(Radio Iowa) – During a visit to Iowa, U-S Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Junior issued a U.S. Surgeon General’s Warning that excessive screen use has become one of the most urgent public health challenges facing children today.
Children are spending more time on screens than sleeping, exercising, reading, interacting face to face with family and friends,” Kennedy said. Kennedy says it’s affecting the health, development, and daily lives America kids in ways that can no longer be ignored. Kennedy spoke during a Wednesday afternoon stop at an elementary school in Gilbert.
The report he released indicates the average American teenager spends eight-and-half hours a day looking at the screen of a smart phone or computer. Kennedy says even more troubling is that screen time for six year olds averages around two-and-a-half hours a day.
“For many children, screens dominate daily life from the moment they wake up until the moment they fall asleep,” Kennedy said. “At the same time, we are watching physical health, mental health, academic performance and social development deteriorate across an entire generation.”
Kennedy’s federal agency is encouraging tech companies to display warnings about excessive screen time on apps and devices. The agency’s also releasing a tool kit for parents, schools and other child care providers. Thirty-five states now ban or limit cell phone use in classrooms.
Kennedy is an advocate of a so-called “bell to bell” policy that means students cannot use a cell phone at any time during the school day. And Kennedy says his message to children and teenagers is simple: life exists beyond the screen.
“We want children to spend less time scrolling and more time living,” Kennedy said, “less time isolated online and more time connected to a family member, to their community, to nature or to real life.”
Before his stop in Gilbert, Kennedy was in the Iowa Capitol as Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law that dealt with a wide variety of health issues. It says tablets and computers may be used for no more than a hour in early elementary classrooms, plus those young students must get an average of 40 minutes of physical activity each school day.
