Forum: More work needed in setting digital boundaries for children

I am thankful for the work done by agencies to prepare our children and families to be healthy, online and offline (Children and their devices: How to strike the right balance, June 13; and Report outlines efforts to support young families and couples in Singapore planning for parenthood, June 15).

As a digital wellness educator for over a decade, I believe there is a lot more work ahead of us collectively as a society to support our children to be truly healthy. I’d like to share some issues I encounter on the ground.

Many teachers use messaging platforms to connect with their students. Parents find it difficult to set boundaries on device usage with their children because they are told that teachers need to contact them after school hours. Parents question why teachers cannot tell their students what they need to during school hours, so the children can have some downtime from teachers, especially since their school day is already long.

If schools discourage parents from taking to school things that their children forgot to bring in a bid to help them learn to be independent, why can’t teachers do the same and let their students learn independence by not contacting them after school hours?

This is especially so for those in primary schools, as messaging platforms have a minimum age requirement of 13. Some parents use their mobile numbers to join the group chats, only to discover a vast amount of inappropriate content being shared among the children.

Parents of young children often use devices as a caregiving alternative, thinking that there are no other effective options, and many rely on devices themselves as adults. Teachable moments in trains or during mealtimes are often overtaken by screen time by both parent and child, thus depriving children from learning life skills such as maintaining conversations or building observational skills.

I hope agencies can better synergise their expertise, resources and networks to truly support families and children based on evidence informed by neuroscience. For example, how can the Ministry of Education work more closely with the Ministry of Social and Family Development to enable parents to be effective partners in education and in leading their families well?

Carol Loi Pui Wan