In their article entitled ‘Agonizing Over the Screen Time? Follow the Three C’s’ published in the New York Times, Erika Cheng and Tracey Wilkinson provided a number of interesting insights and tips to help parents deal with kids’ increased screen exposure amid the pervasive lockdowns. They particularly highlighted Dr Radesky’s three C’s approach : child, content and context. Citing Dr. Radesky, they argued that parents should approach their kids’ media consumption in terms of “who they are, what they’re watching and how you’re interacting with them”. Among the numerous tips they discussed, we are sharing with you some of the digital platforms they recommended. These are websites that provide educational quality content to keep your kids entertained while also learning quality information.
Most of you are probably already familiar with Common Sense Media. This is a platform that provides age-based content including books, apps, and movies that kids can watch during this lock-down. Parents can read ‘expert reviews’ of the movies they want to share with their kids, and using the parent guide they can get an idea about the amount of violence, the type of language, positive role models and representations related to the movie.
2- PBS Kids
This is another great educational resource that provides a wide variety of learning materials to help your kids ‘play and learn at home’. These include games, learning activities, videos, e-books, apps and many more.
3- Live Camera websites
According to Cheng and Wilkinson, “Live cameras also mimic real life at a realistic pace, which has been shown to lessen overstimulation — when developing brains get over-excited by a barrage of sensory experience.” One of the live camera websites the authors shared is: Montery Bay Aquarium.
