 I am Dr. Shreya Sastave, Pediatrician at Manipal Hospital, Kharari, Pune. Today I will be talking about screen time and its effects on children. We live in a world of digital media, so screen is an inevitable part of our lives. Now, what does screen time refer to? It refers any time a child spends on screen, be it smartphones, televisions, computers, etc. Now the World Health Organization recommends zero screen time below the age of two hours, a maximum permissible screen time of one hour between the age group of two to five years and not more than two hours for the ages above five years, be it educational or entertainment purposes. We all are aware about the negative effects of the screen time. So excess of screen time, you can have attention deficit, antisocial behaviour, high strain, sleep disturbances and language delays as well. So what can we do on this? We can set screen time rules for the family. We can decide how much amount of screen exposure to be required for the kids, what type of screen to be used for the children. Secondly, avoid screen during the meals. Rather, engage your kids into more creative activities. You can engage them with toys, surroundings, blocks, etc. Avoid any screen time use before bedtime, because during screen time there are a lot of visual inputs to the child which are not required and makes their brain hyperactive, which can cause sleep disturbances. Specially, I would like to talk about toddlers and preschoolers. Why to avoid screen time in children? So the thing is, when I am having a conversation or you as a caregiver are having a conversation with a helper, the toddler is going to observe your facial expressions, your pronunciations, so that one-to-one interaction is very important with the toddler, which definitely your screen fails to provide. Co-viewing with the older children, this will help you to engage with them. What you can do is, ask them to label the objects being seen on the screen, ask them to maybe imitate some songs, repeat some songs or imitate any dance movements. You can give them a short story to observe and maybe ask what they have learnt after the story. This will not only help to keep a check, but will also engage you with the children as well. Right sort of on-screen activities can be a positive experience for a child, giving them learning boosts and can help them develop new skills. So as we discussed, we have positive and negative effects of screen time. It's up to you to make the most of it.