LEAven Blog

As a kid growing up before the invention of the personal computer, I can remember sitting on the floor in front of our family television set watching my favorite TV shows:  The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Batman, The Fugitive, to name a few. The time spent watching these shows could often stretch to a few hours, at which point my parents would intervene by telling me to turn off the TV and go outside to play and get some exercise.  Or, if it was a school night, they would turn off the TV and tell me to get my homework done. Their concern was that the amount of time spent in front of the TV (now referred to as screen time) wasn’t good for me, especially watching what they considered to be mindless entertainment.

While time spent on or in front of computers and other devices is an important part of one’s work or educational-related activities, it can cause problems. Even my parents recognized that screen time limited physical activity or time spent with friends and family. The American Academy of Pediatrics has developed a set of guidelines to help families in taking steps to limit screen time.¹

There is a difference, however, between screen time and screen use. Screen time is simply the amount of time spent on a device.  Screen use is how screen time is being used and what is being accessed on the internet. Recent studies and writings have indicated that screen use is just as if not more concerning than screen time.

Today’s generations face unprecedented access to technological content, which may be associated with behavioral challenges such as the excessive use of social media, video game playing, message exchange apps, relationship platforms, video streaming, consumption of pornography and online sexual content, which may lead to addictive-like behaviors. Screen-based activities such as TV, Internet browsing, videogame playing, and social network use are associated with inadequate lifestyle habits, such as poor sleep and sedentariness. Together they have been called the “invisible risks” as they are related to high levels of anxiety, depression and suicide attempts in adolescents and young adults.²

All these activities, which can be referred to as internet addiction, are mostly recognized by the term Problematic Internet Use (PIU). PIU is defined as excessive online activity that is difficult to control. Research suggests that PIU has implications for adolescent development and is associated with functional impairment, interpersonal difficulties, and decreased academic performance.²

In his book, The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt shows how smartphones, social media, and helicopter parenting have led to a decline in young people’s mental health and offers actionable solutions to help both our kids and us become mature, emotionally stable adults.³

He states that our children’s mental health is endangered by four foundational harms caused by excessive online activities and a phone-based childhood:

1. Social deprivation. Since 2012, the time adolescents spend with friends in face-to-face settings has dropped 50% — and the pandemic only made it worse.
2. Sleep deprivation. A lack of sleep leads to “depression, anxiety, irritability, cognitive deficits, poor learning, and lower grades” — and long-term studies have proven smartphones are making us sleep worse.
3. Attention fragmentation. Since our phones constantly interrupt us, our ability to focus is severely impaired.
4. Addiction. Many kids are using their phones like dopamine slot machines, always in search of the next hit — and big tech has designed their apps to encourage this behavior.³

In the second half of the book, Haidt discusses what governments, schools, and parents can do to provide healthy childhoods. He calls out four “foundational reforms” to combat the four foundational harms:

1. No smartphones before high school. We should give our kids basic, text-and-call-only phones (referred to as dumbphones) until they are 14 years old.
2. No social media before 16. When preteens are subjected to endless algorithmically chosen content and comparisons with influencers, it can damage their self-worth permanently.
3. Phone-free schools. More than just disallowing phones during class, schools should force kids to lock them away altogether. “That is the only way to free up their attention for each other and for their teachers,” Haidt writes.
4. Far more unsupervised play and childhood independence. Let your kids learn to “develop social skills, overcome anxiety, and become self-governing young adults,” naturally, Haidt suggests. Give them room to try, fail, and learn from it.³

Two studies listed here investigated the effect of internet addiction or PIU on the teenage brain. Researchers have linked compulsive use of the internet to changes in the brain that can feed addictive behaviors and undermine intellectual and physical development.

One study was a systematic review from the University College London, published in June 2024 in PLOS Mental Health. Twelve studies between 2013 and 2023 involving 237 youths aged 10 to 19 who had a formal diagnosis of internet addiction were reviewed.  (Internet addiction is defined as an inability to resist the urge to use the internet, which negatively affects mental well-being, as well as aspects of social, educational, and work life).  All the studies were conducted in Asian countries and used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine how areas of the brain interact with each other (functional connectivity).  MRIs were taken on the individuals while at rest and while completing a task. The MRIs showed multiple regions of the adolescent brain were affected. There was a mixture of increased and decreased activity in parts of the brain that are activated during rest.  It also showed an overall decrease in functional connectivity in parts of the brain used in active thinking. The findings indicate these changes lead to addictive behaviors and tendencies in adolescents and behavioral changes associated with intellectual ability, physical coordination, and mental health and development.⁴

Another study, published in 2023 in JAMA Pediatrics, investigated a group of 169 sixth- and seventh-grade students from a middle school in rural North Carolina. The study focused on comparing groups of students based on the frequency the students checked their social media feeds. The children received three brain scans at roughly one-year intervals during a controlled test.  The findings indicate that teens who grow up checking social media more often become hypersensitive to feedback from other kids. They also experience fewer or less intense positive feelings from previously rewarding stimuli, which could drive them to pursue more potent feelings through increased reward-seeking behavior.⁴

This blog is not intended to minimize the numerous benefits of technology and the use of technology devices in schools and classrooms.  They certainly have enhanced the teaching/learning process and, in many ways, have helped teachers and students become more efficient and productive in their education and learning in the classroom. That being said, all the implications of screen time/screen use in our schools and classrooms and the effects this has on students deserve to be reviewed and assessed.  Are there measures that educators can take to lessen the negative effects of screen time and screen use on students and assist families with these concerns?

Some questions for possible consideration might include the following:

What are your policies regarding cell phones/use during the school day?

(A resource that might be helpful regarding cell phone policies in schools can be found in this EducationWeek article:  6 Ways Schools Are Managing Students’ Cellphone Use)

Are students encouraged to read printed books vs. digital books?

Are funds provided to update school or classroom libraries?

When doing any class-assigned research, are there any requirements for printed sources to be included?

Are students being intentionally taught to use technology responsibly?

Is there discussion among teachers and departments regarding screen time and screen use in their classes/classrooms?

Are recommendations from pediatric groups regarding screen time considered when planning lessons or school technology plans?

At what age/grade level should Chromebooks/iPads be issued to students?

Does your school use online texts?  Grade levels?  Courses?  Advantages vs. disadvantages?

¹Verizon News Center, “Screen time vs. Screen use: Your child needs you to know the difference,” June 24, 2019, https://www.verizon.com/about/parenting/screen-time-vs-screen-use-your-child-needs-you-know-difference

²Sheila R. Niskier et al., “Adolescent Screen Use: Problematic Internet Use and the Impact of       Gender,”  Psychiatry Investigation, January 12, 2024, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10822745/

³Niklas Goke, “The Anxious Generation Summary,”  Four Minute Books, April 10, 2024, https://fourminutebooks.com/the-anxious-generation-summary/#The_Anxious_Generation_Summary

⁴George Citroner, “Excessive Internet Use Disrupts Key Parts of the Teenage Brain,”  The Epoch Times, August 11, 2024, https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/excessive-internet-use-disrupts-key-parts-of-the-teenage-brain-5688327?src_src=Bright&src_cmp=bright-2024-08-13&est=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAceQ7fBYA6dLK77QCsWdYB%2Fp0zldL810g8Yd6PCH68p2wrl2c