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On Monday, September 2, 2024, Sweden warned dad and mom that younger youngsters shouldn’t be allowed to take a look at screens in any respect.
Youngsters beneath two years outdated needs to be saved utterly away from digital media and tv, the nation’s Public Well being Company stated.
Youngsters between the ages of two and 5 needs to be restricted to no multiple hour of display time a day, in accordance with new suggestions, whereas these aged six to 12 ought to spend no multiple to 2 hours a day in entrance of a display.
Youngsters between 13 and 18 ought to restrict themselves to 2 to 3 hours per day, the company stated.
“For too lengthy, smartphones and different screens have been allowed to enter each side of our youngsters’s lives,” Public Well being Minister Jakob Forssmed instructed reporters.
The minister defined that Swedish youngsters between 13 and 16 years of age spend a median of six and a half hours a day in entrance of screens, exterior of college hours.
Forssmed stated this didn’t depart “a lot time for group actions, bodily exercise or sufficient sleep”, and lamented Sweden’s “sleep disaster”, noting that greater than half of 15-year-olds weren’t getting sufficient sleep.
The well being company additionally beneficial that youngsters not use screens earlier than mattress and that telephones and tablets be saved out of the bed room at evening.
She cited analysis displaying that extreme display use can result in poor sleep, despair and physique dissatisfaction.
The Swedish authorities has beforehand stated it’s contemplating banning smartphones in main faculties.
