Just like tobacco and alcohol use, screen time can become an addiction that can damage your health and relationships if it’s not kept it check.
“Screen addiction is a group of behaviors that are negative, some negative outcomes, that can happen when we use too much technology during our day,” says Kathryn Lorenz, MD. “Prolonged use of watching TV, video games, scrolling through social media – all of that use acts like a digital drug for our brain.”
Screen use releases dopamine in the brain, which can negatively affect impulse control. Dr. Lorenz says studies have shown screen time affects the frontal cortex of the brain, similar to the effect of cocaine.
Similar to drugs, screen time sets off a pleasure/reward cycle that can have a negative impact of your life.
6 months to 2 years old: use screen time only for interactive social play with an adult or to video chat with loved ones
2 to 5 years old: no more than one hour of screen time
School-aged kids: no set time limit, but parents should limit social media use and gaming
“We want to still encourage an hour a day at least of physical activity,” Dr. Lorenz says. She recommends face-to-face play with other kids, reading books, playing non-video games, playing with toys, and learning life skills, like cooking with parents – all without screens.
“If our children are relying on screens for their entertainment, that could be a warning sign that they’re addicted to screens,” Dr. Lorenz says. “If there’s a struggle over stopping screen use, that’s usually a warning sign that they’re fairly addicted to it and their brains are really craving it.” Another concern, she says, is when children routinely choose screens over books, non-video games, and toys that they used to play with.
Increased aggressive behavior can also be a sign of screen time addiction in kids, especially in children younger than 6 who can’t yet tell the difference between reality and what’s virtual.
Set a Good Example
Part of limiting kids’ screen time is setting a good example as a parent.
Dr. Lorenz recommends monitoring and limiting your own screen usage. She adds, “Don't have TV on in the background, behind all of our activities. If I do that my kids are staring off between questions of their homework. So, model turning the TV off.”
Long-term Effects
In children, effects of screen addiction may include:
Speech delay
Cognitive impairment
Difficulty with problem-solving and creative thinking
Cyber bullying and exposure to predators
Body weight issues and poor bone health due to lack of physical activity, which later in life can add up to heart disease and other health conditions
Depression and anxiety
Being Involved in Your Kids’ Screen Time
Lorenz recommends that parents set screen time limits with their kids. And she advises staying involved in your kids’ screen use. This gives you the opportunity to teach what is appropriate and what to avoid.
“We can certainly play video games with our kids so we know what's actually in the content of them, because not all of the ratings equate to what we think our kids should really be viewing.”
She says, “Interacting with your kids (including during screen time) is going to make them more likely to talk to you, to tell you what they've learned from the internet or from their games.”
Screen addiction is a group of behaviors that are negative, some negative outcomes that can happen when we use too much technology during our day. So prolonged use of watching TV, video games, scrolling through social media all of that use acts like a digital drug for our brain. It releases the dopamine in our brain and that can negatively impact our impulse control. And there have been studies that show that it actually affects the frontal cortex in much the same way as cocaine can affect our brain. So there's just a pleasure reward cycle that is going to end up causing some negative outcomes for our day to day life.
Starting at ages zero to six months we really recommend no screen time if at all possible., Between six months and two years we recommend only some video chatting so that way it's an interactive social thing with the grandparents or other loved ones. There's really not optimal educational sites and use for internet before the age of two. We also really encourage interactive play during those years and not just plopping kids down in front of TVs. Then between the ages of two and five we recommend one hour if possible to condense it into one hour of quality screen time of any kind. That should be viewed and interacted with the adult so that kids are getting more out of that and they're still learning interaction and social verbal cues. They're going to learn more language in general. And basically it's a much better way for their brain to develop at that age. Between the ages of two to five we also recommend one to two hours of physical play every day. So that's also a big part of learning and that's usually done with other children, and parents, and interaction.
For the ages of school age kids there's not really a set time limit that's recommended for screen use since we use it all day long at school. There's probably in almost every class now there's digital textbooks. So a lot of it comes down to limiting the social media use gaming and just regular video shows for entertainment. So we want to limit the, set some time limits with parents and kids and come to an agreement on some of those. We want to still encourage an hour a day at least of physical activity so that could be part of like if they're in a sport already that's fine, that's great. We want them to be outside playing. We want them to play face to face with kids. And then also, doing entertainment things that don't include screens. So, the old fashioned reading books, playing actual games, and using toys and learning life skills. So cooking with parents, learning crafts and other safety and life skills.
I'm a parent and so I am certainly not always the best model for screen use especially since I have a workstation right in the kitchen. And so, I'm staring at my computer for hours on end. I do try to take breaks. So there is a 20, 20, 20 rule where for every 20 minutes that you're spending staring at a screen you should take about 20 second visual rest so look at something that's 20 feet away for about 20 seconds. So give yourself a brain, a brain rest, and maybe let your kids do the same thing as they're working at the kitchen table doing the same thing behind you.
We could monitor our actual screen usage. Our phones will give us a weekly update and tell you how much more or less screen time you've used for the week. We recommend that you don't have TV on in the background. So we don't want that kind of playing 24 hours a day behind all of our activities. That's basically if I do that my kids are staring off between questions of their homework. So, trying to model turning that off.
If our children are relying on screens for their entertainment that could be a warning sign that they're addicted to screens. If they're choosing screens over books every time or over using all their games and other toys that they used to play with. If there's a struggle over stopping screen use that's usually a warning sign that they're fairly addicted to it and their brains are really craving it. If they are having more aggressive behavior that could be a sign that there's too much or somewhat inappropriate screen usage for their age group. There should be really no violent viewing for ages six and under because they can't distinguish between reality and what's virtual. So, even older children can have increased stress and aggression if they are seeing too much violence. So those are some of the symptoms.
Longterm ramifications starting at a very young age it could be as early as causing speech delay and some cognitive impairment. If we're using the screen way too many hours a day from toddler age on up through school age we're going to have possibly less problem solving skills, creative thinking, basic school work grades might suffer. There's going to be ramifications physically. So, the more screen use we have we are shown to have more body weight and poor bone health because we're not using our muscles. We could have more risk factors in the long run of our life for heart disease and other health conditions. There's more depression can happen if we're addicted to our screens all the time especially depending on the content that we're always viewing so depression. There could be anxiety and there's always room for other predators on the internet so there's cyber bullying and other safety issues that can cause some longterm psychological and otherwise affects.
Parents can decide what sounds appropriate for their children for their amount and quality for types of viewing and games for their children. They can set limits with their kids so there's a discussion of why this is important, what's it going to do in the long run for your health and wellbeing and our social interactions as a family. We can certainly model good behavior, not texting the person in the room next to us. Get up and do a face to face encounter with them.
We can certainly play the video games with our kids so we know what's actually in the content of them because not all of the ratings equate to what we think our kids should really be viewing. There's other parental controls that can be set on different devices. But basically interacting with your kids is going to make them more likely to talk to you, to tell you what they've learned from the internet or from their games. What's their take on it? Is it causing them any kind of concerning feelings? So, there's teachable moments for many times if your child views something that was probably a little bit inappropriate.
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