TORONTO -- The pandemic has almost all of us spending more time than ever staring at screens.

That's true of children too – and not just as a replacement for playing with their friends in-person.

Between remote classrooms and virtual visits with extended family, there are plenty of valid reasons behind the uptick in youth screen time, according to Dr. Jenny Radesky.

"Kids' time on screens has dramatically increased – but it's had to," the University of Michigan-affiliated pediatrician told CTV News Channel on Jan. 22.

As the one-year anniversary of the pandemic approaches, there are already signs that the increased screen time it brought with it is harming the eyes of Canadian children.

Dr. Michael Nelson, president of the Canadian Association of Optometrists, told CTV News Montreal last week that he has heard from colleagues across the country who have noticed they are seeing more children who are experiencing eye strain or eye fatigue.

A more severe phenomenon dubbed "quarantine myopia" has been documented in China. There, researchers found that myopia rates in young children increased by 10 to 15 per cent between 2019 and 2020, as schools were closed due to the first wave of COVID-19.

While no similar research has been published from other countries, eye health experts expect the pandemic will be a net negative to child eye health anywhere schools have closed and screen time has increased.

One recent survey out of British Columbia found that 73 per cent of respondents reported experiencing at least one eye concern or condition since the pandemic began.

Spending too much time in front of a screen may be bad for youth mental health, too. A University of British Columbia study, based on data from before the pandemic, found that Grade 7 students who spent less than two hours a day on screen time reported higher levels of life satisfaction, while reduced screen time was associated with lower levels of anxiety and depression.

During the pandemic, though, parents should understand that their children may want to spend more time on screens even for recreation, child development and parenting coach Caron Irwin told CTVNews.ca.

"Right now, our kids need to do a lot of self-regulating and be patient. We need to be able to provide them with those opportunities also to decompress and engage with screens in a way that they want to," she said Wednesday via telephone.

"We need to recognize that it is a different time, and we need to be thoughtful and respectful of that time – and maybe a bit more lenient in our rules and expectations around the actual length [of screen time] that we're allowing."

Radesky said the key is not to put a hard limit on screen time, but to focus on more "problematic" screen-aided activities – those situations in which "media use is displacing the other activities that kids usually love, or it's becoming an obsession or the only thing they want to do."

She recommended that parents monitor what their children are doing on their electronic devices, and steer them away from apps that are trying to keep them hooked or track their data.

"The biggest issue is … the way tech is designed to keep us on longer, to get more clicks, to get more engagement," she said.

"It's really not the digital playground we want our kids in, ideally."

Irwin, too, said that parents should prioritize monitoring what their children are accessing during their screen time ahead of how much screen time they're putting in each a day.

She suggested that parents encourage their children to use their electronic devices in a common space rather than their bedrooms, making it easier to keep an eye on the content their accessing, and try to steer them toward content that matches their interests. If they're a fan of a particular sport, for example, parents can show them videos that teach them skills related to that sport.

If parents do think their children are spending too much time with screens, Irwin said, the solution is not to confront them about it right away, but to wait for a less heated moment and work out a schedule to divide up the day between screen time and alternative activities.

"If there's too much screen time and you're uncomfortable with the amount that they're engaging in, then you need to call a family meeting. Find some time where it's quiet, where you can sit down with your kids," she said.

Children as young as five can understand this approach and work well under it, Irwin added.

Guidelines released last fall by the Public Health Agency of Canada and other group call for all Canadians to limit their recreational screen time to three hours a day, in order to spend more time on light physical activities and ensuring a good night's sleep.

The Canadian Association of Optometrists recommends that anyone using a screen follow the 20-20-20 rule, taking a 20-second break every 20 minutes to look at an object 20 feet (six metres) away.