Impact of Screen Time on Your Child’s Brain Development
In today’s digital era, it’s inevitable for anyone to avoid screen media. From children to adults and oldies, everyone spends a major part of their day on their phones or other digital devices. School-going students are most affected by the impact of screen time, as it hinders their reasonable, social, physical, linguistic, and emotional growth.
Limited screen media use can support a child’s brain development; however, excessive use can have severe negative effects. From entertainment to educational apps, children are exposed to screen media from early childhood. This makes it essential for parents to understand how much screen time is good for their children so that this beneficial aspect doesn’t become an obstacle to their well-rounded growth.
This blog will explore the adverse effects that too much screen time can have on a child’s brain development and some guidelines by which parents can establish a perfect balance between screen media and their holistic growth.
What is Screen Time?
Screen time is the time spent in front of a screen on a digital device by someone, whether the device is a smartphone, tablet, laptop, video game, etc. Engaging in video game play and online browsing to do homework, digital devices can be used for many positive activities. However, higher screen usage can be a dangerous effect on a child’s growth.
Negative Impacts of Screen Time on Children
1. Delayed Mental Development
Devices with screens can negatively affect a child’s mental development as excessive screen exposure by children can cause thinning of their brain’s cortex, which is related to critical thinking and reasoning. Their less exposure to real-world problems and interactions makes them slow-paced in different aspects like planning, memory, self-control, task completion, etc.
2. Hinder Linguistic Development
Another negative impact of screen time on children is delays in language development. Excessive screen time reduces the quality and quantity of interactions of children with parents, peers, caregivers, and others. Linguistic skills are essential to develop and can be achieved through constant practice and interactions. However, excessive screen exposure results in fewer social interactions.
3. Sleep Disruption
Screen time disrupts the sleep pattern of children leading to shortened sleep duration, which can gradually develop into insomnia with their age. Numerous studies have demonstrated that increased screen time is associated with poor sleep quality and behavioral patterns. The production of melatonin hormone is disrupted by the screen’s blue light, which is a sleep-regulating hormone. The last production of this hormone tricks the brain into thinking that night is daytime.
4. Eye Fatigue
Apart from hindering a child’s brain development, prolonged screen time causes eye fatigue, which might include symptoms like eye irritation, headache, redness, dryness, and eye pain. Blurred vision can be caused by this, which makes children difficulty to focus on a specific thing. Children blink less when their eyes are concentrated on the screen, which can lead to dry eyes.
5. Obesity
The replacement of physical activities like outdoor games and social interactions with the sedentary activity of screen time contributes to obesity in children. Children eat more unhealthy or junk food while watching TV, using phones, or playing video games. Additionally, prolonged sitting or sedentary positions can result in chronic neck and back problems in children.
6. Delayed Social-Emotional Growth
Excessive screen time might make it challenging for kids to establish and sustain relationships with their peers, parents, and mentors. Children who spend the majority of their time in isolation have low self-esteem and emotional intelligence. Poor academic performance, aggression, and rebellious behavior are other negative impacts of screen time.
How Parents Can Reduce the Impact of Screen Time on Children?
1. Setting Limits: Setting daily or weekly time limits for using screen media for children can effectively reduce the impact of screen time on children. Parents must set and implement strict limits of 2 or 3 hours per day for using digital devices for their children.
2. Offer Alternatives: Children with younger or older siblings or cousins are more likely to spend less time on screen media. However, for single children parents can reduce it by offering and engaging them in alternatives like puzzles, board games, crafting activities, outdoor games, etc.
3. Create Tech-Free Zones: Another effective way by which parents can reduce the impact of screen time on children is by creating tech-free zones at home, like no usage of any digital device during meals, before bedtime, right after school, etc.
Conclusion
Maintaining a perfect balance between screen time and physical time is essential for ensuring a child’s well-rounded development. Other than parents, teachers can play a crucial role in limiting excessive screen exposure by school-going students by teaching them about the negative impacts of screen time on a child’s brain development.
At Schools in Dehradun, we help parents connect with schools having learned teachers and a well-organized curriculum that teaches children the ways to maintain a healthy balance in today’s digital world. Be your child’s role model and allow us to secure their overall development while maintaining a perfect digital lifestyle.
Also read: Active Listening Skills: Helping Students Become Better Listeners in School 🎵📚