Appropriate use of devices like tablets are controversial for children. On one hand, there are those who believe they are a useful educational tool, and that it’s important to keep kids up to date with technology. There are also devices like e-readers which aim to increase access to reading material.
Then, there are those who call technology use as addictive as heroin, and worry that it is causing far more problems for small children than outweigh the benefits.
It is a constant struggle. I myself am not a huge fan of the effect of device use on my own children and recently have cut it way back, after seeing changes in behaviour that concerned me. Even games like Minecraft, which were described to me by other parents as ‘electronic Lego,’ have caused endless conflict. It really does appear addictive. There is a non-stop stream of chat, which doesn’t really seem to give them a minute to think, let alone creatively, and the motion is fast and frantic, which appears to overstimulate them and cause them stress, when they are asked to disconnect.
They started to cut corners in terms of household interaction, and lose interest in other games (both on and offline). They seemed to be waking unnecessarily early and asking if they could play, almost before they said good morning.
Schools have clubs for certain online games, which seem to offer credibility to them and kids protest the educational benefits, without showing any.
My digital rules seem pre-historic compared to some households. I don’t hand out the wifi password as of right to children who come to my house, there are no devices allowed in bedrooms (even to charge) and I do use a timer to keep a lid on use. However, it is easy to become distracted, or fall into the trap of using them as digital babysitters when you are pressed for time.
Recently I came upon an article which reiterated that the most tech-cautious parents are tech designers and engineers themselves – even Steve Jobs was a notoriously low-tech parent, along with Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Amazon creator Jeff Bezos and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.
Despite the sales pitches, us parents intuitively understand that glowing screens are having a negative effect on kids. We see the temper tantrums when the devices are taken away and the sporadic attention spans when children are not constantly stimulated by their hyper-arousing devices. Then, more alarmingly, we see children who become bored, apathetic, and dissatisfied when they are not ‘plugged in.’
Dr. Peter Whybrow, director of neuroscience at UCLA, calls screens “electronic cocaine” and Chinese researchers call them “digital heroin.” Recent brain imaging research is showing that they affect the brain’s frontal cortex — which controls executive functioning, including impulse control — in exactly the same way that cocaine does. Technology is so hyper-arousing that it raises dopamine levels unnaturally high – like an addict after a fix.
So, our kids brains on Minecraft looks like brains of those on drugs. No wonder we have a hard time peeling kids from their screens. Furthermore, numerous clinical studies show that screens increase depression, anxiety and aggression.
One 2013 study found that the 8- to 10 year-olds surveyed spent an average of 8 hours a day with various digital media while teenagers spend 11 hours in front of screens. One in three kids are using tablets or smartphones before they can talk and 18 percent of university-age internet users suffer from tech addiction.So how do we keep our children from crossing this line? It’s not easy. Schools are asking parents to provide devices earlier and earlier, and once they are in the home, they are hard to police.
Work hard to keep your kids playing with Lego not Minecraft, real balls instead of online games and reading actual books rather than e-readers, particularly before the age of 12.Children’s healthy development involves social interaction, creative imaginative play and an engagement with the real, natural world. Unfortunately, the immersive and addictive world of screens dampens and stunts those developmental processes.
As parents, model good digital behaviour – kids learn by watching. Turn off your phone during meal times and have tech-free periods during other family time.
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