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Associations between infant screen use, EEG markers, and cognitive outcomes

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Re: Associations between infant screen use, EEG markers, and cognitive outcomes

#11

Post by miriam_catira »

georgeburdell wrote: post #5
superkuh wrote: post #3

I wonder why this effect was not discovered when screens were first invented and entered the home back in the early 20th century when televisions came about. It really makes me doubt the entire premise as screens have not changed since then. It just seems like another unfounded moral panic like when people blamed books, newspapers, or radio for youth misbehavior. Every generation has it's own. It's weird that we've g…

Screens are far more interactive now. Perhaps that’s a component as well

This paper is talking about screen use by infants - within the first year of life. Screen interaction can not be the major problem here, it's much more likely to be a lack of interaction with other humans. That's key to infant development, so it shouldn't be a surprise that a lack of stimulus from carers would lead to issues later.

Re: Associations between infant screen use, EEG markers, and cognitive outcomes

#12

Post by scott00 »

It seems like they collected 5 screen time data points[0] but only present analysis of the first, collected at 12 months of age.

Did I just miss the other analyses?

Assuming I didn't, is it too cynical of me to infer that they ran the numbers for the other data points but found no relationship? Suggesting that screen use after age 20 months or so is substanitially less harmful?

[0] Quoting from the paper: "When their child was aged 12 months, parents were asked to report the amount of time on average that the child spent on screens ... . Parents were asked the same question on their child’s screen time at 5 time points between ages 12 months and 54 months."

Re: Associations between infant screen use, EEG markers, and cognitive outcomes

#13

Post by medler »

georgeburdell wrote: post #5
superkuh wrote: post #3

I wonder why this effect was not discovered when screens were first invented and entered the home back in the early 20th century when televisions came about. It really makes me doubt the entire premise as screens have not changed since then. It just seems like another unfounded moral panic like when people blamed books, newspapers, or radio for youth misbehavior. Every generation has it's own. It's weird that we've g…

Screens are far more interactive now. Perhaps that’s a component as well

This study was pretty much only about TV time. It took place before handheld devices were ubiquitous in Singapore, where the subjects live

Re: Associations between infant screen use, EEG markers, and cognitive outcomes

#14

Post by cantSpellSober »

superkuh wrote: post #3

I wonder why this effect was not discovered when screens were first invented and entered the home back in the early 20th century when televisions came about. It really makes me doubt the entire premise as screens have not changed since then. It just seems like another unfounded moral panic like when people blamed books, newspapers, or radio for youth misbehavior. Every generation has it's own. It's weird that we've g…

> Using EEG to try to say something about executive function has about as much legitimacy as a horoscope

What? From TFA:

> EEG data over the midfrontal and parietal regions have been used to delineate potential neural mechanisms of attention and executive function

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1087054717718263

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-95848-9_...

They didn't just look at EEG results either

> Objective executive function assessments were administered using the Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment, second edition (NEPSY-II)

...whereas there are no scientific studies that have shown support for the accuracy of horoscopes. Any specific criticisms besides the generic "moral panic" that gets posted on every article like this?

Re: Associations between infant screen use, EEG markers, and cognitive outcomes

#15

Post by martinjacobd »

miriam_catira wrote: post #11
georgeburdell wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Screens are far more interactive now. Perhaps that’s a component as well

This paper is talking about screen use by infants - within the first year of life. Screen interaction can not be the major problem here, it's much more likely to be a lack of interaction with other humans. That's key to infant development, so it shouldn't be a surprise that a lack of stimulus from carers would lead to issues later.

I'm not sure why it would be true that screen time is not a problem for a Of course, a lack of interaction with humans could be a factor too but in our case we were literally playing with it alongside her and she would still get upset if it was taken away.

Re: Associations between infant screen use, EEG markers, and cognitive outcomes

#16

Post by stevenwoo »

superkuh wrote: post #3

I wonder why this effect was not discovered when screens were first invented and entered the home back in the early 20th century when televisions came about. It really makes me doubt the entire premise as screens have not changed since then. It just seems like another unfounded moral panic like when people blamed books, newspapers, or radio for youth misbehavior. Every generation has it's own. It's weird that we've g…

They compared children starting at 12-18 months and ending at 9 years of age. This study would have been unreasonable as far as I understand it until screens got small enough to put in a crib or only include parents who hold their child in their lap while watching television or have a television adjacent to a crib.

Re: Associations between infant screen use, EEG markers, and cognitive outcomes

#17

Post by CadmiumYellow »

superkuh wrote: post #3

I wonder why this effect was not discovered when screens were first invented and entered the home back in the early 20th century when televisions came about. It really makes me doubt the entire premise as screens have not changed since then. It just seems like another unfounded moral panic like when people blamed books, newspapers, or radio for youth misbehavior. Every generation has it's own. It's weird that we've g…

"screens have not changed since then"

What? They've changed massively. The displays are different sizes, they're made of different materials, they're more portable, they're more interactive, the colors are brighter, the resolution is better. Our current generation of screens are ubiquitous in a way that TV was not, and they are qualitatively different. Surely the effect on our brains could be different. Not saying that this particular study is great but I don't understand how anyone can dismiss this line of thinking as nothing more than the same moral panic Socrates once had about books, or whatever. Have you not noticed changes in your own attention span, memory, and thought processes since the advent of smartphones and tablets?

Re: Associations between infant screen use, EEG markers, and cognitive outcomes

#18

Post by 1970-01-01 »

superkuh wrote: post #3

I wonder why this effect was not discovered when screens were first invented and entered the home back in the early 20th century when televisions came about. It really makes me doubt the entire premise as screens have not changed since then. It just seems like another unfounded moral panic like when people blamed books, newspapers, or radio for youth misbehavior. Every generation has it's own. It's weird that we've g…

Both the use-case and the physical screen have changed so much since 1930s television broadcasts it makes me wonder if you drive a dinosaur to work.

Re: Associations between infant screen use, EEG markers, and cognitive outcomes

#19

Post by superkuh »

CadmiumYellow wrote: post #17
superkuh wrote: post #3

I wonder why this effect was not discovered when screens were first invented and entered the home back in the early 20th century when televisions came about. It really makes me doubt the entire premise as screens have not changed since then. It just seems like another unfounded moral panic like when people blamed books, newspapers, or radio for youth misbehavior. Every generation has it's own. It's weird that we've g…

"screens have not changed since then" What? They've changed massively. The displays are different sizes, they're made of different materials, they're more portable, they're more interactive, the colors are brighter, the resolution is better. Our current generation of screens are ubiquitous in a way that TV was not, and they are qualitatively different. Surely the effect on our brains could be different. Not saying th…

>Have you not noticed changes in your own attention span, memory, and thought processes since the advent of smartphones and tablets?

I have never owned a smart phone or tablet. I use a dumb phone (Nokia 6030) and desktop (or laptop) computers. Smartphones and tablets are terrible computers, not because they have magic screen powers to influence your brain but because they have limited volume for heat dissipation/energy storage, limited network capability due to radio power constraints and random round trip time, terrible IO, locked down software, and generally are ankle bracelet like tracking devices with no way to remove the battery.

Re: Associations between infant screen use, EEG markers, and cognitive outcomes

#20

Post by mc32 »

CadmiumYellow wrote: post #17
superkuh wrote: post #3

I wonder why this effect was not discovered when screens were first invented and entered the home back in the early 20th century when televisions came about. It really makes me doubt the entire premise as screens have not changed since then. It just seems like another unfounded moral panic like when people blamed books, newspapers, or radio for youth misbehavior. Every generation has it's own. It's weird that we've g…

"screens have not changed since then" What? They've changed massively. The displays are different sizes, they're made of different materials, they're more portable, they're more interactive, the colors are brighter, the resolution is better. Our current generation of screens are ubiquitous in a way that TV was not, and they are qualitatively different. Surely the effect on our brains could be different. Not saying th…

Moreover parents (the vast majority) use these screen as babysitters —TV did some of that some of the time, but mostly not. But with mobile devices they are ubiquitous in cars, restaurants, airplanes and the home.

It’s a long stretch to say they are equivalent for sure.

If nothing else they deserve to be studied for effects rather than dismiss it as “yet another moral panick”

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