SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center:I watch TV for a living. Why can’t I stop stressing about my kid’s screen time?

Most days when I sign on SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Centerto work, after checking my email and chatting with my boss, I turn on the TV. 

My job as the TV critic for USA TODAY means that my days are spent watching TV shows, so I can advise our readers what to watch − and what to avoid. I watch them all, from reality to fantasy to game shows to horror to comedy. I love television, and I love nothing more than championing a fantastic TV show that not enough people have seen (go watch “We Are Lady Parts” on Peacock) or panning a show that really deserves my ire (I’m not mad, just disappointed in “Star Wars: The Acolyte”). Some may see TV as a waste of time, but I see it as a net benefit for society. It changes our culture, shapes our ideals and produces some of the greatest art of our era.

So if it’s so easy for me to while away my hours watching great drama unfold on the screen, why do I suddenly act as if television is a terrifying foreign concept when it comes to my toddler daughter wanting to watch “Bluey” while I cook dinner?

Modern parenting is full of stressors that our parents never had to deal with 30 years ago, and “screen time” − as the world calls anything involving a TV, tablet or phone for kids and teens these days − is one of our generational burdens to bear. When to introduce screens? What TV shows are OK? Are iPads and phones worse than a big TV? Am I a terrible person for turning on Miss Rachel on YouTube so I can get 30 minutes of relaxation after a long day of work and child care?

Like every aspect of parenting, everyone has an opinion, and on social media (especially Instagram and TikTok), some of them are magnified exponentially. Parents can feel shamed and judged. On Instagram, the social media of choice for the millennial parent like me, videos abound of parents (usually moms) who live idyllic “screen-free” lives in which their seemingly perfect children play independently for hours, hike for miles and are perfectly well behaved, all because they’ve never heard of “Frozen.” If you were as good a mother as I am, these videos seem to say, you could parent without the help of the iPad.

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Without even realizing it, I was buying into screen fearmongering as judgmental videos flooded my For You pages on Instagram and TikTok. I agonized over the decision to turn on the sweet Netflix series “Puffin Rock” when my toddler was home sick and I had an important meeting. I cringed every time she asked for TV time outside her regular routine. I feared she would melt down the moment it was time to turn the TV off. 

What experts say:How to make screen time work for your family

I got so worked up about it, I even persuaded my boss to let me spend a month talking to experts about the subject for a story, from doctors to educators to fellow parents to the people who make the shows my daughter loves. It was pretty therapeutic.

After reporting that story, I can tell you one thing I learned for sure: There is no right answer for everyone. There is only the right answer for each family. You know your kid. You know your life. And everybody else’s wagging fingers and perfect Instagram videos don’t matter. 

It's easy to say you don't care what other people do and what they think, and harder to feel it.

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But I've learned it can be good to watch TV just for fun, for adults and kids alike. That's what I tell my readers every day when I recommend the new season of "The Bear" (with some asterisks) or rank the 10 best TV shows of the year. I get so much joy when I watch (good) TV, and I dream about the day I might be able to share some of my all-time favorites with my daughter. I can't wait for the day when she's old enough to go on adventures in time and space through "Doctor Who" or understand all the inside jokes her father and I have about "The Office."

The experts I spoke to about screen time recommended balance: Screens are just a part of a full childhood that includes outdoor activity, independent play, arts and crafts, school, family time and more. So sometimes I have to turn on "Bluey." And then we can go to the playground and I can switch to worrying about my daredevil child jumping off the jungle gym. And then we'll come home and I can worry about potty training. And then at bedtime I'll worry that she won't sleep.

There's plenty to worry about when you're a parent. Maybe now I can put my screen anxiety to rest. At least until she's old enough for her own phone.