They are barely a year old and we already give babies a screen to entertain them. It is common to see them reach adolescence more hyperactive than normal and with an irritable and listless mood. The intensive use of new technologies has a cost.
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Grumpy, insomniac, nervous and even answering. It is possible that who more and who less intuits that screens speed up children . However, what we can sometimes overlook is how the intense use of these technologies is making our little ones more apathetic. The mood of the younger generations is changing and we are not always aware of it.
We notice it in primary classrooms and especially in secondary ones. Irritability is almost the order of the day in some of those children who have trouble relating . We also appreciate him in his ability to carry out academic tasks, in his limitations in withholding information, reasoning creatively, or solving simple problems.
Some say that we are raising the most tired and listless generation in history. As always happens in these subjects, it is not good to generalize, it is true. There are always great exceptions, there are also adolescents who are far ahead of us and who champion that population nucleus most concerned about our planet and social causes.
However, and from a psychological and clinical level, we are witnessing how children between 9 and 15 years old already show anxiety disorders , sleep disturbances, depressive or bipolar disorders . There are those who point out that behind these conditions would actually be the effect of an intensive and inappropriate use of new technologies.
We analyze it.
Screens speed kids up and make them grumpy – for what reason?
The data, at least, is striking. According to Common Sense Media, almost half of children under the age of 8 have their own tablet and spend an average of 2.5 hours on it . However, the American Pediatric Society recommends that children between the ages of 2 and 8 should spend no more than an hour a day; always with an adult in front of them and never while eating.
However, the daily reality is different. We know that children under 3 years of age use these devices daily for games and entertainment . It is an age in which manual interaction and social interaction are key, we let our little ones become lonely digital natives at an age when the brain needs other types of stimuli.
It should be noted, obviously, that new technologies are not in themselves a problem. As long as they are put to good use, they are powerful allies for knowledge. Now, the problem is in the amount of time that children spend using them.
The researcher Domingues-Montanari explains to us in a study that our minors spend more than three hours a day with their mobile phones or tablets.
What consequences does all this have for our children? Actually multiple. Because screens speed up children and also, they become more irritable.
Mood dysregulation and heavy screen use
We are seeing more diagnoses of attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity , anxiety disorders, major depression or even childhood bipolarity appear in recent years . Now, it seems that a good part of these conditions disappear when children are subjected to a “technological fast”.
That is, the dysregulation of the mood disappears when the use of electronic screens is reduced or eliminated . This cerebral hyperactivity associated with the intense use of screens therefore has serious effects on behavior and mood. Thus, research works such as those carried out at the University of Pennsylvania support this same relationship.
It has been seen that when a child spends more than 1 hour a day from early ages to adolescence, it has a great impact on psychological well-being . They show less curiosity, self-control, have problems regulating emotions and limitations to socialize.
Something as simple as reducing the time of exposure to new technologies would directly improve the feeling of well-being of the little ones.
Screens speed up children because they sleep worse and worse
Children must sleep more hours than adults and yet their hours of rest are, in many cases, like those of an insomniac. They find it difficult to fall asleep and they do not get a deep, restful and sustained rest throughout the night.
What is this problem due to? The trigger is in the light of electronic screens . They act by hyperactivating the brain, reducing the release of melatonin and also producing serious hormonal imbalances.
Screens speed up kids and make them more irritable, listless, slow to react, and unmotivated.
Mobile phones and tablets deplete brain energy
Our children, and especially adolescents, live immersed in a digital universe that hijacks all their attention. And not only that. Their entire cognitive and visual focus works at 100% of their resources when they are exposed to the screens. In this way, when they return to the real world all their mental levels are at a minimum.
The intense use of mobiles and tablets devours all the attention and energy of our young people . Thus, when they leave the threshold of technology and turn off their devices, they have no motivation or courage to do their homework or go out to play.
Child addicted to screen reinforcements
Screens speed kids up and make them addicted to dopamine . What does this mean? Does it imply, for example, that a 6, 7, or 12-year-old may actually be an “addict”?
To understand this relationship we must understand something very basic. A good part of online games, as well as platforms like Tik Tok , generate dopamine release in the youthful brain.
That sense of well-being and entertainment becomes addictive. Each time they need more hours of exposure so that the same stimulus produces the same level of pleasure . Thus, by not always getting that sensation or that “kick” of dopamine, they enter a state of withdrawal, constant irritability, frustration and anger.
The most problematic thing is that we are raising children who no longer understand leisure without digital . They are people who filter their reality through technology, leaving aside direct socialization, the real and immediate world.
To conclude, we can only emphasize one obvious fact. New technologies are our best tool for progress, it is evident. But it will only work in our favor if we make good use of them.
