For 18 months, we’ve used screens to teach our kids and keep our collective sanity. Here’s how to cut back.

By Catherine Pearson | 08/09/2021 04:58pm EDT | Huffpost.com

My two sons always got some screen time daily, but my husband and I tried to set relatively clear limits about what they could play and watch, and for how long. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and like so many other parents and caregivers, we leaned into screens hard. Our 6-year-old got an iPad. Our toddler grew accustomed to multihour Blippi marathons while my husband and I worked. My children have become legitimate screen monsters.

Various surveys suggest that my experience isn’t an anomaly and that kids’ screen time during the pandemic has soared. American kids now spend more than four hours a day on screens, and screen time has basically doubled over the past 18 months. One psychologist recently warned The New York Times that America’s kids are headed for a “period of epic withdrawal.”