Rogers program to reduce youth screen time is a good first step, say parents and experts

Moderating screen time is one of the biggest struggles parents of tweens and teens face today, says Toronto mom Andrea Chrysanthou. 

Those kids grew up during the pandemic when going online meant connection to teachers, friends and family, she says.

Today, “they don’t see the perils of it. They haven’t grown up any other way.” 

Chrysanthou actively moderates her 12-year-old son Nathaniel Charles’ smartphone use and they regularly talk about what he may encounter online, like sludge content, for instance, or AI-generated deepfakes. Yet she’s still watched him get wound up over online videos, erupt in anger when asked to power down and struggle to limit his screen time.

“This is not on them. They can’t do it by themselves. And so it’s a lot on parents to have to — on top of everything else — monitor,” she said. 

On Thursday, telecom giant Rogers announced a new $50 million program to tackle excessive screen use in young Canadians over the next five years.

The multi-pronged Screen Break initiative — aimed at families and schools, partnering with community groups and including ongoing research — is a good first step, according to parents and experts. But they want to see more from tech and telecom companies and from governments to tackle the problem. 

“Connectivity brings us together and it connects us to the world around us, but excessive screen time is a real concern for our customers,” Rogers President and CEO Tony Staffieri said in a statement.

“Screen Break is our commitment to help young people build a healthier, balanced relationship with their screens.” 

The initiative includes grants to the YMCA and other organizations promoting physical activity, and commissioning annual research into screen usage. An in-school component will enlist professional athletes — including the Toronto Blue Jays’ George Springer and hockey stars Connor McDavid, Marie-Philip Poulin and Sarah Nurse — to talk about healthy screen use with teens and host “active living” clinics. 

Clinical psychologist Dr. Nicole Racine, a scientist at the CHEO Research Institute and an associate professor at the University of Ottawa, sees the program as a step in the right direction. 

“Parents are concerned. Youth themselves are being impacted by high levels of screen time. Clinicians and health-care providers are worried, too,” she said, adding that she’s especially happy about the pledge for ongoing research and focus on schools, where kids spend so much time.

With technology accelerating — she’s also concerned about kids’ access to artificial intelligence and AI chatbots, for instance — “these are critical issues that we need to take care of, and to think about, in order to ensure the well-being of children and youth,” Racine said.

“Excessive use of screens and social media is associated with poor well-being, connectedness and also lower physical activity and reductions in sleep.”

What makes people well, she said, is “being connected to others, being outside, being physically active and getting good sleep.”

Trusting the fox?

Technology analyst and journalist Carmi Levy praises Rogers for the investment, but has some reservations. 

“This is a company that has spent the better part of the last 20 years of the smartphone, social media and wireless era pushing technologies, products and services that are by their very design and definition addictive — and particularly so for younger users,” he said from London, Ont. 

“Would you trust the fox guarding the hen house?” 

That said, he says he thinks the Rogers initiative broadens the conversation at a time when the online safety of young people has become a concern worldwide. Australia enacted its landmark social media ban for users under 16 about a month ago, which has encouraged discussion of the same in Asia, Europe and North America.

“We’re long overdue for the industry, for governments, for other stakeholders to finally get together and try to solve this problem,” Levy said. 

“It starts putting other entities, other stakeholders, on notice: ‘You’ve got to step forward as well and come up with your own plan.’”

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Chrysanthou praises the Rogers initiative as a new tool to help parents in the constant struggle to control screen time, but she’s also eager to see more telecom and tech companies follow suit and for the federal government to step up with more regulation.

Kids are venturing into online spaces that are completely unmonitored, something that’s not true of anything else kids typically access, she says.

“You cannot buy a toy that hasn’t gone through some kind of regulation. You can’t wear pajamas that haven’t been regulated for fire safety,” said Chrysanthou, who’s part of Children First Canada, a national charitable organization that has lobbied the federal government to improve online safety for children.

“There needs to be regulation just like everything else … that says ‘OK, you have a responsibility to the people that use this platform in this country. We’re going to hold you accountable.”