When a child is struggling to read, the tablet is usually the first thing parents blame. I understand why — it is the most visible change in how children spend their time. But after years of working with children who read well and children who do not, I have come to believe the question “is screen time bad?” is the wrong question. The better question is: what is the screen time replacing?

The new school year is almost here. And if you are like most parents in Trinidad and Tobago, you are already thinking about it — whether that looks like organising the school bag, buying new exercise books, or lying awake wondering whether this term is going to be different from the last one.