All About HEALTH > These electronic gadgets destroying our health

Studies about negative effects of screens and SOLUTIONS

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Author's page : http://www.naturalblaze.com/2015/12/6-negative-effects-of-too-much-screen-time-for-kids.html
6 Negative Effects of Too Much Screen Time for Kids
by Jeffrey Green


Some countries consider childhood screen addiction to be a clinical disorder, even a disease for some, and have rehab facilities in which to treat the afflicted children. Too much screen time is bad for your kids’ health on many different levels and must be treated like any other addiction so the damage can be stopped, and hopefully reversed.

Sleep Deprivation

Without question the electronic screens of many devices are causing a crisis of sleep deprivation for all age groups. However, the loss of sleep is most detrimental to children. Kids need more sleep than adults due to their developing body and mind. The average child needs 10-12 hours of sleep each night in order for them to grow and develop properly, but screen time is shaving off hours of that much-needed sleep time. The average child is constantly sleep deprived and trying to learn, grow and develop on 6-8 hours of sleep per night at the most.

Children who sleep with electronic devices in the their bedroom get less sleep than those who leave the devices in another room of the home at night. Not only are the children playing games and texting when they should be asleep, but the blue light emitted from the devices hinders sleep even after the device is shut off.

All electronics, including cell phones, tablets, iPads and TVs, emit a blue light from the screen. The body interprets that blue light as daylight and the brain sends out the signal to wake up. Instead of being sleepy at bedtime, the child is now wide awake even when the electronic screen is shut off.

A kid who is suffering from sleep deprivation will typically be cranky, have an increased risk of obesity, have a short attention span, lack decision-making skills, have increased health problems, be lethargic and do poorly in school. And all of this can be traced back to too much screen time.

Obesity

The use of any device with an electronic screen seems to require the need to sit down, or at least be still, while using. The sedentary nature, combined with ads for high-calorie junk food, often leads to childhood obesity. Children are naturally full of energy and have an inborn need to run, jump and otherwise be active. When that normal desire to be active is curtailed and they sit on their haunches for hours on end, they will become overweight.

Obesity leads to a variety of health problems, including diabetes, joint problems and heart disease. Childhood obesity is an epidemic in most countries, too much screen time is the biggest contributing factor to the epidemic.

Vision Problems

There used to be a 20/20/20 rule for those who had to spend long hours working in front of their computer screens – every 20 minutes look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. That 20/20/20 rule was implemented to help prevent eye strain and potential vision problems in the future.

Kids won’t take their eyes off the electronic screen for 20 seconds, even if they have heard of the 20/20/20 rule. Immediate eye strain and pain can occur from staring at the screen too long; and it’s too soon to know what type of vision problems the future may hold for those kids who have too much screen time now.
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Aches and Pains

Phone neck, text thumb and several other new medical terms had to be coined in order to describe the various aches and pains which are developing from too much screen time. The head, neck and wrists are often held at odd angles, and thumbs are used in ways they were never meant to be used just to accommodate an electronic device. It all adds up to childhood aches and pains which will worsen as the child becomes an adult.

Back pain, arthritis, repetitive motion syndrome and migraines are just some of the chronic and often debilitating health problems a kid who has too much screen time today may develop in the future.

Loss of Social Skills

Kids who spend too much time with electronics lack in normal social skills that are needed to help them develop into a well-rounded adult. While kids know their way around keypads, they don’t know how to talk one-on-one to another person. Social skills, people skills and the ability to interact with others of all ages is lacking in kids who spend too much interacting with an electronic device and have limited face time with people.

By not developing the ability to interact with others face-to-face, future adult relationships for the child will be impeded. Employment, romance, friendships and simple social etiquette will be limited and awkward if a child never develops normal social skills.

Aggressivity

Ask any child what their favorite video game is and in all probability it will involve violence. Even very young kids are drawn to games that use weapons to kill. The more violent and bloody, the more popular the video game typically becomes.

That translates into aggression as the child becomes a teenager. Studies show that teens who spend a lot of time watching violent TV shows and/or playing violent video games are far more likely to be aggressive both in the home and at school. These aggressive teens fight with their siblings and peers, argue with teachers and parents and just always seems to be an outburst waiting to happen.

Jeffrey Green writes for NaturalBlaze.com where this article first appeared. This article is open-source and free to republish in full with attribution.




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Author's page : https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mental-wealth/201402/gray-matters-too-much-screen-time-damages-the-brain
Brain scan research findings in screen addiction:

Gray matter atrophy
Multiple studies have shown atrophy (shrinkage or loss of tissue volume) in gray matter areas (where “processing” occurs) in internet/gaming addiction (Zhou 2011, Yuan 2011, Weng 2013,and Weng 2012). Areas affected included the important frontal lobe, which governs executive functions, such as planning, planning, prioritizing, organizing, and impulse control (“getting stuff done”). Volume loss was also seen in the striatum, which is involved in reward pathways and the suppression of socially unacceptable impulses. A finding of particular concern was damage to an area known is the insula, which is involved in our capacity to develop empathy and compassion for others and our ability to integrate physical signals with emotion. Aside from the obvious link to violent behavior, these skills dictate the depth and quality of personal relationships.   

Compromised white matter integrity
Research has also demonstrated loss of integrity to the brain’s white matter (Lin 2012, Yuan 2011, Hong 2013 and Weng 2013). “Spotty” white matter translates into loss of communication within the brain, including connections to and from various lobes of the same hemisphere, links between the right and left hemispheres, and paths between higher (cognitive) and lower (emotional and survival) brain centers. White matter also connects networks from the brain to the body and vice versa. Interrupted connections may slow down signals, “short-circuit” them, or cause them to be erratic (“misfire”).

Reduced cortical thickness
Hong and colleagues found reduced cortical (the outermost part of the brain) thickness in internet-addicted teen boys (Hong 2013), and Yuan et al found reduced cortical thickness in the frontal lobe of online gaming addicts (late adolescent males and females) correlated with impairment of a cognitive task (Yuan 2013).

Impaired cognitive functioning
Imaging studies have found less efficient information processing and reduced impulse inhibition (Dong & Devito 2013), increased sensitivity to rewards and insensitivity to loss (Dong & Devito 2013), and abnormal spontaneous brain activity associated with poor task performance (Yuan 2011).

Cravings and impaired dopamine function
Research on video games have shown dopamine (implicated in reward processing and addiction) is released during gaming (Koepp 1998 and Kuhn 2011) and that craving or urges for gaming produces brain changes that are similar to drug cravings (Ko 2009, Han 2011). Other findings in internet addiction include reduced numbers of dopamine receptors and transporters (Kim 2011 and Hou 2012).

In short, excessive screen-time appears to impair brain structure and function. Much of the damage occurs in the brain’s frontal lobe, which undergoes massive changes from puberty until the mid-twenties. Frontal lobe development, in turn, largely determines success in every area of life—from sense of well-being to academic or career success to relationship skills. Use this research to strengthen your own parental position on screen management, and to convince others to do the same.

For more help on managing screen-time, visit www.drdunckley.com/videogames/.
For more information on how the physiological effects of electronics translate into symptoms and dysfunction--as well as how to reverse such changes--see my new book, Reset Your Child's Brain.




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Author's page : https://www.bustle.com/articles/117838-5-things-too-much-screen-time-does-to-your-body
5 Things Too Much Screen Time Does To Your Body

1. Your Brain Restructures



2. You're More Vulnerable To Metabolic Syndrome



3. You're More Vulnerable To Eye Strain



4. You May Not Be As Able To Process Emotions As Previous Generations



5. You're Likely To Die Earlier





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Author's page : http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/tv-affects-child.html
How Media Use Affects Your Child

Most kids today are plugged into devices like TVs, tablets, and smartphones well before they can even ride a bike.

Technology can be part of a healthy childhood, as long as this privilege isn't abused. For example, preschoolers can get help learning the alphabet on public television, grade schoolers can play educational apps and games, and teens can do research on the Internet.

But too much screen time can be a bad thing:

    Children who consistently spend more than 4 hours per day watching TV are more likely to be overweight.
    Kids who view violent acts on TV are more likely to show aggressive behavior, and to fear that the world is scary and that something bad will happen to them.
    Teens who play violent video games and apps are more likely to be aggressive.
    Characters on TV and in video games often depict risky behaviors, such as smoking and drinking, and also reinforce gender-role and racial stereotypes.

That's why it's so important for parents to keep tabs on their kids' screen time and set limits to ensure they're not spending too much time in front of a screen.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends these guidelines for screen time:

    Babies and toddlers up to 18 months old: No screen time, with the exception of video-chatting with family and friends.
    Toddlers 18 months to 24 months: Some screen time with a parent or caregiver.
    Preschoolers: No more than 1 hour a day of educational programming, together with a parent or other caregiver who can help them understand what they're seeing.
    Kids and teens 5 to 18 years: Parents should place consistent limits on screen time, which includes TV, social media, and video games. Media should not take the place of getting enough sleep and being physically active.

Seeing Violence

The average American child will witness 200,000 violent acts on television by age 18. Many violent acts are caused by the "good guys," whom kids are taught to admire. In fact, in video games the hero often succeeds by fighting with or killing the enemy.

This can lead to confusion when kids try to understand the difference between right and wrong. Young kids are particularly frightened by scary and violent images. Simply telling kids that those images aren't real won't make them feel better, because they can't yet tell the difference between fantasy and reality. Behavior problems, nightmares, and difficulty sleeping may follow exposure to such violence.

Older kids can be frightened by violent images too. Reasoning with kids this age will help them, so it's important to provide reassuring and honest information to help ease fears. But it's even better to not let your kids view programs or play games that they find frightening.

Watching Risky Behaviors

TV and video games are full of content that depicts risky behaviors (such as drinking alcohol, doing drugs, smoking cigarettes, and having sex at a young age) as cool, fun, and exciting.

Studies have shown that teens who watch lots of sexual content on TV are more likely to initiate intercourse or participate in other sexual activities earlier than peers who don't watch sexually explicit shows.

While cigarette and e-cigarette ads are banned on television, kids can still see plenty of people smoking in TV shows. This makes behaviors like smoking and drinking alcohol seem acceptable and might lead to substance abuse problems.

The Obesity Link

Health experts have long linked too much screen time to obesity — a significant health problem today. When they're staring at screens, kids are inactive and tend to snack. They're also bombarded with ads that encourage them to eat unhealthy foods like potato chips and drink empty-calorie soft drinks that often become favorite snack foods.

Studies have shown that decreasing the amount of TV kids watched led to less weight gain and lower body mass index (BMI). Replacing video game time with outdoor game time is another good way to help kids maintain a healthy weight.

Understanding Commercials

Most kids under the age of 8 don't understand that commercials are for selling a product. Children 6 years and younger can't tell the difference between a TV show and an ad, especially if their favorite character is promoting the product. Even older kids may need to be reminded of the purpose of advertising.

Of course, it's nearly impossible to remove all exposure to marketing messages. You can turn off the TV or at least limit kids' watching time, but they'll still see and hear plenty of ads for the latest must-haves.

When your kids ask for the products advertised, explain that commercials and other ads are designed to make people want things they don't necessarily need. And these ads are often meant to make us think that these products will make us happier somehow.

So what can you do? Teach kids to be smart consumers. Ask them questions like:

    "What do you like about that?"
    "Do you think it's really as good as it looks in that ad?"
    "Do you think that's a healthy choice?"

Try to limit kids' exposure to TV commercials by:

    having them watch public television stations (some of their programs are sponsored — or "brought to you" — by various companies, although the products they sell are rarely shown)
    recording programs without the commercials
    muting the TV during commercial time to ask your child questions about the program
    streaming their favorite programs, or buying or renting DVDs

By setting healthy limits on screen time and knowing what your child is watching and playing, you can help make the most of your child's media use.


Reviewed by:
Elana Pearl Ben-Joseph, MD
December 2016










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