This July, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) launched a new version of their Family Media Plan to help parents and teens customize their family’s digital health priorities. Dr. Megan Moreno and the SMAHRTeam have worked with the AAP in the development of the Family Media Plan since its initial launch.
The tool was first launched in 2016 in conjunction with the AAP National Conference and Exhibition. At the time, there were new recommendations in the AAP Media Policy. The old AAP policies stated that parents should limit media use to 2 hours a day for all children and all media types. The 2016 AAP media policy recognized that creating rules and guidelines for families was more complex and needed to go beyond just limiting screen time.
There was a clear need for parents and health care providers to come together to create a tool that provided tips for creating family rules about digital media use in the home.
In 2016, Dr. Megan Moreno was involved in the development of the tool as an expert in social media and adolescent health research alongside pediatrician colleagues including Dr. Cori Cross and AAP staff. The tool allowed families to determine screen-free zones and times, maintain a healthy amount of sleep and exercise, involve family values, and share resources about age-appropriateness and ratings of apps.
However, over the last six years there has been an increase in smart phone and device use in the home, as well as a global pandemic that required families to stay home from their regular screen-free activities. This change in culture surrounding digital media, led Dr. Megan Moreno and the SMAHRTeam to evaluate the effectiveness of the 2016 tool in a 2021 study.
The SMAHRT study involved a survey of 1520 parent and child dyads. Half of the participants were asked to complete a Family Media Plan (the intervention), the other half were asked to use their usual approach to media guidelines. Researchers later asked participants to complete a follow-up survey two months later. Results showed that many families in the intervention group did use the family media use plan, however, it was not found to statistically significantly change the family’s media rules compared to the group who did not get the Family Media Plan. This finding could be because over time different media rules are more salient than others, so families could be switching between rules which could lead to no overall change. The study concluded with a recommendation to consider revising the family media use plan to explore opportunities for improvement.
Every published research study ends the paper by recommending future directions that other researchers or key stakeholders could take the results to learn more about a given question or intervention. In this case, the evidence from this study was used to provide guidance for families using the tool and eventually led to updates and the re-launch of the Family Media Plan.
The updated Family Media Plan includes more priority options for families to select. However, it also encourages families to start by picking a few priorities at a time instead of choosing to work on all of them at once. Priorities include media balance, communicating about media, screen free times, and using media together. Families can select a few priorities to work on, and then return to the tool with their saved information to update and move on to other areas. Based on the priorities selected, the tool walks families through steps to accomplish each goal.
Another update is that there is more content appropriate for younger kids. As we know, younger children are using media and there are specific recommendations for kids younger than adolescents. Another important update is that there is more information on the “why” for making rules/guidelines so that families know what evidence supports different approaches, as well as the “how” of making rules/guidelines, including how to talk to your kids about that rule or how to start using it in your family.
Finally, families are encouraged to re-evaluate the priorities multiple times a year. Technology and life changes so fast that it is vital to discuss and re-evaluate media rules throughout the year.
“We’re very excited about the updates and re-launch of this valuable tool to help families manage their media use at home. The goal of the tool is to promote communication within families towards approaches that they can use to promote enjoyable media use and keep their family members healthy,” explained Dr. Megan Moreno.
To learn more about the Family Media Plan and start using the tool, visit: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/fmp/Pages/MediaPlan.aspx