How excessive screen time impedes children’s devt, academic performance
Experts have raised concern about the detrimental impact of excessive screen time on children’s ability to focus, warning that it could lead to significant attention deficits and academic challenges.
A Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, Dr Oluwasikemi Alalade, also warned about the negative impact of excessive screen time on children’s development and adolescents’ mental health.
Alalade said children exposed to screens too early and frequently are at risk of developing problems with attention span. According to her, many videos designed for children often have a fast pace, requiring them to multitask and switch focus rapidly.
She said constant stimulation prevents them from learning how to concentrate on a single task, which is an essential skill for effective learning and classroom performance.
“A child who cannot maintain a good attention span will struggle to cope with classwork, reading, and other academic demands, which can ultimately result in poor academic performance,” Alalade stated.
Alalade told The Guardian that adequate social and environmental interaction is crucial for the cognitive, emotional, and social development of children, including their language skills. She cautioned that prolonged screen exposure can limit these interactions, hindering essential developmental processes.
The consultant also highlighted the potential psychological impact of watching excessive cartoons and anime content, saying that such exposure might lead children to interpret their environment solely through the lens of these animations. As a result, they may struggle to understand human emotions and the importance of interpersonal relationships.
Alalade urged parents to foster meaningful interactions with their children by engaging in storytelling, and outdoor games like football and basketball, as well as using cognitively stimulating toys such as puzzles and musical instruments.
The psychiatrist also expressed concerns about the mental health risks of excessive screen use in adolescents, particularly due to their exposure to social media. According to her, this exposure often leaves them comparing themselves to idealised lifestyles portrayed online, leading to unhealthy envy, competition, low self-esteem, and the need to impress others. These feelings, she warned, can result in depression or anxiety when adolescents prioritise these pressures over their well-being.
These concerns were vividly highlighted in ‘Swiped; The School That Banned Smart-phones’, a Channel 4 documentary that aired recently, which exposed the profound toll of smartphone addiction on children and their families.
The documentary showcased an experiment conducted by researchers at a secondary school where a group of 11-year-olds from the Stanway School in Colchester, northeastern Essex, England relinquished their phones for three weeks to address rising levels of anxiety and stress.
The experiment was necessary after some parents reported familiar but alarming behaviours in their children including a lack of eye contact, social withdrawal, and prolonged isolation.
Some of the children were reported to spend up to nine hours daily on their phones, fostering relationships with strangers, enduring hate messages, and even experiencing panic attacks.
The researchers from York University monitored the participants’ brain activity and discovered evidence of deteriorating grey matter among otherwise intelligent and articulate children. The withdrawal from smartphones initially led to boredom, disrupted sleep, and awkward silence during meals.
However, by the end of the three weeks, the results were undeniable; anxiety and depression symptoms decreased by 17 per cent, memory improved by three per cent, the children gained an additional hour of sleep, and some stopped experiencing panic attacks altogether.
This sense of restored normality was both hopeful and concerning as the researchers argued that if this were a physical health crisis; it would have prompted an immediate public health response yet, the mental health epidemic linked to smartphones remains sidelined.
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