Mom Goes Viral After Making Daughter Go Cold Turkey on Screen Time

Published: July 18, 2024

Photo from Patricia Prudente via Unsplash

Mom Goes Viral After Making Daughter Go Cold Turkey on Screen Time

By Movieguide® Contributor

A North Carolina mom is going viral after sharing the positive experience she had after taking away her 5-year-old daughter’s iPad and putting her screen time to zero.

“I’d had an incredibly busy week working from home and trying to meet deadlines,” Stephany Faublas told Fox News Digital. “I couldn’t give [my daughter] much attention and relied on the iPad to substitute for my absence.”

Feeling she had let her daughter use the iPad for too long, Faublas drastically decreased her screen time at the beginning of July, substituting it for educational activities.

“Initially, I was nervous about her reaction. Screen time is addictive and doing work instead comes with rebellion,” Faublas said. “To my surprise, she was ready to go along with it. She didn’t push back.”

The 34-year-old mom decided to record her daughter’s reaction because she thought it might come in handy in the future.

“Her excitement to start made me want to record and keep the moment — just in case the enthusiasm wasn’t the same the next day,” Faublas explained. “I figured I could use this footage to remind her of her excitement to learn.”

Clips from the day have since gone viral, amassing over 7 million views on TikTok. The video has served as an encouragement to other moms of young children who sometimes feel they allow their kids to spend too much time on their screens.

The importance of children spending time in the real world cannot be understated, as the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends only one hour of “high quality programming” for children 2-5 years old and recommends no screen time, other than video chatting, for children younger than 2.

While these recommendations can be difficult to follow, Movieguide® urges parents to strive to keep their children rooted in reality. Studies have shown that too much screen time can lead to delays in speech and cognitive development. The best way to ensure children spend little time on screens is to set a good example and limit screen usage around them. This has also been shown to lead to better, more engaged parenting.

Movieguide® previously reported:

Kids today are bombarded with screens, and parents play a key role in helping them develop a good relationship with technology.

The amount of screen time a child is allowed impacts their relationship with their parents, how they learn about the world and their physical health.

Current evidence shows that excessive screen time for young people is linked to physical issues including myopia, poor eyesight, anxiety, lower cognitive function, increased risk of heart disease and slower speech development. But its addictive power can influence a child’s beliefs as well.

With so many concerns stacked up against screen time, how can parents manage their role with responsibility and grace? And how can we ensure we are seeing the facts through an accurate lens? Let’s take a look at the positives and negatives of screen time for children.