The effect of excessive screen time on brain development of 0-5’s
As an experienced parent coach helping families to avoid tech addiction, play, forms an enormous part of my work.
This is because research has shown that play is the child’s natural medium for self-expression and development and is essential for healthy brain development. Without a wide range of ways for a child to play their brain literally rewires differently and has less time to practice the essential motor skills, social skills and language skills necessary in order to thrive in this fast-paced digital world.
Physical contact can help to calm the child's nervous system and hearing the parent’s voice reading or singing to them builds healthy connections in the brain helping the child to feel truly secure and loved. Although there are ways of using a tablet to support the parent to sing and play, the main connection must be through the eyes and facial expressions of the parent. Rather than glowing characters that will, over time, become more appealing because of the high levels of dopamine secreted in the brain thanks to the blue light from the screen.
A more enriching ‘3D’ experience can always be found out in nature: hearing the sounds of animals, feeling the wind on their face and the uneven ground under their feet, helping their brains to learn how to navigate and experience new sensations. Often parents find it incredibly hard to encourage their children to go outdoors rather than be inside comfortably wrapped up, watching a screen.
When I work with parents my initial thoughts that I will often discuss are:
“When your child is on a tablet is this taking time away from them playing with you, and developing into a healthy, happy human being or not?”
If the parent needs some time out to regain their sanity and would otherwise be shouting at their children then a screen could possibly be the answer or part of a family rhythm at particularly challenging times in the day e.g before dinner when they’re hungry and getting tired and while the parent is trying to cook.
When children know that there’s a certain point in the day for tech but then it goes away as part of a family framework, tech begins to serve the parents without it dictating the emotional and physical environment of the whole household.
Attachment studies have shown that a child needs eye contact to feel noticed, valued and therefore loved and secure so if parents are spending an average of 2hours and 48 minutes of their leisure time on a phone as opposed to 18 min in 2005, surely this has an impact on the growing infant’s sense of self-worth and brain’s development.
Their brains are growing faster from 0-2 years than any other period in their lives, so it's incredibly important to foster a healthy connection with the child during this time so they know they have an adult who cares deeply about them in this uncertain world, know they matter.
There are studies to show, long amounts of screen time before bed affects the quality of sleep, which in turn affects development. Studies also show that constant scrolling as opposed to creating or competitive gaming on a screen affects attention, language and memory. In contrast, studies have shown that learning a musical instrument improves the structure and organisation of the brain's white matter - the healing power of play!
It’s now down to us as parents to consciously cultivate a family framework that has a clear and identifiable use for tech in the home. I would encourage parents to think about how they manage their own tech and sleep habits as children watch and mirror the behaviour that surrounds them. For more information about finding playful solutions to manage tech and foster emotional health get in touch x or book a Coaching session today. Debi x