~ Continued from Saturday's Weekender ~
In our first instalment, we looked at the growing trend of children spending hours a day staring at digital screens. This research-based conversation continues...
Without the physical learning experiences, our structure as human beings is damaged. Our capacity to learn can be observed in adults who are suffering from brain injuries. Only extensive therapy can "rewire" needing to complete their cognitive development experiences. Without the proper "foundation of cognitive skills, academic progress can be a difficult and frustrating struggle."
Digital media removes real life physical experiences. I've watched a three-year old on her iPad stack a series of digital images correctly in height order. However, she couldn't reproduce the action with a series of physical 3-D bars. Why? The skill required involves learned spatial relations. Digital images do not allow the brain to touch and feel the physical size and shape of the bars. The changes in synapse connections need sensory feedback to make the correct connections between the hands and the neurological nerve pathway.
When it comes to brain development, it seems time on the playground is the most valuable activity we can give our children. "The experience of play changes the connections of the neurons at the front end of your brain," says Sergio Pellis, a researcher at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. "And without play experience, those neurons aren't changed," he says. It is those changes in the prefrontal cortex during childhood that help wire up the brain's executive control centre, which has a critical role in regulating emotions, making plans and solving problems, Pellis says. So play, he adds, is what prepares a young brain for life, love and even schoolwork.
But the brain must do its own analysis and processing without the intervention of digital technology.
As parents, we all want our children to succeed and be the best they can be. It certainly seems that digital media do little to enhance their development.
Nine research supported reasons to restrict children's access to digital devices
1. Stimulation to a developing brain caused by overexposure to technologies (cell phones, internet, iPads, TV) has been shown to be associated with executive functioning and attention deficit, cognitive delays, impaired learning, increased impulsivity and decreased ability to self-regulate, e.g. tantrums (Small 2008, Pagini 2010).
2. Technology use restricts movement, which can delay physical development (HELP EDI Maps 2013). Use of technology under the age of 12 years is detrimental to child development and learning (Rowan 2010).
3. TV and video game use correlates with increased obesity (Tremblay 2005). Largely due to obesity, 21st century children may be the first generation many of whom will not outlive their parents (Professor Andrew Prentice, BBC News 2002).
4. 75% of children ages 9 and 10 years are sleep deprived {due to unmonitored digital device use} to the extent that their grades are detrimentally impacted (Boston College 2012).
5. Technology overuse is implicated as a causal factor in rising rates of child depression, anxiety, attachment disorder, attention deficit, autism, bipolar disorder, psychosis and problematic child behaviour (Bristol University 2010, Mentzoni 2011, Shin 2011, Liberatore 2011, Robinson 2008).
6. Violent media content can cause child aggression (Anderson, 2007). Young children are increasingly exposed to rising incidence of physical and sexual violence in today's media. "Grand Theft Auto V" portrays explicit sex, murder, rape, torture and mutilation, as do many movies and TV shows.
7. Children who can't pay attention can't learn. High speed media content can contribute to attention deficit, as well as decreased concentration and memory, due to the brain pruning neuronal tracks to the frontal cortex (Christakis 2004, Small 2008).
8. One in 11 children ages 8-18 years are addicted to technology (Gentile 2009).
9. In May of 2011, the World Health Organization classified cell phones (and other wireless devices) as a category 2B risk (possible carcinogen) due to radiation emission (WHO 2011) "Children are more sensitive to a variety of agents than adults as their brains and immune systems are still developing, so you can't say the risk would be equal for a small adult as for a child" (Globe and Mail 2011).
