I'd be curious to hear people's logic for concern about screen time as a general category, vs something like "unrewarding screen time". To me it seems like, as

I'd be curious to hear people's logic for concern about screen time as a general category, vs something like "unrewarding screen time". To me it seems like, as with all new media, we are going through a period of moral panic that it will corrupt the youth by its very nature (the same has been said of video games, comic books, movies, television, rock and roll, blues, jazz, the twist, and, yes, even literary novels back when they were "new media"). In my opinion I think it makes sense to limit screen activity that is analogous to "junk food"; everyone will have their own categorization, but I think things like child-targeted Youtube autoplay spam videos are easy candidates. On the other hand if a child wants to use a screen for something productive and enriching ... why is that a concern, even at fairly high levels of use? Obviously there are limits (e.g. eye strain, opportunity cost of playing outside and socialization etc.) but I just can't understand the seemingly popular theory that screen time, per se, is a problem and must be carefully controlled. I would genuinely be interested to hear people's thoughts on this.