"Behind The Screen": Children and Technology

The podcast discusses the impact of uncontrolled screen time on young children's skill development, creativity, and home life. It compares two scenarios: one where parents prioritize quality time and allow their child to explore and be creative, and another where parents rely on screens to keep their child quiet. It highlights the negative effects of excessive screen time on cognitive skills and behavior, as well as the concerns raised by younger generations. Despite the drawbacks, technology is seen as a long-term presence, so it's important to find a balance and establish healthy boundaries around screen time. Hi everybody, I'm your host, Destiny Bikro. Thank you all for tuning in today and I really hope you enjoy this episode. You're listening to today's episode of Behind the Screens, where we will look into and discuss how parents who allow uncontrolled recreational screen time in young children impacts vital skill development, creative ability, and home life. Let's get started. Home is your first playground and your first learning space. From the day you arrive home as a newborn, you begin your abilities of awareness, understanding your hands, your voice, body movement, and developing your sight. Then as a toddler, you begin to understand your mind, develop memory, motor skills, and you begin to recognize language. Learning first by observation, you pick up primarily on your parents' motions, speaking abilities, and reactions. Without distraction, each of these cognitive and linguistic skills are slowly achieved. You begin to apply your own thinking to small scenarios of play. Although you are bored, your mind challenges you to explore something new, have fun, make a mess, and even laugh. Boredom is good. Boredom results in creativity, which is prime for a fruitful childhood. Let's take a look into two scenarios of childhood. Child A has a very loving, sustainable home where all their basic needs are met with parents that prioritize quality time. These parents take time and effort to involve themselves so that their child picks up on new skills. They allow their child to be vocal, whether through crying or laughter. They allow their child to explore and make messes, and even getting hurt during different times of play. The parents are also aware of how they conduct themselves around their child to help prevent their child from adapting bad habits, while also being aware of different social content their child is exposed to, such as TV programs. Thinking of this version of childhood reminds me of my own. My mom was fairly young when she had me, and she definitely had her fears of making sure I turned out good and instilling good morals and values in me as a first-time mother. I recall my mom letting me get into mud puddles when it rained and telling me to go outside with the other kids, and not to come back until the streetlights came on. Although the neighborhood I lived in was a lot more safer and secure back then compared to now, so this wasn't something too crazy or responsible for that time. We would often go to my great-grandma's house for holidays and family dinners, where I would encounter a lot of extended family. My great-grandma lived in a very natural environment in Arizona, so there was a lot of dirt and large rocks to climb and keep us company. Us children were always sent outside to let the grown-ups socialize, where we would often play house and collect burned trash that we would use for products in our home. It's memories such as these that I am grateful for, especially when noticing how different my younger sibling's childhood is compared to mine. Now on to Child B. Again, a very loving home, but the parents decide to try different methods of comfort for their new baby. And although the child's eyesight is barely developed, they begin watching Dancing Fruits on the TV in order to remain calm. A trend the parents saw on TikTok. It seems harmless, right? Well now their child, as little as four months old, has had their first exposure to recreational screen time. This child hasn't even had a stroll outside yet, or experienced their first mud puddle. This is the reality of many children today. As they get older, they begin to understand this cycle of discipline. Rather than being awarded for good behavior, they receive the screen time they crave in order to remain silent, further creating a disconnect from their parents and family. This story is very much like my younger sibling's. Although he is of the older iPad kid generation at 10 years old, he wasn't watching Dancing Fruits at four months old. I simply use this reference in the storyline because of a TikTok I saw recently. So there's more of a modern day connection to notice how far screens have come. My younger sibling and I were raised by the same parent, both 3 years, but it's interesting to notice how fast time has evolved between our 10 year age gap. And how primarily iPads have become a resource to keep kids quiet. Although from a parent's perspective, and many others, they are well behaved. It can simply be mistaken as an easier way out of parenting, rather than tending to a crying child or trying to relieve a temper tantrum. I could have continued this story in hopes of a huge turnaround where the parents realize even the smallest encounter of screen time might impact future bad habits. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. Most times parents begin to observe how quiet and content their child behaves with screen time. Although on a cognitive level, the child is simply distracted. The screen takes away their ability to be aware. Everything around them will become blocked out. This is referred to as distractibility in a study conducted by Barnard University where children were observed to be far more disconnected from reality when on their iPad versus the creativity that was utilized when playing with traditional toys. These children spent the same amount of time on each toy and iPad. Many of the children whined for their iPads once they were taken away and would not respond to their name being called during the time spent on the iPad. Although they were very aware of their surroundings during traditional playtime and were observed to be using their creativity and being vocal with one another. It was interesting to also see that one child was opposed to playing on an iPad and preferred her dolls over screen time. This singular child could very much represent the majority of children that turn out fine. As she resists the urge of this epidemic of iPad addiction and also represents the children that naturally express no interest in iPads. Although we can't rely on the saying, they'll turn out just fine, due to the fact that this one child's disinterest in technology doesn't represent an entire generation. It would be like having two kids raised in the same toxic environment. One may turn out okay and the other may not. This is simply due to personal choices between each of the children. Rather than people assuming that the good child was raised right and had a healthy upbringing and assuming the not-so-good child was raised in a toxic environment. Also during this experiment, the Barnard University noted that the American Academy of Pediatrics or AAP, quote, discourages passive screen time for kids under two, end quote. From the official website of the AAP, their mission reads, quote, the mission of the American Academy of Pediatrics is to attain optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults, end quote. They express that extensive screen time takes away from a child's ability to learn basic cognitive skills such as memory, attention, and verbal communication. They also stress and recognize the amount of behavioral issues screen time accounts for later on down the road, but that's a topic for the next episode of Behind the Screens. I had also taken this question of iPad kids to Instagram, hoping to attract a younger crowd's perspective and what their concerns might be for this newer generation. With over 28 responses and an age range between 18 to 25 years old, with only one person being around the age of 30, I have my phone here today and reading through some of the responses, there's a large majority who all agree that iPads and any other form of screen time distorts their sense of reality and highly impacts their ability to process information and awareness. We also have quotes here that I think would be important to share. One person said, I feel sorry that these children will inherit and develop a disconnect from nature. This should be illegal. My kid isn't getting an iPad or phone till high school. I get mad AF when I see them. These children are neglected by their parents and are forced to be addicted to technologies and mental stimulation. We need our youth back playing outside on the earth. Another refers to this as a death penalty and another comments that the content they watch is weird. On a social standpoint, a lot more younger folks seem to be more aware of the effects of screen time. The survey also asked if they were an eldest child and many of the participants did describe that they are the eldest of their siblings. So we can see how they might be observing their own younger siblings as I did. It's hard to only place this blame on the children and their iPads. However, because technology is all they know, especially when parents become reliant on their children's iPads for comfort, there certainly is a sense of compassion and sympathy for these children because they aren't the ones to blame for their bad habits. They don't necessarily ask their parents to be addicted to technology. In an article from the New York Post by Dr. Nicholas Carderas, he utilizes the comparison of, quote, a screen addicted brain that can be compared to that of a drug user, end quote. Dr. Nicholas Carderas studies how a kid's brain addicted to technology is similar to someone addicted to drugs. He refers to them as, quote, psychotic junkies on digital drugs, end quote. This can very much validate the comment, death penalty and should be illegal, from my Instagram survey. Despite all the unhealthy problems that screens have created within our younger generations, technology is here for the long run. We must continue to adapt to these ongoing changes of technology, as well as maintaining balance and creating healthy boundaries around screen time. Although there was a time where no technology was needed for entertainment and mental stimulation, these being the simpler days unfortunately will only be a memory for most. Recent advancements are the future whether we like it or not and are unavoidable as the world has a desire to constantly increase its reliance on technology. So the question is, what can we do? Well, there's many answers to this question, but it ultimately comes down to utilizing parental control. In this case, we use control in a positive sense. The AAP suggests creating screen time boundaries. If a child as little as four months old is able to watch TV, they should be old enough to be able to have a screen time schedule. They also emphasize observing the content a child watches and to help keep it age appropriate or even incorporating educational and non-stimulating content. It may seem difficult to do so with all the changes in children's cartoons and each generation having their own cartoon style. Although what many people may not realize is that a lot of older cartoon programs such as Kipper the Dog or The Bernstein Bears, which were two of my personal favorites growing up, fit this criteria perfectly. And even recently, the creators of the show Bluey have become very popular with all ages due to their ability to target multiple audiences. The show can be described as calm, healing, and relatable. These programs don't utilize fast-paced scenarios that are loud and abrasive and even the color, art, and animation choices contribute to create a calming effect. Also the message in a lot of these shows are actually very wholesome and teach children vital values of generosity, compassion, and teamwork. Technology has spread very widely and it's become hard to avoid. This is why teaching your child about privacy when utilizing the internet should be more normalized. Again, these are things that are never too early to instill in your child. It is also encouraging hobbies outside of screen time such as sports, art, and reading. As an adult, it is also important to watch over one's use of technology and to help adapt good screen time habits. It also never hurts to do your own research on different methods and advice. The internet is a crazy resource and there's so much that is available to us at the tips of our fingers, whether it be watching TikToks, YouTube videos, and even a good old-fashioned Google search. There's so much more that can be done in order to create a healthy relationship with technology. It ultimately comes down to how much effort, discipline, and control one puts into their child's screen time boundaries. It may sound strict, but they will thank you in the long run. I definitely thank my parent for this reason. We all come to the realization that our parents simply do what is best for us at a certain age or they teach us how not to be. I definitely understand everyone's relationship with their parents or parent are different. Technology will only continue to grow from here and we must create the safest environment possible for our youth, especially when navigating a newer world of both technology and reality. We may never be able to go back to the simpler times of no screens, but we certainly can create a healthy balance. I want to thank you all so much for tuning into today's episode of Behind the Screens, a series about recreational screen time and young children. I appreciate your time and participation and I hope you will join us again for the next one.