The Complete Guide for Parents: Effects of overuse of screens on children’s brains.
Almost every child has a mobile, a tablet, or maybe one of them has control over a TV. Some children eat food while watching cartoons or video shows on their mobile phones. This is immediately thought of as a solution to prevent children making fuss over food, but in the long term, this has a negative effect on their brains and behavior.
Parents often ask questions such as “How much harm can screen time do?” and “What about a little bit of educational content?” Let’s analyze this in detail.
Negative effects of extensive screen viewing.
1. An impact on cognitive development.
A child’s brain growing rapidly when it is younger. The child actively learns through play, touching things or socializing with the world around it. But when a child is all day staring at a screen:
- Very slow language development because there seem to be less real conversations.
- Reduced ability to solve problems because there is already a ready answer on the screen when his activity is required for games or puzzles.
- Little attention span for speedily changing pictures and sounds.
Example: A child watches cartoons on mobile all day long, hence, found difficulty concentrating on a book.
2. Obstacles in social and emotional development
Interaction among children and playing with family and friends teaches social skills and emotional intelligence. But with too much screen time:
- The child develops much less empathy because he is not practicing reading others’ emotions.
- The child is likely to be angry or irritable because he is used to higher stimulation all the time.
- Fewer opportunities to learn self-control.
Example: When a child fights with another while playing, it teaches him to control himself, while the screen only shows “fun” and “win.”
3. Cause negative effects on physical health
- Eyes may be strained, blurred, and dry with excessive use.
- Pain in the back and neck is often caused by improper posture while using screens.
- An increase in weight and fitness-related diseases often corresponds to reduced physical activity: on-screen exposure.
4. Effect on sleep
- Blue light emitting from screens suppresses melatonin, the sleep hormone.
- Increased wake times in children.
- It is not deep sleep and leads to fatigue and irritability the following morning.
Note: If a child looks at a mobile before sleeping, he often does not fall asleep quickly.
5. Effect on attention and learning ability
- Children are unable to concentrate on school or books.
- Difficulty studying or learning starts occurring.
Have any benefits come from screen time?
Not everything is completely negative; of course, if limited use of the screens comes with the right content, there would be some benefits.
- Helpful Educational Materials: Programs that allow children to learn colors, shapes, numbers, and alphabets.
- Learning Access: In some households where there are fewer books or resources, a child would learn new things from screens.
- Co-viewing: Parents view with their children, explain, and end up getting better effects for screen learning.
But remember: Nothing actually replaces real play, conversation, and experiences.
Recommended guidelines on screen time
- 0-2-year-old children: These children should not be given screens at all.
- Children aged 2-4 years: Not more than 1 hour screen time a day.
It is worth noting that this suggestion has been given by organizations like WHO and AAP.
Strategies to foster healthy development
1. Real priorities should come first
- Allow children to play outdoors.
- Provide them with activities such as blocks, puzzles, and drawing.
- Tell a story and read books every day.
2. Sit together when screens are in use
- Watch cartoons or educational shows with the child.
- Discuss what you’ve seen- “why was the dog crying?” this will assist the child in understanding better.
3. Set limits
- Establish times and places where screens are available: “No screens before bed.”
- Install necessary parental controls onto mobile devices.
4. Be an example
- If the parents are using mobiles all around, then the child would do just like them.
- Reduce the use of screens when children are around and encourage real-time activities.
10 quick tips for parents
- More play time than screen time.
- Disconnect the screen an hour before bedtime.
- No screen use during mealtime.
- Give children a choice Cartoons or story?
- Do not reward or punish by using screens.
- One or two days a week will be free of screens.
- Encourage children in outdoor games.
- Keep the room lights on during screen time to avoid putting strains on the eyes.
- Praise a child in good behavior without giving screens.
- Adapt healthy screen habits yourself.
Conclusion
In today times, it is near to impossible to barr oneself completely from screens, but balance is important. For a specific time, children are subject to beneficial effects when it comes to educational benefits by limiting and monitoring screens. Too much time on the screens, however, can have negative effects such as language, brain, and sleep development as well as social skills and physical health. Therefore, to prioritize all other children’s real experiences, play, conversations, and books, that is the parent work. Remember: screens will never replace the fun of time spent on your lap, your stories, and games.
