Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford Expert Discusses Dangers of Excessive Screen Time

For Release: July 01, 2013

Palo Alto, Calif. - If kids are reaching for the tablet, smartphone or television remote for easy entertainment, research suggests this could be a one-way ticket to obesity, aggressive behaviors, an increase in consumerism and a decrease in standardized test scores. Thomas Robinson , MD, MPH , director of the Center for Healthy Weight at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, has key tips for parents looking to trade screen time for summer fun. And they’re tips you can use in any season.

The #1 tip? “Have family rules about screen time,” said Robinson, professor of pediatrics at the Stanford School of Medicine. “More than anything else, just having rules about how much, what, when, where, and with whom is the most important step in making screen time and technology work for your family, instead of against it.”

The #1 rule? “Set a screen time budget,” said Robinson, who also holds the Irving Schulman Professorship in Child Health. “Based on our studies, I suggest keeping screen time to no more than seven hours per week -- or one hour per day -- including TV, DVDs, video games, computers and smartphones. Parents can then work with their kids to determine how they’re going to stay within their budget.”

Question: Can you elaborate on the relationship between excessive screen time and childhood obesity?

Dr. Robinson: It’s a true cause-and-effect relationship. Of course, the more time kids spend with screens, the less time they are spending being active. However, the best evidence supports two primary mechanisms -- that kids eat more while watching screens, and that exposure to food advertising leads to an increased eating of high-sugar, high-fat and calorie-dense foods. Lots of research shows that kids -- and adults -- eat more when distracted by a screen. So one of the most important things a family can do is to eliminate eating while watching TV and other screens.

Question: Regarding screen advertising, you’ve said that it has a powerful effect on kids’ food choices. Can you explain?

Dr. Robinson: In one of our early studies, we found that even a 30-second exposure to an ad for a novel product -- one that a child has never seen before -- creates brand preferences. In another study, young children tasted identical food side-by-side -- such as French fries, nuggets, juice, or baby carrots -- but one was on a McDonald’s wrapper and one was on a plain wrapper of the same color and material. When asked if the two foods tasted the same or whether one tasted better, they overwhelmingly said that the food they thought was from McDonald’s tasted better. Believing that it was from McDonald’s actually altered their perceptions of taste.