WHO: Infants under 1 year old shouldn't be exposed to any electronic screens

[Celerity]

Source: Washington Post

Infants younger than 1 shouldn’t be exposed to any electronic screens, according to guidelines issued Wednesday by the World Health Organization.

The agency, issuing its first such guidelines, also said that children 2 to 4 should have no more than one hour of “sedentary screen time” — including playing computer games or watching TV — per day. It also emphasized that this young kids need to be physically active and get enough sleep, habits that go along way in preventing obesity and other diseases later in life, the WHO said.

“Achieving health for all means doing what is best for health right from the beginning of people’s lives,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. “Early childhood is a period of rapid development and a time when family lifestyle patterns can be adapted to boost health gains.”

The news was first reported by Reuters.

Babies should not be exposed to screens at all and instead engage in interactive floor-based play, the WHO said. It also recommended that kids 1 to 4 years old have at least three hours of physical activity daily.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/04/24/who-infants-under-year-old-shouldnt-be-exposed-any-electronic-screens/

[DetlefK]

1. Plus, electronic screens produce a dangerous amount of UV-radiation. That's bad for the eyes.

The UV-radiation from LED-screens damages the eyes over the course of the day. Normally, your eyes heal over night when you sleep. But if you spend day by day in front of a computer-screen, hour by hour by hour, that slowly builds up damage over time.

[melm00se]

4. You sure about that?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4560556/

In this study, there was no emission of ultraviolet radiation within the spectra considered UVA and UVB by the lamps and TV monitors, computer and tablet, independent from the variables: type, brand and distance (at 5 and 20 cm of distance from the source).

Tested devices
- incandescent (Philips Soft 60W, Philips Standard 100W, Osram 60W, Osram 100W)

- compact fluorescent (Taschibra, Philips, Osram);

- tube fluorescent (Philips; Osram);

- halogen (Osram).

The following products were also evaluated:

- television (Samsung Full HD Plasma, Panasonic LED Flat)

- computers (LG Microcomputer HD 500GB, LG Notebook HD 320GB and Sony LED 1TB)

- tablet (Apple Ipad 2).

[ArizonaLib]

6. You left this out of your 2015 list of devices in the Brazilian market at that time:

"Readings were taken 60 seconds after the sources began to operate, with the photometers at the measuring position for 15 seconds."

Why wait a full minute? Why not test the initial power surge? The article does not share enough information on test conditions, credentials or employment of those conducting the test or primary funding sources, nor the test subject requirements.

If this was safe, people would be willing to show that the devices are harmless by showing cat scans of individuals who have been in very close proximity with the devices for long periods of time.

I am waiting for the youtube videos showing people sleeping with cell phones charging under their heads each night for months at a time.

[kimbutgar]

2. Every time I see a small child in a stroller with their parents phone I want to take it away from

Them. Their brains are developing they need to be enjoying their environment, looking at people and things. I know it’s convenient for the parents but they are hurting their kids.

[RobinA]

3. The Thing

that gets me the most is screens in cars, including the seatback kind. Look out the window and see the world around you!!!

[ArizonaLib]

5. I wish the conservative hate deviants cared as much about infants as they say

they do about tiny clusters of cells. They are always trying to reduce funding for feeding and healthcare for mothers, babies and kids, because they can't just love and leave it at that.