A new review of children’s screen use gives parents a reason to look beyond the clock — and Movieguide® CEO Robby Baehr’s upcoming book, The Discerning Family, aims to help them do just that.
“Media discernment isn’t about saying no to everything,” Baehr said in Movieguide®’s Oct. 5 book announcement.
“It’s about teaching our kids to ask what a story is really saying, who it wants them to become, and whether that lines up with what God says is true, good and beautiful,” he explained.
The book arrived Oct. 6 with the subtitle Raising Kids Who Choose Well in a World That Chooses for Them. Its publisher-provided NetGalley listing describes guidance for smartphone decisions, gaming, bedtime boundaries and family viewing, alongside age-by-age approaches to media habits.
That makes its timing relevant to the conversation around a JAMA Pediatrics review published Sept. 28. Researchers combined 23 meta-analyses representing about 2.8 million children ages 18 and younger across 64 countries.
The review linked screen use with lower overall academic achievement and language skills, alongside more emotional, peer and behavioral problems. Many associations were small, and the research did not establish that screens caused the difficulties.
Related: How to Raise Kids With a Thousand Screens Competing For Their Attention
“Because our findings are correlational, they don’t prove that screens cause these developmental outcomes,” senior author Sheri Madigan, a University of Calgary psychology professor, told CNN. She also noted that children who already struggle may turn to screens more.
The findings weren’t uniform: researchers found no statistically significant associations with executive functioning or individual mathematics, science and reading scores. Parents should not read the review as proof that every digital activity harms every child.
Madigan said technology can support learning, creativity and connection. Her concern includes what devices may crowd out: sleep, physical activity, human relationships, learning and play.
For a family deciding what to change tonight, that’s a more useful starting point than treating every minute on a screen as interchangeable. What did a child watch, and what did watching replace?
The American Academy of Pediatrics’ five C’s guidance encourages families to consider the child, content, calming strategies, crowding out and communication. It asks parents to learn about what children watch or play, notice whether media has become their main way to manage strong emotions, and protect other valued activities.
Baehr’s book approaches those household conversations through a Christian lens. According to the announcement, it encourages parents to watch alongside their children and build a culture of conversation rather than interrogation.
The publisher’s listing also describes three questions to start conversations about movies, games and social media, plus a family media agreement households can adapt. Those tools address a different task from simply setting a timer: helping children practice choosing, not just comply when a parent says time’s up.
“My prayer is that parents close this book feeling equipped instead of overwhelmed,” Baehr said in the book announcement. He hopes families will keep talking about what they watch at the dinner table, in the car and on the couch.
A device-free dinner, which Madigan recommended to CNN, offers one place to begin. Parents can put their phones aside too — and make room for the conversation they want their children to carry with them after the screen goes dark.
Read Next: 4 Ways to Cut Your Children’s Screen Time in Half Without a Fight
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
