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Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

medrxiv.org

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Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#111

Post by zelienople »

We often exclude obvious apects of natural selection in these studies. In this case, the decision to have children during a pandemic may be indicative of a predisposition to poor mental functioning in the parents, which would naturally result in poorer cognitive function, on average, in the offspring.

More intelligent people would recognize the potential downsides to reproducing in a pandemic, such as (a) unknown effects of the novel coronavirus on the developing fetus, and (b) the role of excessive population density in fueling the pandemic. These more intelligent parents would tend to make the logical decision to avoid reproducing in adverse circumstances.

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#112

Post by UnFleshedOne »

dessant wrote: post #42
mandmandam wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They will manage just fine because they are exposed to enough maskless people at home and in other social settings The wealthy kids have that opportunity. Kids with natural social skills may be fine too. However, kids with two parents that are working 4 jobs won't reach their full potential. Many kids already have issues from this; and it's awful that their voices and their parents voices - and their psychologists…

Yes, times are tough for everyone, including children. I find it even more abhorrent to single out masks because "you can't see people's faces", while ignoring what their purpose is and what can they prevent. We've seen enough idiots decimate their family and friends while repeating this exact same argument.

Masks that are worse than a well-fitted N95 help with limiting spread when you go into a shop for 15 minutes. When you spend 8 hours in a crowded building with no ventilation, they do exactly nothing -- you will get full exposure regardless. Masks in schools are health theater.

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#113

Post by astrange »

bryan0 wrote: post #70
xxpor wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Half the problem is no one has actually expressed a goal we're working towards. Covid isn't going to go away (at least not for a while), which I think everyone at least implicitly accepts at this point. The people who are going to get vaccinated largely have (especially in a few months with the OSHA rule + booster rollout). So what are we even doing?

> Half the problem is no one has actually expressed a goal we're working towards. Yeah I don’t think the goals have been clear, even if they have been changing over time. I think the clearest goal now should be a 90% vaccination rate to turn Covid into the common cold, and then going back to life as normal, but as long as huge swathes of the population refuse to get vaccinated this goal is unattainable. Edit: I belie…

Some antivaxxers are just afraid of needles, so if we had a nasal spray vaccine they’d take it.

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#114

Post by rightbyte »

philovivero wrote: post #71
dessant wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, times are tough for everyone, including children. I find it even more abhorrent to single out masks because "you can't see people's faces", while ignoring what their purpose is and what can they prevent. We've seen enough idiots decimate their family and friends while repeating this exact same argument.

This sort of over-the-top rhetoric gives anti-maskers their ammo. I am unaware of a single family, anywhere on the planet, that was "decimated" by Covid. I hope you really mean "devastated," because then at least you'd be making some semblance of sense. Also, to ignore that there are studies and experts that back their opinion is a little rich. Sure, you can say you think your studies and your experts are better, but…

"Decimate" is kill one in ten, which is probably a not uncommon number for those who had atleast one fatality in the family.

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#115

Post by watwut »

ryantgtg wrote: post #81
vldchk wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would bet on the growth of notepads and smartphone usage by children 0-2 age. There are evidences that electronics and smart screens are destructive for the cognitive development of infants, while they are super easy to adopt by lazy parents. Click on some YTube show and baby won’t bother you for the next hour or two.

Lazy parents? Don’t be hasty. A coworker of mine had every intention of not having any screentime for their toddler. But lockdown meant two parents working from home + no daycare. The solutions were either one of them quits their job or they buy an iPad. Economy necessity dictated the latter. With my toddler, we retained zero screentime simply because my wife is freelance and can get away with ~10 hours of actual wor…

I had same intention. Even practically largely managed. And then, when I shown toddler first fairy tale, toddler started to have way more varied and imaginative games.

Turns out, it does not destroys them at all. It can actually add quite a lot.

The harm can happen if you overdo it a lot. But some watching or playing is not destroying them at all.

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#116

Post by astrange »

option wrote: post #54
mandmandam wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine children's physical health is actually being severely affected as well, especially for children in lower income families. I would expect less physical movement overall (bad), more respiratory issues from over-wearing masks, anxiety manifesting as physical issues, and a host of other second order effects. And let's not forget that poorer kids worldwide are facing less access to dentists and other preventativ…

I often run (maskless of course) on the street where I can see public’s school stadium. Kids there wear masks outside while running around stadium during PE class. What kind of insanity is this??! This is in Santa Clara county, CA.

Masks outside are good actually. It’s cold outside and they’re warm. You can’t wear a scarf while running.

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#117

Post by bhk »

throwaway_2009 wrote: post #60
geofft wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That math doesn't work out, because the infection fatality ratio measures fatality - non-existence - not impaired existence. Long covid is a thing, and affects a staggeringly large percentage of people who get covid and do not die, significantly affecting the rest of their lives. One recent study claims an infection impaired-quality-of-life ratio of over 50% ( https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/how-many-people-g…

> One recent study claims an infection impaired-quality-of-life ratio of over 50% ( https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/how-many-people-get- ...). Yeah, okay. I know anecdotes are not data, we're supposed to trust the Internet over our own eyes and all of that, but come on, do you think I'm dense? I know over a hundred people who've had coronavirus at this point, this is clearly total nonsense.

In that study, 79% of the subjects had been hospitalized. It's clearly not a representative sample of the population.

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#118

Post by kkjjkgjjgg »

vldchk wrote: post #67
giantg2 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what could be driving that trend.

I would bet on the growth of notepads and smartphone usage by children 0-2 age. There are evidences that electronics and smart screens are destructive for the cognitive development of infants, while they are super easy to adopt by lazy parents. Click on some YTube show and baby won’t bother you for the next hour or two.

"There are evidences" - really? There are certainly people who are of the opinion, but evidence?

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#119

Post by hutzlibu »

coldcode wrote: post #63
colordrops wrote: post #10

At this point in the pandemic we've should have come up with models that factor in the externalities of lockdown and factor that into policy decisions. That somehow still hasn't happened. People say "things are pretty much back to normal" but parents with kids in school know this is not true.

Children born during the pandemic are not yet in school. This research makes little sense, measuring cognitive differences of 2 year olds is highly unlikely to be meaningful.

"measuring cognitive differences of 2 year olds is highly unlikely to be meaningful."

Do you have expert knowledge, or at least experience with lots of different 2 year olds, to make such a statement?

Because I got some experience and I can tell you, there are great differences to be meassured for sure.

Whether they meassured correctly, I do not know, but I can imagine that the chaos of the pandemic was not always helpful for child developement. Just alone the social contacts are vital for developing - and they were greatly reduced (often replaced with screen time) compared to normal 2 year olds.

Re: Children born in the pandemic have significantly reduced cognitive performance [pdf]

#120

Post by JumpCrisscross »

astrange wrote: post #109
conception wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The large scale antivax movement for one.

Antivaxxers tend to use scientific/rational language though, as opposed to new age vibes or what they heard from their priests. They’re using a modernist mindset, they just happen to be wrong.

> using a modernist mindset

Would be curious to see data on this. I most frequently see an emotional appeal against authority, vague anxieties and fears and/or slippery slope arguments.

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