The average American child spends between four and nine hours per day glued to a screen. The effect of childhood screen use is shaping culture and not toward virtue, as can be seen in public schools across the country.
A distracted adult may offer a screen as a babysitter or to pacify a child who is throwing a tantrum. A child taught to handle his emotions this way is not being taught how to develop self-control, an essential skill taught in childhood. The damaging effects of children brought under the spell of mind-numbing passivity, adult content, advertising, and misleading information through unfiltered and unsupervised watch time are infinite.
The issue becomes that the screen is not used one time in a moment of desperation. Four hours a day is not a fluke. It’s a lifestyle choice. The question is how is this daily habitual usage forming the hearts, minds, and souls of our nation’s children? Habits form us.
This issue exposes our lack of vision for what a full and rich childhood could look like. What are the habits a child should be cultivating? How should a child spend his free time? How does this help him become a wholly formed adult? Does every part of life educate a child?
Adults should honor the personhood of the child by helping him learn self-control and free thinking. They should lead a child into habits that will teach him to know what is true, pursue what is good, and be moved by
