Parents often worry about the amount of time their child is spending on electronics and how it is affecting their social skills, motivation, attention, emotional regulation, and neurological functioning.
Given the easy access to multiple modes of media (TV, ipads, computers, phones, etc.), electronics have become the “go to” in quiet moments. Screen time has also become the primary source of information and entertainment for children.
Hence, these concerns are valid, particularly in light of the American Pediatric Association’s estimate that children in the U.S. spend an average of 7 hours a day on media devices.
The Impact of Screen Time on Children
A critical question to ask is whether screen time affects neurological functioning — which can affect psychological and behavioral functioning. And, if so, what is the impact?
There has been a significant amount of research conducted on the effects of too much screen time in recent years, that has found several possible side effects.
The Social and Emotional Effects
Social and emotional side effects include:
- Increase in stress.
- Increase in time to complete tasks.
- Increase in off-task time.
- Increase in anxiety with no access to electronics.
- Increase in frustration and decrease in commitment to deeper, more challenging tasks and problem-solving.
- Increase in impulsivity.
- Decrease in emotional regulation.
- Decrease in ability to recognize facial emotions and non-verbal cues.
The Neurobiological Effects on the Developing Brain
Screen addiction can have the following impact on the developing brain:
- Repeated release of dopamine, increasing pleasure and addiction.
- Chronic need for stimulation and instant gratification.
- Decrease in focus and attention span.
- Increase in arousal.
- Blue light – Shut down of the pineal gland that releases melatonin (a natural hormone to induce sleep).
- Sleep deprivation: poor sleep and less sleep.
- Sensory overload.
Other Negative Effects of Screen Addiction
Screen addiction can also lead to:
- Grey matter shrinkage (where processing occurs).
- Frontal lobe shrinkage (where executive functioning occurs, such as planning and organizing).
- Striatum shrinkage (where reward pathways and impulse control of socially unacceptable behaviors occur).
- Insula damage (where our capacity to develop empathy and compassion occurs).
- Loss of integrity of white matter (these are the connective pathways for communication within the brain).
- Impaired cognitive functioning.
- Reduced number of dopamine receptors, which is linked to depression.
Impact on Child Development
The research strongly suggests that human-to-human, hands-on interaction is the most beneficial for a child’s socio-emotional development. Too much screen time could impair empathy, communication, cognitive functioning, emotional regulation, sleep, attention, and brain development.
Perhaps the next important step is for parents, teachers, and professionals to be better informed on how to manage screen time for their children from infancy to young adulthood.
Unfortunately for parents trying to reduce the negative impact of screen time on their children’s development by managing electronics, restricting their screen time can often create tension in the household and damage their relationship.
Impact on Parenting
Most children will be reticent to lower their screen usage, which can create tension in their relationship with their parents. Common scenarios include:
Power Struggles
Parents can experience significant power struggles with children regarding time usage and content of screen time. Power struggles create an impasse and are debilitating to the family system.
Family Conflict
Parents can experience significant conflict, including arguments, yelling, rule-breaking, manipulation, and defiance around screen time.
Marital/Co-Parenting Conflict
Sometimes parents disagree on the rules, boundaries, limits, and consequences related to screen time, which can lend itself to marital and/or co-parenting conflicts. This also sends mixed messages to the children, thereby fostering further child push-back.
Negative Feelings
Parents and children can experience an increase in helplessness, anger, anxiety, and frustration. This can amplify the need for power and control by both parties, thereby increasing the debilitating power struggles.
Loss of Trust and Communication
The power struggles, conflicts, and need for control can decrease trust and positive communication between parents and children.
Disengagement
Many parents and children may withdraw and disengage from each other, creating a tense or even hostile home environment.
Tips and Tools to Reduce Screen Time
There are ways to decrease power struggles, family conflicts, and helplessness by restricting your child’s screen time in healthy ways. Here are some possibilities:
Sleep
- The National Sleep Foundation recommends 9 hours of sleep a night.
- Enforce lights and electronics off for a sufficient 8-9 hours of sleep.
Time
- The American Medical Association recommends only 1-2 hours of screen time a day.
- Create electronic free zones: meals, car rides, bedtime, HW (media free), school, etc.
- Create 10-15 minute breaks for your child when working for thirty minutes to one hour at a stretch on the computer (brain re-set).
Parenting
- Disengage from power struggles.
- Set clear and consistent rules and expectations (inconsistency leads to intermittent reinforcement, which is a powerful phenomenon for maintaining and increasing unwanted behavior).
- Co-parent Agreements: If there are 2 or more parents, they should agree about the rules, limits, and consequences, and enforce them equally.
- Use positive reinforcement in conjunction with appropriate consequences for compliance and non-compliance.
- Provide the research articles and facts to your child to read, so that they are informed and educated and don’t think you are being arbitrary.
- Encourage your child to participate in conversations about the pros and cons of electronics.
- Organize and facilitate extracurricular activities, sports, hobbies, and social get-togethers as much as possible.
- Increase family time: 30-60 minutes of electronic free, FUN, family time daily.
Final Thoughts
In sum, the research suggests that excessive screen time has a direct and negative effect on frontal lobe structure and functioning, and can also be addictive given the changes in dopamine functioning and receptors.
Since this area of a child’s brain undergoes critical development until young adulthood, it makes sense that parents and professionals are concerned about the mass consumption of electronics by children.
Parents, schools, pediatricians, professionals, and researchers need to continue to pay close attention to and intervene with screen time in structured and consistent ways across domains to foster the healthy bio-psycho-social development of our children.
References
2. www.kappanonline.org/rosen-distracted-student-mind-attention