylvania. You can try it with your kids now for free.
Conclusion
As our gadgets become more capable of more things, it’s safe to say that online gaming is not going anywhere. And while it can be potentially harmful to children, it can also be a brilliant learning tool. Science shows that when children are engaged, they learn more easily and effectively. So for parents, the trick is finding a way to encourage healthy screen time in a way that keeps children genuinely entertained. Games like Word Tag are a perfect solution to this. It’s not only fun, but also helps children expand their vocabulary. And as it’s designed to be played for 20 minutes a day, it’s a healthy digital outlet for children to immerse themselves in, all while expanding their knowledge as they do. So the next time you hear a forlorn “Are we there yet?” coming from the back of the car, consider reaching for an educational game like Word Tag.
Why not download the app and try it for free today?
3. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10353947/
4 Kang, S. H. K. (2016). Spaced Repetition Promotes Efficient and Effective Learning: Policy Implications for Instruction. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3(1), 12-19.
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