What is a healthy number of hours of screen time for my child? This is the most frequently asked question by parents in addiction institutions during corona time: “This is something we have seen for several years, but since children are more at home during corona, this seems to be increasing further,” says Laura DeFuentes, researcher at addiction institution Novadic- Kentron. Addiction institutions Tactus and parent organization Bureau Jeugd en Gezin see the same trend.
According to Steam, a platform for computer games, there was 50 percent more gaming in 2020 compared to the year before. In order to be able to advise parents and young people easily about what worrying signals are, research agency Trimbos Institute has placed a chat function on the website. Addiction institution Tactus opened an advice line at the start of the corona pandemic and held a digital parent meeting in November, where screen time and gaming behavior were hot topics among the more than 4,000 participating parents.
“Parents are concerned, that became clear”, says initiator Gijs van Houwelinge van Tactus. “But it is difficult to say how worrisome it really is. It is a strange time and a strange year. You have to do something, so you go gaming, something that many young people enjoy. What the risk is depends on whether they continue with it after this corona time or not. “
Everything is now done online
Atie Heijstek from Katwijk is the mother of four children. She also sometimes has her hands in her hair when it comes to the screen time of her 15 and 18 year olds living at home. “I quite get it with the limitations due to corona, but guys, can we please still talk normally?”
Her children spend hours every day looking at the screen because of corona:
–
