{"id":20873,"date":"2018-12-01T21:05:54","date_gmt":"2018-12-01T21:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=20873"},"modified":"2018-12-02T15:01:01","modified_gmt":"2018-12-02T15:01:01","slug":"danger-how-smartphones-or-tablets-increases-mental-health-behavioral-problems-of-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=20873","title":{"rendered":"DANGER: How Smartphones or Tablets Increase Mental Health, Behavioral Problems of Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><code><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.newsroom247.com.ng --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<p>The next time you leave your house and venture off into a public place, take a minute to look around. If we\u2019re living on the same planet, it won\u2019t be long before you see a child with\u00a0eyes glued\u00a0to a screen almost as big as his or her face.<\/p>\n<p>While we have witnessed some incredible technological advancements in the 21<sup>st<\/sup>century, parents have realized that handing a child their smartphone or tablet is a\u00a0convenient solution\u00a0for boredom or temper tantrums.<span id=\"ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-139\" class=\"ezoic-adpicker-ad\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>However, this thing called \u201cscreen time\u201d is creating brand new mental health and behavioral problems in young kids. Some of them cry, some of them break things, and some even threaten suicide.<\/p>\n<h3>Screen Dependency Disorder: Excessive Screen Time Explained<\/h3>\n<p>Whether kids are playing video games or using smartphone apps, there is a growing mountain of evidence suggesting that young boys and girls are exhibiting addictive behavior. Why? Largely because of extensive exposure to (unregulated) screen time.<span id=\"ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-135\" class=\"ezoic-adpicker-ad\"><\/span><span id=\"div-gpt-ad-healthy_holistic_living_com-medrectangle-4000004-0\" class=\"ezoic-ad ezfound\" data-google-query-id=\"CPaSz_G-_94CFVbi7QodKkEM0Q\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Whereas adult brains are more developed, children\u2019s brains are susceptible to significant changes in structure and connectivity which can stunt neural development and lead to a screen dependency disorder. Other classifications of screen dependency disorder are:[1]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Internet addiction disordersc<\/li>\n<li>Internet gaming disorder<\/li>\n<li>Problematic internet use<\/li>\n<li>Compulsive internet use<\/li>\n<li>Pathological video game use<\/li>\n<li>Video game addiction<\/li>\n<li>Pathological technology use<\/li>\n<li>Online game addiction<\/li>\n<li>Mobile phone dependence<\/li>\n<li>Social network site addiction<\/li>\n<li>Facebook addiction<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In psychologist Dr. Aric Sigman\u2019s research paper published in the\u00a0<em>Journal of the International Child Neurology Association<\/em>, he writes: \u201c\u2018Addiction\u2019 is a term increasingly used to describe the growing number of\u00a0children engaging\u00a0in a variety of different screen activities in a dependent, problematic manner.\u201d[1]<span id=\"ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-141\" class=\"ezoic-adpicker-ad\"><\/span><span id=\"div-gpt-ad-healthy_holistic_living_com-box-4000003-0\" class=\"ezoic-ad ezfound\" data-google-query-id=\"CNaTz_G-_94CFZGi7QodE6oJKA\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/1254144\/healthy_holistic_living_com-box-4000003_0__container__\"><\/h3>\n<h3>8 Major Symptoms of a Screen Dependency Disorder<\/h3>\n<p>If you have a child or grandchild, the following symptoms may present themselves if their screen time \u2013 especially on the internet and video games \u2013 compromises their ability to function.[1]<span id=\"ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-143\" class=\"ezoic-adpicker-ad\"><\/span><span id=\"div-gpt-ad-healthy_holistic_living_com-banner-1000003-0\" class=\"ezoic-ad ezfound\" data-google-query-id=\"CNKO5vC-_94CFRGz7QodyDYLZg\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Preoccupation<\/li>\n<li>Withdrawal symptoms<\/li>\n<li>Increasing tolerance<\/li>\n<li>Failure to reduce or stop screen activities<\/li>\n<li>Loss of outside interests<\/li>\n<li>Continuation despite negative consequences<\/li>\n<li>Lying about extent of use<\/li>\n<li>Use to escape adverse moods<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>How Prevalent Is Screen Dependency Disorder Among Kids?<\/h3>\n<p>One 2015 study published in\u00a0<em>Behavioral Sciences (Basel)<\/em>\u00a0found that 12 percent of young American adolescent gamers to be \u201cpathological video-gamers.\u201d[2] Although playing video games does not require any chemical substances or intoxication, researchers suggest that it could lead to addiction-like symptoms including the ones listed above.<\/p>\n<p>For Seattle-based psychotherapist Dr. George Lynn, 80 percent of his patients\u2019 issues stem from too much gaming, watching too many online videos, or excessively using social media. As a result, Dr. Lynn is witnessing \u201ca personality syndrome that comes from basically unbridled, uncontrolled use of recreational use of screen media during the day and at night.\u201d[3]<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMost doctors, family doctors, even psychiatric practitioners are not hip to the obvious fact that a kid might be only getting two to three hours of sleep at night if that,\u201d says Dr. Lynn. \u201cAnd that causes personality problems.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>What Too Much Screen Time Is Really Doing to Our Kids<\/h3>\n<p>Becoming someone with a screen dependency disorder can have devastating effects. According to Family Life and Child Development specialist and Early Childhood Education consultant Claudette Avelino-Tandoc, a child\u2019s screen dependency disorder may lead to insomnia, back pain, weight gain or loss, vision problems, headaches, anxiety, dishonesty, feelings of guilty, and loneliness.[4]<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, however, the\u00a0long-term effects\u00a0of these symptoms can be as severe as\u00a0<em>brain damage<\/em>. In fact, multiple studies exploring the effects of screen dependency disorder have proven that children\u2019s brains shrink or lose tissue in the frontal lobe, striatum, and insula; these areas help to govern planning and organization, suppression of socially unacceptable impulses, and our capacity to develop compassion and empathy, respectively.[5-8]<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDevices or gadgets are not bad per se. They are useful and essential tools for communication, research, learning, entertainment, among other things,\u201d says Dr. Avelino-Tandoc. \u201cParents are dealing with 21<sup>st<\/sup>\u00a0century learners, what we call \u2018digital natives.\u2019 They should allow their kids to manipulate these tools. However,\u00a0<em>balance<\/em>\u00a0is the key word.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=17399&amp;ad_type=64&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/code><\/p>\n<h3>5 Tips for Parents with Children Who Have a Screen Dependency Disorder<\/h3>\n<p>According to the American Academy of Pediatrics\u2019 new recommendations for children\u2019s media use and Dr. Lynn\u2019s methods:[3,9]<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>For children younger than 18 months<\/strong>, avoid use of screen media other than video-chatting. Parents of children 18 to 24 months of age who want to introduce digital media should choose high-quality programming and watch it with their children to help them understand what they\u2019re seeing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>For children ages 2 to 5 years<\/strong>, limit screen use to 1 hour per day of high-quality programs. Parents should co-view media with children to help them understand what they are seeing and apply it to the world around them.<\/li>\n<li><strong>For children ages 6 and older<\/strong>, place consistent limits on the time spent using media, and the types of media, and make sure media does not take the place of adequate sleep, physical activity and other behaviors essential to health.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Set ground rules early and enforce them<\/strong>\u00a0by designating media-free times together, such as dinner or driving, as well as media-free locations at home, such as bedrooms.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stay in the conversation<\/strong>\u00a0by having ongoing communication about online citizenship and safety, including treating others with respect online and offline.\u00a0\u00a0 (www.healthy-holistic-living.com)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.newsroom247.com.ng --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The next time you leave your house and venture off into a public place, take a minute to look around. If we\u2019re living on the same planet, it won\u2019t be long before you see a child with\u00a0eyes glued\u00a0to a screen almost as big as his or her face. While we have witnessed some incredible technological [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-living"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/KIDS.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-5qF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20881,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20873\/revisions\/20881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}