The Impacts of Excessive Screen Time on Children

Gone are the days when parents complained about their kids reigning the outdoors, running amuck in the wild and blossoming in the lap of nature. The social media generation of today have their little noses perched to the screens, whether it is a tablet, mobile phone, laptop or a computer. Their world revolves around screens. With the ongoing pandemic, they are more dependent on these varying screens for learning and leisure. Schools have dissolved into tiny mobile phones with zoom lessons and the outbound, social life of younglings have dilapidated into nothingness.

In the spirit of embracing the new normal, children as young as three-years-old became best friends with the Internet. Teachers became figurines on the Internet masterclass and social settings became a collective Instagram trend. Now that we are cruising and crashing on the waves of technology, let’s observe how it has impacted our children. No one comes unscathed from the vice of screens. Read more to find out the experts and the parents’ consensus on the saga of excessive screen exposure.

Physiological Impact

Charles Darwin coined the law of nature that favours survival of the fittest, and this pandemic nudged our body through that trial of fire. Human body is carefully wired to survive the worst, however, can our little humans bear the repercussions of incessant screen exposure?

Dr. Anmol Preet Kaur, Physiotherapist from Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi, shares that children as young as nine-years-old come to her with neck and back problems induced by bad posture. When a child continuously attends school by sitting in front of a laptop screen or a mobile phone they are bound to develop a bad posture and its subsequent consequences. Dr Kaur emphasizes that lack of appropriate work stations in our households result in a stiff neck and a strained spine.

Let’s come clean, shall we? We all are guilty of contorting our backs and necks into unimaginable angles whilst working, then why wouldn’t our children do the same? After all, monkey see, monkey do. Dr Kaur suggests that “Parents must keep in mind to expose their children to sunlight everyday. Vitamin D is crucial for bone health and even mental health. Exercises like upper back stretching and neck isometrics are extremely helpful in rectifying the posture

Your neck and spine are not the only things that suffer due to excessive screen time. Eyes are the most prominent victim of this practise. Dr Aman Malik, Ophthalmologist and Eye Surgeon, explains how screen affects your eye. He says normally a person blinks 15 to 20 times per minute, however when we are concentrating on a screen whilst studying or reading the blinking time reduces to 1 to 2 times per minute. This causes strain to the eyes. Dr Malik shares, “I’m seeing a lot more children with computer vision syndrome these days, which was a rare phenomenon amongst children before. The cases of headaches, dry eyes, computer vision syndrome and difficulty in focusing are spreading like wildfire amongst kids.” His youngest patients suffering from Computer vision syndrome are as young as three-years-old, since kindergartens and preschools are all on the screen. To combat this problem, Dr Malik suggests following the 20-20 rule. This rule states that after every 20 minutes make your child look away from the screen for 20 seconds by looking 20 feet away at anything in your environment. Also, don’t forget to voluntarily blink when your eyes are glued to the screen.

Psychological Impact

Mental well-being is a crucial element in maintaining physical well-being. In the pre-covid era, a child’s overall development was influenced by its environment, social circle as well as cultural stimuli. Now that the kids are strictly homebound, has their mental health and psychological development been affected? Deepali Batra, Clinical and Child Psychologist states that excessive screen time has both physical and mental consequences for children and teenagers. Overexposure to screen does more harm than one anticipates. Deepali Batra shares that it can delay developmental and learning processes in children.

If your child’s sleeping cycle is all over the place then don’t rule it out as your child being difficult. The child psychologist states that too much screen time can cause sleep deprivation which can render your child frustrated and irritable. Children learn from what they observe in their environment. If violent content and one-way communication is all they consume on a daily basis then it will impact their personal growth as an individual.

Child Psychology expert, Deepali Batra, shares 5 fold rules to combat negative effects of screen time on children’s psychological health.

• Parents and Children must set and respect boundaries when it comes to gadgets. Mobile phones and other screens must be prohibited during family time.
• Engagement in physical activities: Since we are all homebound, parents must involve their kids in minimal house chores to increase engagement in physical activity and interaction with them.
• No screens in the bedroom: Keep your child’s room screen free. Make the most out of a zen room for your kid.
• Open Communication: Discuss with your kids why you are limiting their screen time. Communication is the key.
• Engage & Appreciate: Appreciate your child’s efforts and engage them in different activities throughout the day. Don’t forget that you are their pals as well as parents during this tough time.

Behavioural Impact

Are your children being more irritable than usual? Don’t write it off as them being moody or just plain teenagers. You and your kids are not the only ones experiencing this.

Reema Jain, homemaker and mother to a pre-teen and a teenager shares that her kids have started to get more agitated as the lockdown days go by. From having physical challenges such as continual headache, neck stiffness and back ache, lethargy and irritability has also been prominent in her kids. She adds, “The pandemic has made everyone dependent on the internet to survive and thrive. Before the pandemic I wouldn’t allow my kids to engage with social media for long periods of hours but now since their leisure and learning is all bound with the internet I can hardly stop them from engaging with these avenues. “The more time my children spend in front of the screens, the more physical challenges and behavioural changes they face,” adds Reema Jain.

These changes are not just prevalent in older kids. Nidhi Sushant Khosla, a young mother to a five-year-old, says lack of social interaction and excessive exposure to screens have made children “introverted, passive and dull.” She observes that significant behavioural changes occur in children because “their cheerful dispositions have disappeared and they feel suffocated and confined. They miss their classmates, friends, school gatherings and competitions where they used to participate and compete with one another.”

Apart from behavioural changes, Jyoti Wadhwa, mother to an early teenager, shares that screen time is inescapable given the current situation. However, lack of physical activity has led children to always seek joy from gadgets. This has impacted their physical health that has resulted in weight gain and behavioural altercations. She observes that continual usage of gadgets has detached her son from the family time with only new apps and games being his centre of attention.

The undeniable truth of our altered realities and a new normal has transformed children’s lives as well. So the altered behavior, physical and psychological changes are repercussions of this semblance of new internet led life.

Teacher and Foreign Language Coordinator of Prudence School, Ashok Vihar, Sushant Khosla, agrees that children’s growth is hampered due to excessive exposure to gadgets. He says that “No matter how much we impart to the kids online, physical and emotional interest in the school environment along with the peer group has always been an enjoyable learning experience for kids, which isn’t accessible to them anymore.”

Technology is man's best friend. It is the only tool which has allowed our world to function despite the ongoing pandemic, then how has it turned against our children? The answer is quite simple. They say the excess of everything is bad, and boy were they right. Learning, leisure and living has all found its roots in laptops and mobile phones for children. We cannot ban them from using screens to study, however what we can do is limit their exposure to such devices. By following the tools and tips given by Psychologists, Ophthalmologists and experts, help your children carve their way out of the black hole of screens.

Key Takeaways

• Excessive screen time has a lasting impact on young, impressionable children as well as teenagers.
• Screen exposure tends to affect children physiologically, psychologically as well as emotionally.
• Don’t ignore the surfacing physical indicators of a decline in your health due to increased screen time.
• Common physical indicators of excessive screen time that manifest themselves in your body are: stiff neck, backache, nagging headache, dryness in the eye and rigid shoulders.
• Terrible body posture induced due to continual working in front of a screen, as well inadequate workstation to support your study from home needs, is the leading reason for the physiological challenges.
• Physiotherapist, Dr Anmol Preet Kaur, suggests that a person must voluntarily move after every one hour of sitting stagnantly in front of the screen. Stretching exercises such as neck isometrics and upper back stretching will help you relieve the build up tension.
• Give your poor eyes a break by following Dr Aman Malik’s 20-20 rule. After every 20 minutes look away from the screen for 20 seconds by looking 20 feet away at anything in the distance. Don’t forget to voluntarily blink when your eyes are glued to the screen.
• Continual screen exposure can impact your child psychologically as well and it might manifest itself as physical indicators in the form of: irregular sleep cycle, erratic behavioural change, incessant mood swings and irritability.
• Help your child build healthy boundaries with technology and gadgets.
• Communicate and make your child’s worries heard. This new normal where learning and leisure are both connected to a screen is as difficult for them as it is for you.
• Lastly, remember that excess of anything is adverse. So, learn the art of striking a balance between the needs of your new normal and technology.