Kids’ screen time skyrocketed during pandemic — and it’s still higher than pre-COVID

Kids’ screen time increased early in the COVID-19 pandemic amid lockdowns and stay-at-home measures.

But even after precautions were lifted and people resumed normal activities, it remained higher, according to a new study published on Feb. 15 in JAMA Network Open.

The study — led by Monique M. Hedderson, PhD, a research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research — looked at the screen usage of 228 children aged 4 years to 12 years across three U.S. states.

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Researchers compared screen times during three periods: pre-pandemic (July 2019 to March 2020), early pandemic (December 2020 to April 2021), and later in the pandemic (May 2021 to August 2021).

Pre-pandemic, the average total screen time was 4.4 hours per day.

During the first pandemic period, it increased to 6.15 hours per day.

Later in the pandemic, kids spent an average of 5.51 hours per day on screens — still higher than pre-pandemic times.

These totals included both recreational and educational screen use.

Dr. Zeyad Baker, a New Jersey-based physician with over a decade of experience in pediatric medicine, is not surprised that the uptick in screen time has continued post-pandemic.

"Once a child forms a habit, it’s hard to break it," he told Fox News Digital via email. 

"There are a lot of unforeseen consequences of the pandemic — and one of them includes the dependency on screen time."

While screen time was already an issue prior to the pandemic with recreational use, the doctor said it’s even harder to limit now that kids rely on digital devices for their schoolwork.

For kids ages two years and older, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends capping screen time at two hours per day. 

It discourages any use of media for children younger than age two, per its website.

The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) outlines specific guidelines for each age group on its website.

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For babies up to 18 months, it recommends limiting screen use to video chatting with an adult.

Between 18 and 24 months, its guideline is to use screens only for educational programming.

For kids between two years and five years of age, the AACAP recommends a limit of one hour per weekday and three hours on weekends for any non-educational screen time.

It does not specify an hourly limit for ages six and older but does recommend encouraging healthy habits and limiting screen-based activities.

"To be honest and point-blank, the least amount of screen time is healthy for children," Dr. Baker told Fox News Digital.

However, he admitted that it gets trickier for parents to moderate when kids need to do homework online — and he believes the quality of screen time comes into play when setting limits.

"I think if you are doing family screen time on an educational level or if kids are using screen time to dig deep into valuable information and topics at a limited capacity, that is very different from watching and absorbing mindless content on the internet on a consistent basis," Dr. Baker said.

Regardless of what’s on the screen, excessive media use can cause a number of problems for kids.

These include trouble sleeping, a decline in academic performance, reduced physical activity, headaches, eye strain and increased mood swings, per the Cleveland Clinic's website.

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"The short-term and long-term effects of excessive screen time include obesity and decreased social skills," said Dr. Baker. 

"In addition, we are seeing increased social anxiety and mental health issues in children and teenagers."

Numerous studies have linked excessive screen time to depressive symptoms in kids. 

"It’s not a coincidence that we treat more mental health or social issues with children today than any medical issues we come across," said Dr. Baker.

Dr. Baker recommends only allowing children to have access to social media or certain television channels on the weekend and limiting screen time to academic-related content during the week.

However, he doesn’t think parents should limit screen time in a way that comes across as punishment. 

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"Instead, they should encourage other activities, like going outside to play," he said. 

"Not only is that good for physical health, by adding activity and increasing vitamin D levels, but it's also great for their mental health."

Dr. Yamara Coutinho, a physician at Nemours Children's Health in Pennsylania, suggests keeping kids' bedrooms unplugged and media-free as much as possible.

They should also turn off devices during meals and treat media as a privilege, she said.

"Parents can also set a good example by limiting their own device use, especially when they’re with their kids," she said. 

"It’s also a good idea for parents to preview apps, video games, TV shows and movies before their kids watch or use them," she added. 

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CDC adds COVID-19 vaccines to official immunization schedule for kids as young as 6 months

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a few updates last week to its child and adolescent immunization schedule. 

One update was the addition of COVID-19 vaccines to the child and adolescent immunization schedule.

The schedule, which is posted on the CDC's website, recommends that children between six months of age and 18 years old should receive two doses of the primary series between four and eight weeks apart — followed by a booster dose at least eight weeks later.

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Children who are "moderately or severely immunocompromised" should include a third dose in the primary series, says the CDC. 

The CDC first recommended the COVID-19 vaccine for young children between six months and five years old in June 2022. 

However, the vaccine was not officially added to the immunization schedule until just this month.

Dr. Marc Siegel, professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City and a Fox News medical contributor, is not against the vaccine being added to the schedule for kids five years and older, because it will help with insurance coverage and will also increase availability for higher risk kids, such as those with obesity or those who have diabetes.

"I would not add six months to five years to the recommended list yet — but I would make it available, especially for higher risk children," he told Fox News Digital in an email.

Regardless of age, Dr. Siegel believes the vaccine should remain a personal choice.

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"I feel strongly that the vaccine should not be mandated," Dr. Siegel said. 

He added that "there are several vaccines on the CDC list — including influenza — that are not generally mandated by state or local health departments."

The doctor pointed out that while COVID symptoms are generally mild in kids, repeated infection can lead to a higher chance of brain fog, "long COVID" and other complications.

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"The decision of whether to get the vaccine should be between the child, parent and pediatrician," he said.

The CDC’s vaccine schedule is a recommendation — not a requirement. 

The addition of COVID vaccines to the schedule doesn’t mean that students will have to get them before enrolling in school. 

However, schools do seek guidance from the CDC when making decisions about immunization requirements.

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As stated on the CDC’s website, schools’ vaccination requirements are determined by state and local laws. 

Individual states can also roll out vaccination mandates for those working in the health care field.

As of Feb. 15, just under 17% of children five years old and younger have received their full series of vaccines, including the booster, per the CDC website.

Among kids 12 years old or younger, 18.2% are fully vaccinated and boosted.

That share rises to 19.3% for kids 18 years old or younger. 

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Prior COVID infection provides just as much protection as vaccines, new study finds

A new study found that a previous COVID-19 infection offers at least the same level of protection as two doses of high-quality mRNA vaccines, such as Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech.

Additionally, people who are infected with the virus may be protected from reinfection for 40 weeks or longer, the study found.

It was published in The Lancet on Feb. 16.

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Protection from reinfection was highest for the ancestral (original) strain of COVID-19 and the alpha, beta and delta variants, remaining at more than 78% after 40 weeks. 

Protection was lower for the omicron BA.1 variant, which dropped to 36.1% in that same time frame.

When it comes to severe disease (hospitalization or death), protection was high across all variants, averaging 78% or higher for ancestral, alpha, beta, delta and omicron BA.1 at 40 weeks after infection.

The level of protection declined over time for all variants, but it dipped fastest for the omicron BA.1 variant.

The study, titled "Past SARS-CoV-2 infection protection against re-infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis," was led by a group of researchers that make up the COVID-19 Forecasting Team.

"This finding also has important implications for the design of policies that restrict access to travel or venues or require vaccination for workers," the study authors wrote. 

"It supports the idea that those with a documented infection should be treated similarly to those who have been fully vaccinated with high-quality vaccines."

Researchers analyzed a total of 65 studies across 19 countries. 

The studies compared people who had previously tested positive for COVID-19 to those who had not been infected, up until Sept. 31, 2022. 

When evaluating the infected cases, researchers considered the severity of symptoms, the variant of the virus and how long it had been since testing positive.

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The authors noted in the findings that this is the first study to "comprehensively assess natural immunity protection against COVID-19 reinfection by variant (primary infection and reinfection) and to evaluate waning immunity with time since primary infection."

The study did have some limitations. 

There was a low number of studies to evaluate, for example, and not much data was available beyond the 40-week mark. 

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Additionally, studies relied on different methods to determine previous infection status, including testing for antibodies and looking at prior COVID-19 test results.

As of Feb. 15, the CDC reported an average of 259,339 new COVID cases per week. 

The peak was 5.6 million cases per week in January 2022.

Only 16% of the U.S. population has received the updated booster dose for COVID-19 vaccines; 69% have completed a primary series of vaccines. 

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Arkansas mom says school mask mandates led to ‘cruelty and discrimination’ against her daughter

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first recommended the wearing of face masks in all public settings in April 2020. Ultimately, this led to long-term mask mandates across the country — including in most schools.

It also sparked an often contentious divide between parents who supported the mandates and those who opposed it.

Ginny Lauren Dowden, 40, of Arkansas fought for her daughter to be able to remain mask-free — a hard-won battle that took an emotional toll.

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It was just a few months before the pandemic when Dowden and her family moved from Dallas, Texas, to Fayetteville, Arkansas. 

She enrolled her older daughter, Rosalyn, 8, in second grade at the local public school. (Her younger daughter was just an infant at the time.) Then when COVID hit, the schools in Northwest Arkansas abruptly closed.

After several months of online learning, young Rosalyn was excited to return to in-person school in third grade — until the mask mandate was announced.

Right away, Dowden started the process of seeking a mask exemption. 

"Rosalyn has asthma, takes daily medication and uses an inhaler," Dowden told Fox News Digital in a phone interview. 

"Common sense tells you that a child with asthma should not be in a mask for eight hours a day."

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Multiple studies have shown that face masks are safe for children with asthma to wear and do not cause respiratory issues or worsen underlying lung conditions. 

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, headquartered in Milwaukee, has said that wearing a mask doesn’t affect oxygen saturation, while the American Lung Association of Chicago states on its website that "children with asthma should be able to wear a non-N95 facial covering without affecting their oxygen levels."

Even so, Dowden was not comfortable with her daughter wearing a mask for long periods of time.

She started by asking her daughter’s pediatrician’s office to approve the exemption, but the office refused.

"The medical industrial complex here in town works collectively with the school district, so I think they were under pressure to deny all exemption requests," said Dowden.

Next, Dowden went back to her hometown in South Arkansas, where she was finally able to get an exemption note from the doctor there. 

"The doctors that I truly trusted — and who were not just spewing out the same CDC talking points — never encouraged me to mask my daughter because of her asthma," she said.

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However, even after the doctor signed off, the elementary school still pushed back. 

Although the school’s policy stated that only a doctor’s note was required, the administration told Dowden she would also have to provide an "asthma action plan" outlining how Rosalyn’s asthma was controlled. 

Dowden returned to the doctor for the extra documentation. After several more emails and phone calls, Rosalyn’s exemption was finally granted.

But the struggle was far from over.

The next day, for the first time since the start of COVID, Dowden's daughter Rosalyn was excited to go back to school without a mask — but it wasn’t the positive experience they’d expected.

Since moving to Fayetteville, both Dowden and her daughter had made many new friends, primarily other mothers and daughters from school. 

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But when Rosalyn showed up to class without a mask, that all changed.

"Every day, she would lose more friends," said Dowden, becoming emotional in the interview.

"Many of the other kids just wouldn’t come near her anymore."

Dowden also experienced social fallout of her own, she said, as she was ridiculed by other mothers who had once been her friends.

"It’s one thing for me to lose friends — I'll be fine — but it’s much harder for an 8-year-old girl," Dowden said. 

"They treated her terribly. Their parents were telling them not to go near Rosalyn because she would make them sick."

Despite the poor treatment she experienced, young Rosalyn never wavered in her decision to not wear a mask. 

"There were days when she was nervous about not wearing one. I made sure to continuously check in with her and her heart," Dowden said. 

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"I would ask about how she was feeling and how difficult things were for her. I asked if she’d feel more comfortable just going along with it and wearing one."

Rosalyn’s answer was always an emphatic "no," said Dowden.

A recent scientific review indicated that mask mandates may have done little to nothing to curb the spread of COVID. Based on the outbreaks at her daughter's school, Dowden believes that’s true.

"They took all of the precautions — checking kids’ temperatures, having them use hand sanitizer and making sure their masks were pulled up over their noses — but then there would be a positive case and the whole class would have to stay home and quarantine," she said. "It completely disrupted the entire year."

"The masks did nothing," she added. "Everyone knew it, but they still went along with the narrative."

Dowden doesn’t believe that everyone was being deliberately cruel. She said some were acting out of genuine fear, in her view.

"Fear can be paralyzing," she said. "I can absolutely understand and empathize with those who were truly scared about the well-being and health of their kids."

"But there was no space — and no grace — extended to those of us who genuinely questioned things," Dowden continued. "Like them, we truly felt we were doing what was best for our children. But we were categorized as selfish, unkind, negligent and possibly [even] capable of killing others."

Rosalyn Dowden regularly came home from school with new stories of repercussions for not covering her face. 

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At least once a day, a teacher would approach her in the hall and tell her to put on a mask. The girl would have to explain, over and over again, why she didn’t have to wear one.

"There was no reason the teachers had to keep asking her about it every day — they should have known about her exemption," Dowden said. "Every day, this 8-year-old was forced to defend herself to adults and other students. There was no support system for her."

In one example, another student told Rosalyn, "I have to wear two masks every day because you won’t wear one. You could kill me."

In her own classroom, Rosalyn’s third-grade teacher didn’t offer much support. She even seemed to avoid her as much as possible, Dowden said. 

"It was almost like Rosalyn was invisible," Dowden said through tears. "The teacher made her sit in the back of the class away from all the other kids. It’s just cruel to single children out intentionally and make them feel ‘less than.’"

Added Dowden, "Honestly, everything she went through — it was like child abuse."

However, Dowden pointed out that there were also some great teachers at the school who were put in a tough position. 

"They were simply enforcing what they had been required to do by the district," she said.

As the other parents and students continued to distance themselves, Dowden figured she had nothing to lose. 

She started the state’s first chapter of Moms for Liberty. It's a nonprofit national organization dedicated to "fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government," according to its website.

Dowden also started speaking at school board meetings about not only the mask mandates, but about changes to the curriculum that made her uncomfortable. 

"They were introducing the kids to topics that have no place in schools," she said. "I got the feeling that these changes would impact the children more than a mask ever could."

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In addition, Dowden started a grassroots group with some other parents who were also against the mask mandates and other changes happening in the schools. 

In July 2021, over 250 parents from the community showed up to a meeting, said Dowden.

She has spoken in front of the Senate Education Committee at the Arkansas State Capitol. And through Conduit News, the nonprofit news network where she works as the communications director, she collaborates with legislators and other counties to activate change. 

In the spring of her daughter's third-grade year, things started to improve. The other kids started to tell Rosalyn that she was lucky that she didn’t have to wear a mask — which made her feel a little better. 

But then, that summer, Dowden learned the school would not be lifting the mask mandate going into Rosalyn’s fourth-grade year.

"And so I started the same old song and dance again with the doctors and the exemption documentation," Dowden said.

"But between the masks and what I was learning about what they were teaching in the classrooms, I just felt so heavy-hearted about sending my daughter back there."

Around that time, Dowden heard about a new classical Christian school that had just opened up in the area. It was small, with just a few dozen students. 

Ginny Dowden applied to it for her daughter, who was granted a scholarship — and the mom then pulled Rosalyn out of the public school in the middle of the fall semester.

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"She was able to go to the new school unmasked, without being treated any differently," Dowden said. "All the other kids and teachers welcomed her with open arms. It was a real godsend."

Today, Rosalyn Dowden is thriving in her fifth-grade class, her mom said. 

"She's much more lighthearted," Dowden said. "Children aren’t supposed to have to carry these types of burdens and see such public discourse from parents. They're not equipped to handle that. Now, she is in an environment that encourages her to thrive, one that talks about beauty and goodness and truth."

Dowden firmly believes the masks caused immeasurable mental and emotional turmoil for kids, not to mention a loss of learning. 

Even so, despite all the stress and anxiety her daughter experienced, she said her daughter never felt like a victim.

"Even though she was discriminated against, treated poorly, made fun of — even accused of being able to kill other kids because she didn’t wear a mask — she never had a victim’s mentality," said Dowden. 

"She was so mentally strong. It was hard and scary, but she stood her ground, even though many people would have caved to the peer pressure."

"She understood that sometimes you have to swim against the current — that doing the right thing, more often than not, is hard and unpopular," Dowden said.

"She showed more fortitude, courage and backbone than the majority of adults."

In some ways, Dowden feels that the school’s handling of COVID and mask mandates served as an important lesson for parents. 

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"It gave us a really clear picture of how political interests were put ahead of what was best for our kids," she said. 

"They were teaching our kids what to think, not how to think. I think by the end, it really opened so many parents’ eyes."

Through her advocacy efforts, Dowden has made a new circle of friends. 

"I found that [as] I stood up and spoke out, people I’d never met started reaching out to me," she said.

Now, going into the second year of her Moms for Liberty group, Dowden is seeing a shift as local parents become more involved — but it’s still a slow process.

If she could send a message to other parents, it would be, "Don’t forget what they did."

"They were basically tyrants who put unconstitutional mandates in place, and everyone just took it," said Dowden. 

"It’s important to continue to fight. There's still an ongoing battle in our schools right now, and you can't be complacent, not even now that the masks are gone."

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Be well: Prepare a dinner rich in vitamin D for good health

Sunlight is the main source of vitamin D, but depending on where you live, it may be tough to catch some rays during the winter months. 

Luckily, you can get more of this important nutrient right in your own kitchen.

Many foods are naturally rich in vitamin D. 

The Cleveland Clinic lists salmon, tuna, swordfish, sardines, beef liver, egg yolks, fortified milk alternatives, Swiss cheese and fortified yogurt as among the top sources.

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And you don’t have to be a cooking connoisseur to reap the dietary benefits.

New York-based registered dietitian Lauren Harris-Pincus suggested something as simple as a mushroom or salmon omelet or a salad with canned salmon and sliced hard-boiled eggs for a vitamin D boost.

Tanya Freirich, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Charlotte, North Carolina, who practices as The Lupus Dietitian, chops up sardines and heats them with balsamic vinegar to serve on top of a salad or with pasta. 

"Sardines are a great source of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, but are also low in mercury compared to other fish," she told Fox News Digital in an email.

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Some additional ideas include salmon skewers, avocado toast topped with egg, salmon rice bowls, shrimp and spinach salad, and grilled cheese with sautéed mushrooms.

The National Institutes of Health defines vitamin D as a fat-soluble vitamin that’s absorbed from the sunlight, certain foods and dietary supplements. 

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Some of its main jobs within the body include promoting calcium absorption, building strong bones and reducing inflammation. 

It's also been shown to strengthen the immune system and slow the growth of cancer cells.

The body creates its own vitamin D when the skin is exposed to the sun, but when that’s not possible — such as during the colder, darker winter months — the risk for deficiency increases. 

"Living in a northern climate, having darker skin or being at an advanced age makes it more difficult to get what we need from the sun, so it's important to consume enough vitamin D through food and/or supplements," Harris-Pincus told Fox News Digital via email.

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The recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 600 international units (IU) for people up to age 70 and 800 IU for people over 70, per the Mayo Clinic. 

(An IU is just slightly less than 1 microgram.)

Some people may require more based on their health needs.

Around 35% of U.S. adults have a vitamin D deficiency, the Cleveland Clinic states. 

Common symptoms include fatigue, weak or aching muscles, mood changes or depression, and fatigue. 

For children, severe deficiency can lead to rickets, a condition where the bones soften and weaken.

Stay tuned for more pieces in Fox News Health's "Be Well" series.

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