Children who live in today’s digital age experience
Children who live in today’s digital age experience
Blog Article
Children who live in today’s digital age experience the introduction of screen media (screen time) early as an impact of the use of devices by parents and adults around them.
According to Unicef – the United Nations ‘ International Children’s emergency fund-many parents use screen time on their devices to entertain or distract their children while they attend to other needs.
This method does work. Screens attract children’s attention in a way that almost nothing else can, so parents can take a little break.
However, what impact do screens have on children’s brains and how long should they spend watching screens?
Spending excessive time in front of a screen in children has an impact on difficulty concentrating, lack of mental clarity, and thoughts that keep jumping from one thing to another is often associated with a condition called “popcorn brain” (popcorn brain).
Popcorn brain is a term used to refer to the condition of the child’s brain that is accustomed to the screen of a digital device that constantly responds to strong stimuli until
the brain explodes.
The enormous dependence of children on screen media has generated serious public health problems because it can harm their cognitive, linguistic and socio-emotional growth.
Parents ‘ screen time has unwittingly been a powerful predictor factor against a child’s screen time behavior. Screen time refers to the time a child spends in front of a screen, be it a movie theater screen, smartphone, tablet, computer, or other screen that displays moving images.
Patricia Kuhl, one of the world’s leading brain scientists and conducts experiments with more than 4,000 babies every year. “What we found is that small babies, who are under one year old, do not learn from machines.”
In fact, Patricia states that if parents show interesting videos, the difference in learning is remarkable. “You get genius learning from living humans, and you don’t get any learning at all from machines.”
Perhaps that is why the World Health Organization advises no screen time for babies under 2 years of age and no more than an hour of screen time a day for those aged 2 to 4 years.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that children under the age of 2 not be given screen time at all. At the age of 5 and over, the child can be introduced to a slightly longer screen time, but still be limited.
To limit screen time, parents can set free areas of the device, such as the dining room and bedroom. Parents can apply a controller application on the device to set daily time limits on the child’s device.