Is Technology Overload a Health Hazard?
In a world where 72% of iTunes' top-selling education programs are designed for preschoolers and elementary school kids, the (albeit limited) studies warning parents to monitor and discourage excessive and imbalanced use of screen-based technologies both in college and at home.
A recent report from the British Office for National Statistics found that excessive use of video games and social websites may have adverse health risks and might adversely impact the "well-being" and happiness of our children. Additionally, the report's conclusions were published only days after Professor of Pharmacology at Oxford University, Baroness Greenfield, claimed that today's children's brains are failing to grow properly due to over-exposure into screen-based technology at a young age.
The ONS study reported that children in the united kingdom who had access to computer games, game consoles, and also the internet for less than one hour during the normal school day reported greater well-being than those who employed these technologies for four hours or longer. The kids who were over-exposed were also at a greater risk for weight problems due to their lack of involvement in physical activities.
ONS also found that children who spent too much time chatting online were at a greater risk of experiencing undesirable harassment. "The anonymity of the net... eliminates the constraints that would ordinarily apply for what one might regard as human nature," Greenfield said on cyber-bullying.
Children using media from a young age externally build their identity, she explained, which then is determined by the moment-to-moment responses of others. This generation of children is at risk for obsessive personalities, bad self-control, short attention spans, and the inability to construct and invent basic social skills and emotional reactions, '' she cautioned. Dr. Warburton, the author of "Growing Up Fast and Furious," also asserts that emerging evidence indicates display use and abuse are linked to disrupted sleep patterns and attention deficit issues.
On the other hand, statistics also have found that video games and social media can help in kids' social development, and interactive games may promote children's learning, particularly compared to passive videos or tv. The ONS also recognized several benefits to moderate use of technology, like allowing shy kids to communicate and improving existing friendships. Recent statistics showed that only 6% of UK kids from 10-15 used online chatrooms or played on game consoles for over four hours each day.
According to Greenfield, however, over half of 13 to 17-year-olds in the UK spend over 30 hours each week with video games, computers, e-readers, cellular phones, and other screen-based technologies, and ONS reports that nearly 85% of children in England have access to a computer and the internet at home. Moreover, psychologist Wayne Warburton at Macquarie University reports that US teens are using displays, such as listening to music, for at least seven and a half hours each day out of school.
Addiction to technology was also among Greenfield's major concerns, though ONS reported only rare occurrences of it. Educators, however, report many disruptions brought on by social networking and media from the school setting and believe their pupils have smaller attention spans. What's more, a 2011 Cisco Connected World Technology Report found that given the choice between the internet, social activities, dating, music, and anything else, college students around the world, including in the US, said they place the best importance in their everyday lives on the internet.
Although reliable frameworks for proper amounts of screen-based technology use are restricted, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents discourage TV for children two and under and limit screen time for older children to less than two hours each day. Professor of psychology at California State University Larry Rosen also indicates the following ratio of screen time to other activities: 1 to 5 for very young children, 1 to 1 to pre-teens, 5 to 1 for teens. Rosen also recommends that parents monitor for negative signs like obsession or absence of attention.