As the coronavirus pandemic pushes toward the end of its fourth month, one unmistakable truth has emerged amid social-distance practices and stay-at-home mandates: For kids of all ages, screen time has skyrocketed.
Children are spending far more time in front of screens now because of lockdown and school closure. Classrooms have been replaced by online learning. Time on the playground is now spent playing video games and watching videos. Certainly, all that screen time is not good for our children.
A recent study reveals that children who spend more than two hours a day looking at a screen have worse memory, language skills and attention span. Children’s access to technology poses both negative and positive impact.
Children are spending far more time
in front of screens now because of
lockdown and school closure.
The virtual world helps children to exploit a new communicative paradigm. Experts are of the opinion that today’s children are able to ascertain between competing facts more accurately and make decisions more quickly. Also access to technology helps children increase their cognitive and analytical skills.
However, on the other hand, the impact of prolonged screen-time could change how children’s brains develop. There is no denying that internet is damaging children’s capacity for originality and for critical and reflective thinking.
Study suggests that screen time can lead to stress because chronic stress created from looking at a screen changes hormone levels which increase irritability. This change in hormone levels can lead to depression. It is found that those who use too much technology are more likely to develop the same brain chemistry as substance abusers. .
Considering all above, parents, teachers and guardians should become more concerned and compel the children to spend less screen time using digital technology. Parents, teachers, and policymakers should promote limiting recreational screen time and prioritising healthy daily-routines throughout childhood and adolescence.