Alarm over screen time spend

Dr Hassan Mirza -
Consultant, Child & Adolescent,Psychiatrist at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital -

Mobile screen media use or screen time is becoming a dominant form of leisure time habit and more often central to the lives of millions of young people. Even though benefits like improved reading recognition, academic skills, and vocabulary and expressive language associated with screen media use for preschoolers, it is also associated with increased risk of multiple physiologic, psychosocial, and other developmental problems.

Studies have found that mobile screen media use, which refers to children’s use of mobile screens, such as mobile phones, electronic tablets, handheld computers or personal digital assistants, begins at a very tender age.

According to a recent report in Health News, children perform better on mental and academic tests when they limit their screen time to below two hours per day, eat right, sleep well, and stay physically active. But the fact is that the time that children and adolescents spend on it has reached an alarming rate.

The term ‘screen time’ is used to denote both the fixed screens and mobile media screen device use.

Inescapable

Most research agrees that although specific screen time limits are dated, there does come a point where excessive device use has negative impacts, affecting sleep, health and mood. A recent study revealed that “adolescents spending a small amount of time on electronic communication were the happiest”, though its suggestion of one hour of daily screen time for teenagers is laughable to anyone trying to parent one. “No doubt, screen media has become an inescapable

reality with today’s young generation as the modern technology provides endless hours of amusement to children and adults alike”, says Dr Hassan Mirza, Consultant, Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital.

At the same time, such limitless quantity of digital entertainment has made millions, sometimes even not being aware, that the overexposure of its use makes them addicts, he says.

Is it really A good thing?

“Surely”, says Dr Mirza, “easy access to the Internet through our tablets and smartphones have made it easier for us to access educational materials and stay in touch with friends and family living miles away”.

However, the perils of screen addiction significantly outweigh its advantages. In children and adolescents, extended exposure to digital media has been linked to delayed cognitive development, and may also hinder the formation of healthy physiological and psychological resilience.

According to Dr Mirza, this can lead to a wide range of challenges including social difficulties and trouble making friends, poor attention and concentration resulting in poor performance in schools, and in more severe cases, it leads to irritability and aggression. “We have dealt with cases in which youngsters behaving with rage and destroying furniture and household items after the parents took away the gaming console on which they

were spending endless hours on”, reveals

Dr Mirza.

Nevertheless, a big part of the blame goes to parents who expose their children to digital gadgets since they were toddlers. Parents should be aware of what their kids are doiing, he adds.

Similarly, parents themselves in many cases, are addicted to their smartphones and do not communicate or spend sufficient time with their children.

“In such cases, their wards observer this behaviour and model them as far as the use of smartphone is concerned”, he points out.

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However, despite the danger that overexposure to smartphones can pose for young brains, there are a lot of benefits to letting little ones use technology.

In a report in Psychology Today, Liraz Margalit opines that once a child is over the age of two, feel free to allow limited screen time -- think an hour, max, of playing with tablets and iPhones each day -- to help develop coordination, hone quick reactions, and even sharpen language skills.

“As with all the other toys and tools available to your developing child, smartphone use should stay in moderation, and never stand in for human interaction or real-world face time”, she opines.

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American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents limit screen time to less than two hours for children age five or under.

But they are more flexible for older children and teenagers, focusing more on screen-time activities rather than setting time limits.

Eventually, asks Dr Mirza, can we really blame the child whose parent chose a shortcut and clicked on a smartphone-told story instead of actually reading the story for the child?

“This has become a common scenario at bed time, and the end result is a child who ends up being lazy rather than processing the words being spoken and visualizing pictures and exerting a mental effort”, he adds.