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HEALTH

Danish charity recommends screen ban for two year olds

One of Denmark's leading child welfare charities has recommended that no child be exposed to the screens of digital devices until they are at least two years old.

Danish charity recommends screen ban for two year olds
A two year old girl looking at a screen. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix)

Børns Vilkår, which has worked to promote the wellbeing of children in Denmark since 1977, made the call as part of a new “screen guide“, advising how families and others caring for children how to limit and manage their screen use. 

“The truth is that we still don’t know very much about how the screens precisely affect our children and young people, but we believe that there is now enough knowledge to conclude that we should be more careful than we are today,” said Rasmus Kjeldahl, director of Børns Vilkår, in a press release.

“One thing we know about children’s development is that you need as much time as possible with adults: this helps the child control his feelings and creates a secure attachment,” he told the Ritzau newswire. “Time with a screen is at best a waste of time which takes time away from important parts of the child’s development.”

The organisation said that the growing importance of screens in the lives of young children had generated “doubts, worries, and conflicts” in families, and that it hoped that by providing recommendations based on the organisation’s own expertise and current research, it could help resolve them. 

The guide has recommendations for seven different age groups, and also calls on parents and other adults to control their own screen use. 

“Parents are role models for children, so if they, for example, check messages during meals or are not present because they are more concerned with online life than with their children, then they are setting an example that children will begin to copy and which could push children into an online world where they can very quickly start to feel quite alone,” Kjeldahl said. 

The guide also recommends that parents think less about setting limits to screen time and more about what their child is doing with the screen, with whom, and whether it makes them happy or sad. 

Parents should be aware of the role models children encounter online and be ready to encourage them to question and critique what these role models say.  

The guide recommends that parents prioritise screen use where the child is active, creative and social over passive use, and also recommends that they make sure that the child still has time for physical activities and socialising in real life. 

The guide warns that streaming services, social media and games are designed to attract and retain the user’s attention in order to make money, and that children and young people might therefore need help to manage their consumption.

By the time children are between 6-9 years old, the guide does not set any concrete time limits for children, recommending that parents agree with their children on what is a reasonable amount of time. 

Similarly, when children reach the ages of 13-15, the guide recommends that parents talk with them about social media to help limit their use of it. 

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HEALTH

Denmark registers first 2024 case of tick-borne encephalitis

This year’s first Danish case of tick-borne encephalitis has been registered in northern Zealand, the national infectious disease agency State Serum Institute (SSI) confirmed.

Denmark registers first 2024 case of tick-borne encephalitis

Although the disease is very rare in Denmark, there are usually a handful of cases each year. The forested area around Tisvilde Hegn and elsewhere in northern Zealand are particular risk zones along with parts of Bornholm.

“Infection is usually linked to spending time in risk areas, and typically going off the paths, Peter H.S. Andersen, doctor and head of department at SSI, said in a statement.

“But there have also been cases of TBE where the patient has not demonstrated known risk behaviour by going into in woods or thickets,” he added.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about ticks in Denmark and how to avoid them

Earlier this year, it was reported that people in Copenhagen and surrounding areas of Zealand have increasingly sought vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) after an increase in ticks in parts of the countryside.

The risk of TBE remains small but case numbers have increased slightly in recent years. Some 11 cases were registered in 2023 compared with around 1 or 2 annually a decade ago.

Ticks (skovflåter) can be found all over Denmark in forests, meadows, and long grass. They are particularly active during the summer months and increase in number if the weather has been warm and humid.

In Denmark, the most common disease ticks transmit is Lyme disease, but ticks can also carry the very rare but dangerous TBE.

Only people who spend extended time in forests near Tisvilde Hegn as well as on the island of Bornholm should consider vaccination, SSI experts have previously said.

TBE is a viral brain infection caused by a particular tick bite. Flu-like symptoms can occur a week or more after the bite and can develop to include nausea, dizziness, and in around a third of cases, severe long-term problems or permanent neurological damage.

Denmark’s tick season last from spring until autumn.

In contrast to Lyme disease, the TBE virus infects its target quickly after the tick bite.

“That’s why it’s important to remove a tick as soon as you find it. Either with your fingers, a tweezer or a special tick remover,” Andersen said.

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