How Do You Like Your Screen Time?

I know computer time is supposed to count as “screen time” for kids, the same as sitting in front of the television. I’m not going to dispute it because I’m sure I don’t have an academic foot to stand on from an early-childhood-development perspective. But I will say that, at least in our house, computer time feels different from TV time somehow. Doesn’t it?

Watching television is a commitment of sorts. We negotiate where everyone’s going to sit on the couch and who gets which pillow. We agree on a program and they settle in for an hour or thirty minutes (or more sometimes; let’s be honest). They almost always lobby for a snack, although they don’t always get one. And I rarely sit down and watch the show with them.

Computer time is more spontaneous and on-the-go. I’ll usually be working my way through a stack of e-mails with the kids playing nearby. One of them will see me at the computer and ask to watch the Swedish Chef or some such. Next thing you know, all three of us are piled into my desk chair watching classic “Muppet Show” clips on YouTube.

With the computer, they spend less time sitting and watching because I chase them off after a few clips to get some work done. There are no snacks, because they can spill food on my old Ikea couch but they’d better not dare spill any on my keyboard! And I always sit down and watch the clips with them because (1) I’m protecting my computer, (2) I’m protecting them from the unfiltered morass of Internet crap that is YouTube, and (3) the stuff we can find on the computer is usually way more entertaining than whatever’s on Nick Jr. that afternoon. What can I say?

Sometimes the kids really seem to prefer this method of screen time. The other day, for example, we were all piled up at my desk watching and re-watching a clip from the very same movie we’d just borrowed from the library. I asked them if they’d rather just pop in the DVD, but they weren’t having it. I think they liked how easily they could re-watch that favorite clip over and over without committing to the whole movie. Which is where it gets a little scary for some.

It’s nice that the technology exists to separate the wheat from the chaff for our viewing enjoyment. But should our favorites be that accessible? Should gratification be that instant, especially for small children?

I remember the first time I introduced The Boy to “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” We’d already missed it on TV and all the copies at the library were checked out. But I found it on YouTube almost instantly. He absolutely loved it, of course, and I loved watching the pure joy and surprise on his face as each classic moment unfolded. Imagine seeing the “I got a rock” bit for the first time ever. It warms the heart.

When the show was over, he asked to watch it again. He wanted to watch it again the next day, too. And the next. By week’s end, that kid had probably seen “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” more times than I’d seen it in my entire childhood. That’s right. In my day, when the holiday special ended you had to wait a whole year to see it again. With commercials. You’d have to check TV Guide religiously to be sure not to miss it. You’d know what night your show was coming on and you’d look forward to it all week. If you happened to have other plans that night, you were SOL until next year. This was in the days even before VCRs, when a “special” truly lived up to its name.


It’s the littlest bit sad to me that the specialness of specials doesn’t exist in that same way anymore. But I love that we don’t have to be hyper-vigilant about not missing our shows anymore. Our lives don’t have to be dictated by programming schedules. And with our favorite clips and shows so readily available, we get the most bang for our screen-time buck.

The biggest downside to YouTube is that it’s simply not a safe site for kids. If you’re searching for a particular Sesame Street clip on there, for example, you’re just as likely to turn up some jackass’s home video of Tickle Me Elmo having relations with Tickle Me Cookie Monster. (Yes, it exists. And no, I’m not linking it for you, you pervs.)

Luckily, the good folks at Sesame Street have their own extensive library of video clips on their Web site. You can browse by character – not just Ernie and Big Bird, but just about any Sesame Street character from Guy Smiley to Don Music to Herbert Birdsfoot.

You can also browse by subject (letters, numbers, rhyming) or theme (animals, holidays, food). There’s the option to browse by song or classic clips, but the offerings are small and the definition of “classic” seems subjective at best. The search engine isn’t terribly intuitive, but with a little patience and persistence we’ve been able to find most of the kids’ favorite clips on there. (Except for this one.) For the parents’ amusement, there are also video queues featuring celebrity appearances and parodies, like “Mad Men” and “Thirty Rocks.” Good times.

Now all we need is a Web site like that with classic “Muppet Show” clips and we’ll be set.