Many Silicon Valley executives, tech industry managers, and workers are cutting down on or even outright banning technology in their homes. Yes, this is beyond ironic, but that is not what I want to discuss today.
Popular wisdom says that screen time is bad for young children. There is some research to back up this belief, however it is far more specific than most people realize. For example, one study found that some children around kindergarten age had significant difficulty using physical books and magazines. The children in the study who had been allowed significant screen time tended to try to swipe the surface of the pages, expecting that to be enough to move to the next page. It was clear they expected books to work like smart phone or tablet touchscreens. There have also been a few studies that found addiction-like behavior associated with significant amounts of screen time, and this is an issue experienced by many of the parents who are banning the technology in the home. Another problem backed by significant research is that children that get a lot of screen time tend to be less social than kids who get very limited screen time. All of these may seem like serious issues, but context is critical in understanding what is actually happening.
The first issue, where children struggle to understand how to use books, might seem like a serious problem that is caused by modern technology use, but technology use has nothing to do with it. The problem is not technology use. The problem is lack of experience with books. Parents that read with their children, a practice that is incredibly highly recommended by child development experts, do not have children that struggle to use books. It does not matter how much or little screen time these children get, if their parents read books with them, the children do not suffer from this problem. It is not the screen time that decides this, it is the book time.
The second issue, addiction-like behavior, is not addiction at all. Even educated people in the U.S. rarely understand addiction. They believe that children throwing fits when the technology is taken away is a sign of addiction. It's not! Neither is children sneaking into the technology behind parents' backs. This is actually normal behavior for children, and attentive parents will see this and use effective discipline to correct the behavior. The fact is, the human brain craves stimulation. Fully developed adult brains typically crave less stimulation than teen and child brains (though, this depends on a lot of factors during early childhood through teen development; this positive trait can and often is partially trained out of us by adulthood). The human brain is excellent at optimization as well. What is the easiest, cheapest way to get stimulation, especially for a child that does not know how to read? Tablets and phones offer endless stimulation, far beyond anything books and television can offer. They offer it for the cost of almost no physical effort. No wonder the brains of children love it. The fact is, their brains are trying to learn, and taking that away may actually be worse for their long term development than letting them have it. This is not addiction at all. This is merely the human brain optimizing it's use of time and effort. If parents want their children to spend less time at a screen, they need to find other forms of stimulation capable of competing. Taking away the stimulation without replacing it will tell the brain that it does not need as much development and resources, and in the long run it will result in teens and adults who have a more difficult time learning new things. The brains of babies and young children are capable of incredible rates of learning. This is necessary, because a new born child's brain is not even developed enough to translate light coming into the eyes as images, language as meaningful communication, or to effectively and precisely control muscle movements. It takes days to weeks for babies to be able to resolve images. It takes months for a baby to start understanding language. It takes years to develop the brain sufficiently to have decent fine muscle control. And this applies in some degree or another to all of the senses. As children get older, this rapid rate of brain development and learning becomes less necessary. As this happens, the brain tends to slowly lose its plasticity. Some of this plasticity can be retained, however, by replacing the learning that is becoming less necessary with more learning. Modern technology provides ample opportunity for the kinds of stimulation that can do this. Denying children this stimulation may actually put them at a disadvantage as adults who are less capable of learning new things than their peers who had the benefit of this stimulation. Of course, children won't benefit from spending all of their time in front of a screen. As with the book issue, if screen time is preventing children from gaining experiences with other important things, then that is a problem. But if parents are struggling with this because their children do not want to do anything without a screen, that is a discipline problem, not an addiction. Learning to use technology responsibly is critical in our culture, and denying children the opportunity to learn this sort of discipline is doing them a serious disservice. Instead of complaining about addictiveness of the technology, parents need to step up and teach their children sufficient self discipline to eventually be able to function as adults that are constantly surrounded with this technology. Waiting until they are teens or adults is likely to result in far more serious problems than having to deal with tantrums for a few weeks or months.
The last problem, lack of social interaction, is also a serious problem, and it is also a problem that has far less to do with screens than people tend to believe. Screens, and especially small screens like those found on phones and tablets, do lend themselves to solo use. The problem is not the technology though. The problem is how it is used. If children are left alone with tablets or phones for hours on end, instead of getting the interpersonal interaction that parents are supposed to provide, of course those children will be less social. And that's not all! Children that do not get a lot of interpersonal time with parents are also more likely to turn to friends or others who are less experienced when making life altering decisions. They are more likely to be rebellious in their teens or even earlier. Children that get too little interpersonal time can even develop attachment disorder, which is a common disorder in orphans and children of drug addicts and is closely tied to lack of discipline, feelings of abandonment, and feelings of insecurity. The fact is, screen time with parents has few if any of the harmful side effects associated with solo screen time. If a child is experiencing issues as a result of screen time, it is very likely that screens are being used to babysit, which is not an appropriate way to use screens. Some solo screen time is not harmful, but if screen time is being used to occupy a child so parents can have more free time, that's probably too much. Involved and attentive parents are unlikely to experience most of the issues associated with excessive screen time.
The trend here should be obvious. Nearly all of the issues parents are blaming on screens are actually parenting problems. None of these problems are hard to avoid. If screen time is causing problems, parents need to make more time for their children. They need to find screen activities that they can participate in with their children. They need to quit using screens as babysitters. Often, part of the solution is spending less time on their own screens. And of course, they need to take responsibility for teaching their children self discipline and for making sure their children get experience with things other than screens. If this is so hard that the only solution is to eliminate screens entirely, maybe it is time to rethink having children in the first place. If you do not have time for your children, then you have far more serious personal problems than screens.
To make this perfectly clear, screen time is not a problem! Screen time is incredibly valuable, and in our culture, children who do not get enough screen time will almost certainly be at a significant disadvantage as teens and adults. Instead of sabotaging your children, turn screen time into a group activity, and spend more time with your children even outside of screen time. A $100,000+ a year job is not worth the harm not being there for your children when they need it will cause. If your money and social class are worth more to you than the well being of your children, you either need to talk to a therapist or an adoption agency.
