| Course | PS220 Child and Adolescent Psychology |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 6 |
| Paper type | Seminar reflection |
| Length | About 800 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Psychology |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PS220 Unit 6
Tablets, Toddlers and What the Evidence Can Say: A PS220 Unit 6 Seminar Reflection on Screens in Childhood
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
PS220: Child and Adolescent Psychology
Unit 6 Seminar Reflection
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The writer, her daughter and the classmates are composite; the guidelines and studies cited are real.
What I Brought
I came to the Unit 6 seminar feeling guilty. On days when I work long hospital shifts and my mother is tired, Maya watches cartoons on a tablet for an hour or more. I had read headlines saying screens damage children's brains, and I expected the seminar to confirm that I was harming her and to give me a number of minutes I had already exceeded.
The Debate
Our instructor split us into two groups to argue whether screens harm young children. My group argued harm, and I used the headlines. The other group argued that the evidence was weaker than the headlines suggested. Then the instructor asked both groups to read two sources.
The first was the American Academy of Pediatrics' policy on media for young children (Council on Communications and Media, 2016). It advises keeping babies under about a year and a half to two away from screens apart from video calls with family, limiting children from two to five years old to about an hour a day of high-quality programming, and watching with them so adults can help them understand what they see. I noticed that it was cautious but not alarmed, and that its main concern was what screens displace: sleep, play and conversation with adults.
The second was a large analysis of adolescent data by Orben and Przybylski (2019). Across hundreds of thousands of teenagers, heavier screen use came with a sliver less well-being, and the association was tiny, accounting for well under one percent of the differences between teens, about as large as the link for habits no parent worries over. A classmate who teaches middle school pointed out that this finding was about teenagers, not toddlers, and that small averages can hide children who are affected more.
The question changed from whether screens are bad to what Maya's screen time is replacing.
What Changed in My Thinking
The seminar did not tell me screens are harmless, and it did not tell me I was harming Maya. It changed the question. The pediatric guidance worries most about what screen time displaces, and Maya's tablet hour mostly replaces time when the adults in her house are exhausted, not time they would spend reading to her. That suggests the bigger issue is our evenings, not the tablet.
I also realized that the developmental research we studied in Unit 2 points the same way. The view that children learn through interaction with more skilled people (Vygotsky, 1978) explains why the guidelines emphasize watching together. A show Maya watches alone teaches less than the same show watched with her grandmother asking her questions in Spanish.
What Arguing the Other Side Taught Me
The debate format mattered more than I expected. Because I had been assigned to argue harm, I went looking for the strongest evidence I could find, and I found that most of it came from news stories that cited studies I could not locate, or from studies of teenagers applied to toddlers. When the other group presented, their best point was not that screens are fine but that a study showing an association cannot show what caused it. A father in that group said his son watches more television on the days the family is under the most stress, and that the stress, not the television, might be what researchers were measuring. I had never thought about that possibility, and it applies directly to my house, where the tablet comes out on the hardest days.
Changes at Home
I am making three changes. First, on most days, my mother or I will watch with Maya for at least part of her screen time and talk about what she sees. Second, the tablet stays out of her room at bedtime, since sleep is one of the things screens can displace. Third, I will stop measuring my parenting, and my own guilt, by minutes of screen time and pay more attention to how much talking and play fill the rest of her day.
What I Still Want to Know
Most research on screens and young children shows associations, not causes, and families who use more screens may differ in many other ways. I would like to know whether any study has followed young children over time while accounting for those differences, and what it found about language development in particular, since that is what I care about most for Maya as she learns two languages at once.
References
Council on Communications and Media. (2016). Media and young minds. Pediatrics, 138(5), Article e20162591. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-2591
Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use. Nature Human Behaviour, 3(2), 173-182. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
The Purdue Global PS220 Unit 6 instructions
After the Unit 6 seminar, PS220 usually asks you to reflect on a debate about a question in child development. State the position you brought and why you held it. Describe the sources and arguments that challenged or supported it, reporting what the research actually found and noting its limits, such as the age of the children studied or a correlational design. Say what shifted in your thinking and tie that shift to theory from earlier units. Describe practical changes you will make, if the topic touches your life, and the question you still have. Use I throughout, name peers only by their roles, and reference each source you discuss. Those who skipped the live session may build the same reflection from the assigned readings and classmates' posts.
Inside the PS220 Unit 6 example
The reflection opens with the writer's guilt about long shifts and a tired grandmother. The debate section describes arguing the harm side, then reading the pediatric policy's age-based advice and its focus on displaced sleep, play and conversation, and the adolescent analysis with a teacher's caution that it concerned teenagers, under a highlighted line changing the question to what the screen replaces. A section on arguing the other side records weak sources and a father's point about stress. The change section applies Vygotsky to watching together. Three household changes follow, and the close asks for longitudinal evidence on language. The writer's changes are modest on purpose, matching what the evidence can support rather than what the headlines claimed.
Where the points sit in the PS220 Unit 6 rubric
Instructors reward reflections that show reasoning change in response to evidence. The starting position should be stated honestly, and the sources described accurately, with their limitations, such as age range or correlational design, rather than reduced to headlines. Connecting the debate to course theory, such as learning through interaction, shows integration. Practical changes earn credit when they follow from the evidence. A remaining question tied to research methods demonstrates that the student is thinking like a developmental researcher. Classmates appear by role, and the writing remains first-person and specific. Accurate citations for the sources discussed complete the reflection. Admitting that a debate assignment exposed weak sources on one's own side is a strong sign of reflection.
PS220 Unit 6 help: mistakes that cost points
Many reflections pick a side at the start and simply restate it at the end with more examples. Others report headlines rather than what studies actually measured. Students often apply findings about teenagers to toddlers, or the reverse, without noting the difference. The connection to course theory is frequently missing. Practical changes are sometimes extreme, such as banning all screens, which the evidence does not require. Before submitting, write your position before and after the seminar, describe each source by what it studied and found, note one limitation and list changes that match the strength of the evidence. That discipline keeps a personal topic from turning into an opinion piece.
Get a PS220 Unit 6 example written to your instructions
Send what the seminar covered, your notes and the prompt with its rubric. A custom reflection connects the debate to your own view. It is free the first time and arrives within 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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PS220 Unit 6 questions, answered
What if I missed the PS220 seminar?
Most sections offer a written alternative; check its instructions.
What do pediatric guidelines say about screens?
The American Academy of Pediatrics emphasizes family media plans and limits for young children rather than one rule for all ages.
Should the reflection take a side?
It should state where you came down and why.
Where can I find a free PS220 Unit 6 sample paper?
The complete PS220 Unit 6 reflection is on this page, on a seminar debate about screens and a composite parent's changed view.
What question replaced guilt in the PS220 Unit 6 sample?
What the child's screen time displaces, such as sleep, play or conversation, rather than whether screens are bad in general.