Hello Screen Sanity Community and beyond,
Parenting sometimes is all pretty chill and other times it feels like you are constantly nagging! If you are anything like me, you know the feeling of nagging your kids from breakfast to bedtime. Some days it feels hard, and honestly, it gets old.
At our place we talk A LOT about healthy food and healthy screen habits. I was raised by very health conscious “granola” parents, so it is no surprise that rubbed off on me and now shapes how I parent.
It sounds a little like this;
“You need to eat that broccoli first.”
“You can watch TV once your room is clean.”
“It is homework time, not YouTube time.”
Sounds familiar?
Last week I went to a comedy show where they joked about parents who care about healthy food and screens. It was hilarious and, yes, that is me. I feel very encouraged that this has become a common stereotype because what goes into our bodies matters, what goes into our minds matters too.
The next day I opened the Living Healthy Report 2025. A few lines jumped off the page and put words around what I feel at home. Fifty seven percent of parents say their top health concern is their child’s excessive screen time. Ninety percent of parents feel negatively distracted by digital tech. This is bigger than our kitchen. It is families across the country, every day.
It also made me very proud that Screen Sanity Australia is a contributor to the Living Healthy Report for 2025. This is an evidenced based report put together by the Healthy Life Advisory Board and Woolworths Group, to produce an annual ‘pulse check’ on Australians’ health.
The report focusses on how we can harness the digital worlds potential to increase our years of healthy living and minimise its potential harm on health. It discusses how digital technology is contributing to shaping the health of our generations.
Some extracts worth sharing:
- 90% of Australian parents feel they are negatively distracted by digital technologies.
- Work needs to be done to get our children offline and moving, with only 46% of parents reporting that their child spends a day without digital technology.
- 57% of parents state their main health concern is their child’s excessive screentime.
- Evidence shows that intensive digital media use during early childhood and adolescence can cause negative structural changes in the brain.
- A language rich home is critical to children’s language development and screen time takes away opportunities for talk and interaction between parent and children(12-36 months) in the home.
- Strong social connections are essential for good health, however the tools designed to bring us together can also drive us apart and make it increasingly difficult to create meaningful connections. Social connections are declining in all age groups.
(These reasons above are why Screen Sanity exists. We are here to support this problem 🙂 )
- Young people 14 to 25 see about 24 unhealthy food and 7 alcohol ads online every day, embedded in games and social media.
- About 45% of nutrition posts on social media are inaccurate. Harmful product marketing drives youth consumption, but the same channels can spread healthy habits.
- Australians are increasingly seeking health information online. While misinformation is a challenge, social media platforms also provide opportunities to spread accurate information.
- Despite the volume of health information available only one in five Austrains describe their health literacy levels as high.
- 36% of Australians reported that they regret a health decision made based on misinformation.
- Wearable fitness trackers should encourage people to walk more but we are moving less as a whole.
- It is predicted that half of the world will be short-sighted by 2050.
- In whatever way we use digital technology, it is a source of distraction and interruption, fracturing our attention and increasing multi-tasking. It reduces our ability to focus on other important aspects of life, which in theory will affect our mental health and wellbeing.
- Social media and links to depression are being studied.
The report highlights that people are spending a lot of hours online and the topic of harnessing our digital health is urgent. Woolworths Group is working hard to make their online platforms user friendly, informative, and supportive when it comes to making healthy food choices. They also use social media to debunk misinformation which is awesome!
So, the long story short is that the digital environment is certainly influencing our health, for better and for worse, just like what we eat and drink! From the early days we dreamed that our digital habits would be thought about and discussed like our preferences for organic and healthy foods.
That is why Screen Sanity Australia is so proud to be a part of the digital health movement which is only just beginning…
Please check out our digital health 101 for some actionable changes you can make today, for a more balanced and healthy life.
Health and happiness,
Mackenzie
