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WORLAND – For three years, Washakie County Public Health (WCPH) has held an annual screen-free week for children of the community. Last month they held the event once again.

Last year, 60 students spent 16-20 hours screen-free as a way to spend time away from their screens and to focus more on time with family. This year, WCPH saw a rise in numbers with 84 participants.

According to WCPH nurse manager, Amanda Heinemeyer, screen-free week is to encourage both kids and parents to turn off their screens and to have quality time together. Participants saw the advantages of going screen free. According to Heinemeyer, children who are more screen-free are more likely to read and to be more physically fit. Being screen-free also allows more family time.

Participants were ages 3 through eighth grade. Passports were sent home to every Worland student in kindergarten through fifth grade, along with preschoolers. Worland Middle School students who were interested in participating could pick up a passport at the office.

Every participant who completed the screen-free week passport by receiving stickers on it for spending the week off of their devices such as television, video games, smartphones, tablets and computers were given a “screen-free Warrior” T-shirt. Students who turned in passports were entered for a drawing for various prizes, including the grand prize of a bicycle from Larsen’s Bicycles.

The class that had the most participants, Kimberly Moore’s first-grade glass with five participants, was given a pizza party to celebrate.

Brayson Bilodeau was the winner of the contests grand prize. Other winners include William Bishop, Hunter Ruffing, Dameon Wood, Ava Johnston and Addison Roady.

According to a handout from Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), an organization partnered with Screenfree.org, children are spending too much time with screen media.

Some selected research on screen time and children from the handout include the fast that screen time can be habit-forming. The more time children are engaging with screens, the harder time they have turning them off as they become older children. According to CCFC, including when they’re multitasking, 8- to 18-year-olds consume an average of seven hours and 11 minutes of screen media per day.

For older children and adolescents, screen time is linked to increased psychological difficulties that include hyperactivity, emotional and conduct problems, difficulties with peers and poor school performance. Adolescents who watch three or more hours of television daily are at higher risk for poor homework completion, negative attitudes toward school, poor grades and long-term academic failure. Children with two or more hours of daily screen time are more likely to have increased psychological difficulties, including hyperactivity, emotional and conduct problems and difficulties with peers. Toddler screen time is associated with problems in later childhood, including lower math and school achievement, reduced physical activity and victimization by classmates.

According to CCFC’s handout, in 2011 “there was still a significant gap in ownership of home computers and mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, but children from all income levels spend about the same amount of time playing games on digital devices and engaged in other computer-based activities, including homework.”

Research also states that time with screens is an important risk factor for childhood obesity. Screen time is linked to toddlers and children’s increased Body Mass Index (BMI).

Alongside this, screen time for children under 3 is linked to irregular sleep patterns. It’s also linked to sleep disturbance in 6- to 12-year-olds.

According to CCFC, research showing benefits of screen time include that reducing screen time can help prevent childhood obesity. Children who spend less time watching television in their early years also tend to do better in school, have healthier dietary habits, be more physically active and be able to engage in schoolwork in later elementary school. Television viewing at a younger age is also associated with later behavioral problems, but not if heavy viewing is discontinued before age 6. Alongside this, limiting exposure to television during the first four years of life may decrease children’s interest in it in later years.

Many parents are receiving possibly inaccurate information about educational benefits of screen media for young children. Some screen media has been proven to be beneficial to older children, the handout states, but many products heavily marketed as educational make claims unsubstantiated by research. In addition to this, there is no credible evidence that any type of screen time is beneficial to babies and toddlers and some evidence that it may be harmful.

According to Heinemeyer, activities that are screen-free include painting, writing letters, playing cards or board games, making a craft, playing charades, taking a drive, organizing a scavenger hunt, playing outdoor games, drawing with sidewalk chalk, visiting residents at the nursing home or reading.

The passports this year also included a survey for parents to fill out so they have more data to determine how the week influenced both children and adults.