Extended use of screen-based digital tools was associated with negative impacts on eye health and also resulted in noise-induced hearing loss and pain syndromes.

Likewise, there was also an impact on youngsters’ mental health from being exposed to inappropriate and harmful content.

The study also revealed use was significantly higher for tamariki Māori and those in lower socio-economic communities.

Recommendations varied across age groups and ranged from maximum session lengths of 10-15 minutes, screen-free play periods, paper homework and adjustable seating and chairs.

Whangārei Intermediate School principal Hayley Read said her school has made changes in the last year after noting how much the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted teaching.

“When my teachers came back it suddenly occurred to me that my teachers were still teaching remotely when the kids were in front of them. [Technology] used to drive all our teaching and learning programmes completely, but we discovered it wasn’t effective at all.”

Many students were using their devices to play games rather than doing research, she said.

Technology was now managed more strictly and alongside collaboration with the teacher.

The ban on phones has also been a useful way to manage technology within classrooms as well, she said.

Read also said students moving up from primary school are taught how to manage their technology as usage appears lower in that age group.

“It becomes almost one of our units of work, how to use a device in a way that’s responsible and positive.”

New students are taught how to set up their own drive and manage it as well as learn how to organise files, she said.

Read said the fact that the devices are their own breeds a sense of pride which goes hand in hand with safe usage.

She agreed with the NZMJ’s study’s recommendation to strike a balance between screen time and being outside.

Physical harm caused by the usage was something she was happy to see identified as well.

Yet she said it was difficult because devices were being used at home as a “bargaining tool” by parents which was fostering a screen addiction.

Her sentiments were echoed by Hora Hora Primary School principal Pat Newman who called into question why parents were using technology as “babysitting devices”.

Students are coming to school and falling asleep in class – some daily – and are taken to the sick bay to get more sleep.

Many were also arriving late, half asleep, and lethargic on a daily basis and some were being exposed to pornographic content, he said.

“No child should have access to any internet device or screen [alone],” he said.

But it was hard for schools to manage alongside what he described as a push from the Government to use devices more.

Newman was aware that technology in class had “justifiable uses” such as for research, developing a wider world view and creating art.

But the bigger issue was usage at home, he said.

“You have a society where children rule [at home]. It’s much easier to give them that [technology] and it’s a pity.”

“Parents need to realise that they’re not there to be the best friends of their children. Parents are there to protect their children.”

New Zealand Principals’ Federation president Leanne Otene said there is a shared responsibility for both parents and schools around technology.

For younger children that means monitoring screen time and for older teens that means monitoring social media use to reduce harm, she said.

However, Otene also reiterated the importance of children being competent in technology for “21st-century learning”.

“New Zealand needs to keep up, we cannot get behind.”

It continues to be important for schools to strike a careful balance to ensure IT remains “just another tool in our books”, she said.

Brodie Stone is an education and general news reporter at the Advocate. Brodie has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.