Argument Essay – The Effects of Limited Screen Time for Children

Argument Essay – The Effects of Limited Screen Time for Children

Easy access to technological gadgets and the internet contributes to the increase in screen time for almost everyone in society. Subsequently, screen time is not limited by age since children and adults have access to technological gadgets and the internet. In most cases, screen time is unlimited for both children and adults. Subsequently, unlimited screen time comes with multiple setbacks. Additionally, the setbacks attributed to unlimited screen time are more severe among children. The parents and guardians are left with the option of limiting screen time to safeguard the children’s welfare and ensure their health. Furthermore, as the parents handle the screen time limit, a couple of guidelines are put in place to help the parents make decisions. According to Greder 2010, they include “No screen time for children age two or under. No more than one hour of total screen time for children ages 3 to 12 years during a day.” Accordingly, screen time should be limited to prevent negative and promote positive long-term and short-term effects such as stress.

Limited screen time promotes positive long-term effects. Long-term effects include increased intelligence levels and creative thinking as children maneuver through technological gadgets such as mobile phones and computers. As they play challenging games or get stuck during maneuvers, their creativity, intelligence, and problem-solving skills are aroused. Additionally, according to (Rawal 2020), “Their imagination is often stimulated by the games and learning resources they are exposed to online.” Subsequently, by acquiring these new skills, the children’s academic performance improves with screen time (Rawal, 2020); however, the screen time is limited to prevent their exposure to extra information. Additionally, with the internet, children get access to topics they learn at school and sharpen their education further. Subsequently, limited screen time allows students to sharpen their skills and boosts their performance.

Limited screen time will prevent the negative short-term effects of unlimited screen time. Short-term effects include stress, spikes in blood pressure, and mood swings (Greder, 2010). Stress arises when playing video games or watching something on television. Elevated stress hormones influence the behaviour of a child, whose mood might turn into a negative mood. Additionally, the excitement from video games causes a spike in blood pressure and an increase in heartbeat rate. According to Lissak 2018, “Studies have found a causal relationship between violent content in video games and short-term increased violence and aggressive behavior.” Accordingly, these factors may lead the children to behave violently against other people around them at the time. Subsequently, limited screen time will reduce access to technological gadgets and decrease the cases of stress, violence, and mood swings among children.

Limited screen time increases children’s social involvement. Unlimited screen time promotes passiveness and antisocial behaviour from the easy accessibility to technological gadgets and the internet. According to Rawal 2020, “Over-dependence on the Internet has caused children to abandon their conventional face-to-face experiences.” Consequently, overdependence is also associated with technological devices. Unlimited screen time allows children to develop an overreliance on the internet and technological devices, affecting their social relationships. Accordingly, limiting screen time for children builds their social interactions, enhancing their interactions with family and peers.

Subsequently, improved social involvement reduces passive behaviour. Therefore, the children are involved in active activities such as playing with others. These activities promote the children’s physical health reducing cases of obesity and overweight children. According to Lissak 2018, “The relation between screen time and obesity can be explained by reduced sleep and physical inactivity,” indicating that limited screen time increases the time set aside for sleeping, which also influences health. Therefore, limited screen time will maintain and restore health and wellbeing in children.

Accordingly, feeling left out is a short-term negative effect of limited screen time. Children with access to unlimited screen time have access to all information; subsequently, with an introduction to limited screen time, the children will feel left out due to the new information they are missing. Accordingly, this feeling contributes to the children’s stress, depression, and mood swings that limited screen time seeks to rectify. Consequently, according to Greder 2010, the effect of these reactions leads to the children being “less helpful, healthy actions with others,” this action is a long-term negative effect. Additionally, in some instances, teaching occurs online via technological devices and the internet, and therefore, limiting screen time will cause the children to miss out on important information. Thus, in some cases, limiting screen time is inefficient, as illustrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning was transferred from physical classes to online classes. Consequently, limited screen time might cause children to miss out on important information.

In conclusion, limiting screen time for children is accompanied by various side effects. These side effects might be long-term or short-term and are either negative or positive. However, the damages brought about by unlimited screen time are so severe that limited screen time poses a solution to these damages. These damages influence health, physical, mental, psychological, and social behaviour through limited social interactions. Accordingly, limited screen time poses a solution to these damages by creating time for other activities such as sleep and social interactions. Subsequently, these activities promote both mental and physical health recovery. Additionally, the behaviour is influenced positively, causing the children to improve in academic performance and social relationships with friends and family. Therefore, screen time should be limited for children.

References

Greder, K., 2010. Science of Parenting: Video Games and Other Media: Pros and Cons. [online] Lib.dr.iastate.edu. Available at: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/extension_families_pubs?utm_source=lib.dr.iastate.edu%2Fextension_families_pubs%2F97&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

Lissak, G., 2018. Adverse physiological and psychological effects of screen time on children and adolescents: Literature review and case study. Environmental Research, 164, pp.149-157.

Rawal, D., 2020. Pros and cons of Internet usage among children research papers. [online] Thepharmajournal.com. Available at: <https://www.thepharmajournal.com/archives/2020/vol9issue10/PartG/9-10-83-956.pdf>

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The Effects of Limited Screen Time for Children

Overview:

 Over the course of the last few units, you have been working on crafting the argument for your Argument Essay. You will now write an argument essay that answers one of these questions.

The essay should answer ONE of these questions:

1.  Should there be a standard American minimum wage in all states?
2. Should screen time be limited for children?
3. Should American citizens be required to serve on a jury?

 Each of the above questions relates to one of the issues you have already written about in the Unit 4 Assignment: Pro and Con of an Issue. Now, choose one side of the issue to develop into an argument essay.

You should answer ONE of the above questions in a well-thought-out and developed argument essay with the following:

• A clear introduction that sets up the issue explains your topic and ends with your thesis statement.
• Body paragraphs focusing on one topic in support of your argument in each
• You need three reliable academic sources to support your argument for this assignment. You should include evidence that is directly quoted, paraphrased, or summarized to support each topic. The evidence should have appropriate in-text
• You will typically want to include one piece of evidence in the body of each paragraph, as you did in the paragraph and pro/con assignment. You are not required to include a source about the counterargument (the other side of your argument), but you may if you would like.
• Then, end with a conclusion that wraps up your essay’s argument and leaves the reader with something to consider about your issue.
• Include a references page for the three sources you used in your

You can use the ideas from your Pro/Con paragraphs in your argument essay, but they should be revised and reworded so that you are not just resubmitting your Unit 4 assignment.