Read the following passage about and mark the letter A, B, C, D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 31 to 40.
There once was a time when parents had rules about their children's screen time. [I] Then the coronavirus pandemic suddenly struck, and these regulations were quickly ignored as children stayed at home full-time and became absorbed in watching YouTube videos on their iPads and smartphones. [II] However, many experts think parents should not be upset about this at all. [III] What's more important, experts say, is finding a balance and encouraging other healthy activities alongside screen use. [IV]
Even before the pandemic, a great number of media researchers were already challenging the idea that spending too much time on screen-based technology harms children the most, arguing that the negative content that children are exposed to have far bigger impacts. A study conducted last year which looked at tech use data from more than 17,000 teens in the US, UK and Ireland found that total daily screen time had little measurable effect on teens' mental health. Another study in which data from more than 35,000 US children was examined even showed that children who spent one to two hours a day with technology showed higher levels of wellbeing that those who had no access at all.
Cori Cross, a pediatrician in Los Angeles, said she had readjusted her family's screen time rules lately, lifting a ban on tech in the bedrooms so that her three children can comfortably do schoolwork and relax when they want to and when she needs some quiet so as to work without being disturbed. However. children still need physical activity, outdoor time, and connection with family, she says. along with healthy sleep and diet. Taking this into account, some of the family's pre-quarantine tech rules still apply: devices stay outside the bedroom when it's time to sleep, for example. Additionally, she always makes sure that there are hours in the day when her children turn them off and find other ways to amuse themselves.
Jenny Radesky, an assistant professor of pediatric has been constantly asked in recent weeks what the right amount of screen time is in lockdown. And according to her, that is no single correct answer considering the variety of factors like a child's age. a family's needs, and the mix of other activities the child has access to in a given day. Radesky also thinks that if there's any tech-related skill parents should teach their children now to help life return to normal after the pandemic she says, it's the ability to selfregulate their tech use, which in a child's case means the ability to turn off a device willingly.
Eventually, schools, parks and libraries will reopen, and families will be able to return to rules that make most sense for them. "When we get to the other and of this, you and your children will hopefully look back and say, we came together and figured it out," Radesky says.
