Research suggests that screens can negatively impact a child's brain development and function from 0-6 years old. Here are some frequently asked questions about screen use in early childhood.
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What are the screen use guidelines for children from the World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics?
Birth – Age 2: Screen Use is Not Recommended (phones, tablets, TV, computers-avoid all)
Age 2-5 years: No more than 1 hour a day, less is better
After age 2, introduce high quality children’s programming and media; watch with your child, ask them questions and explain what they are seeing.
What are the negative effects of screen use for children and what does the research say?
Screen use is defined as viewing or using anything with a screen, such as TV, DVDs, movies, computers, phones, video games, or iPad.
According to research the neurobiological risks associated with early screen use are as follows:
Screens distract a child from the emotional experience they are having in the moment and bypass the internal skills needed for emotional growth.
Screens diminish real world experiences and interactions necessary for crucial brain building and connections.
A child’s brain is not wired to learn from a two-dimensional screen, this disrupts physical, social and emotional development.
Impaired executive function
Attention and sleep problems (suppresses melatonin levels)
Self-regulation and emotional disorders
Decrease in or delayed development of white brain matter (the role of white brain matter is to provide communication between processing centers of the brain, helps problem solve and focus attention)
Disruption to attachment between child and care givers
Persuasive design promotes dependency on external entertainment
Delayed language and vocabulary development
Type 2 Diabetes
Obesity
Cardiovascular disease
Nearsightedness and other eye ailments
Fatigue and reduction of concentration
Can alter the structuring of the brain
What is the difference between active screen use and passive screen use?
Screen time is defined as viewing or use of anything with a screen, including TV, phones, tablets, computers, video games. Screen use is a SEDENTARY activity, meaning little to no movement or physical activity.
Passive screen use: screen time with little to no interaction from user
Active screen use: involves interaction with content by cognitive or physical engagement. Also denotes a focus of conscious use with clear intention for improving lives and connecting with others.
Irrespective of value, whether educational or content based, the cause for concern from researchers is the amount of daily screen time for young children and how that impacts the development of executive function. Current studies indicate that most children spend the greatest amount of time as passive screen viewers. The associations between screen time and health risks are reported to occur when screen use exceeds two hours a day.
Children learn best by moving and need to be actively engaged in their body and mind.
Why does screen use undermine and child’s sense of action and initiative and emotional well-being?
According to Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige (2018), a child’s social and emotional development is built over time and learned through many experiences and interactions and screen use limits those opportunities. The cumulative effect of technology replaces social interaction.
Screens are most commonly used to distract a child from the experience they are having at the moment whether that be stress, anxiety, frustration, a hard transition or boredom and the goal is to amuse, occupy or end distress-to take them somewhere else emotionally. It does work for the short term because screen interaction bypasses those emotional experiences. However, NOT going through them is detrimental to development and wellbeing.
Dismissing opportunities for a child to confront an emotion, such as frustration, prevents them from working through feelings in the present tense and gaining coping tools from life experience. Instead of looking inward for mental resources to cope, they turn to external sources to solve their negative feelings. This practice in these moments, accumulated over time, fails to produce emotional resilience.
When a child is on a screen there is a profound shift from acting to re-acting, moving to looking. This impacts a child’s initiative. Initiative is an important human capacity and propels a young child to further their progress of development whether that be with grabbing, crawling, standing or walking. Early screen use undermines this sense of action and produces a sense that action does not come from inside oneself but from an outside source therefore causing a child’s attention to shift from the initiative and ideas they construct themselves. This prohibits optimal brain development as full body, mind, senses and emotions are unnaturally inhibited.
Carlsson-Paige (2018) explains that play is the engine of development and provides a child with open ended, undefined parameters for cognitive processing as they bring their own needs and imagination to the experience. Screens give defined parameters, remove active participation and are composed of confined boundaries that do not promote creativity. Images and characters from screens do not allow a child to access their own inner psyche because outer influences have no reciprocal relationship with the child’s needs, life and emotions.
Children are active learners who construct their ideas through interacting with materials and screens are a passive experience. With screen viewing the inner life of imagination and emotion are affected by outside direction. Information cannot be poured into a child as one would an empty vessel, genuine learning takes place as children build knowledge through conceptualizing information not from repetition and rote methods.
The While We’re Waiting app can provide an opportunity for the emotional skill development needed to deal with emotions in the moment and provide tools for a lifetime.
What can parents do to promote healthy screen use habits?
Model healthy screen use behaviors:
Set clear boundaries for yourself with your phone; Ex. Never at dinner table, not while at park with child, not during certain hours of the day etc.
Explain to children what you are doing on your phone; Ex. If you have to check your email for work, say, “I have to check for an important message from my boss that I need to know about so I can do my job well.” or “I need to read this text message from a friend who needs help.”
Tell children how long you will be on a call or looking at a text or email. Then stick to that time.
Never use phone at dinner table
Create family rules about cell phone use
Choose to engage together, face to face, in times of boredom or while waiting
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