Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

No evidence screen time is negative for child cognitive development, well-being

oii.ox.ac.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 119 posts

Re: No evidence screen time is negative for child cognitive development, well-being

#41

Post by nevinera »

onemoresoop wrote: post #23

Dubious at best. If one has children they notice quite visibly that screen time makes their children more agitated during the days they have screen time. And screen time is as addictive to children as it is to adults, and we should consider the effects they have on their developing brains.

When science doesn't match your personal observations, that doesn't make the science wrong. It also doesn't make your personal observations wrong - it usually (in my experience) means that you're measuring/observing different things (assuming you're reasonably intelligent, which I am doing). In this case, "cognitive development and well being" are complex concepts that probably do not map exactly (or maybe even grossly) between their definitions in the study and their experiential meanings in your head.

My personal observation is that "screen time" is not the problem, but lack of interaction _is_ - letting the kids be in front of a screen for two hours doesn't cause a problem, but letting that be an excuse not to spend time with them or interact with them (which is when it usually ends up happening in large quantities) does. Essentially - you need to control the other variables to understand what's really going on; excessive screen time is generally a symptom and not a cause.

Re: No evidence screen time is negative for child cognitive development, well-being

#42

Post by kelseyfrog »

Cognitive development falls under the umbrella of psychology, a failed science.

It's impossible to reliably and exhaustively measure development, and like real science, disproving an effect is orders of magnitude more difficult than finding an effect.

Re: No evidence screen time is negative for child cognitive development, well-being

#43

Post by vidarh »

SirMaster wrote: post #36
evilduck wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have children and do not notice this. What you want to be true isn’t necessarily universal.

Nobody is saying it applies to every child. But if it affects enough of them then it's a problem worth looking into.

GP did make a blanket statement

Re: No evidence screen time is negative for child cognitive development, well-being

#44

Post by justrealist »

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #29
justrealist wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually reasonable for people to build theories about the world around them by carefully observing the environment around them.

Casual observation, always careful in the mind of the observer, is a piss poor substitute for scientific data collection. Are you, as we speak, conducting a double blind, properly controlled and sampled study of juvenile cognitive development and device exposure?

> Are you, as we speak, conducting a double blind, properly controlled and sampled study of juvenile cognitive development and device exposure

The study you are defending is not blinded, controlled, or randomly sampled. Use your brain for a second instead of reacting instinctively. Do you really think this oneoff paper was the result of a 10-year longitudinal study?

In fact, the hypothetical study you are describing would cost millions of dollars, never pass an IRB or be consented by parents.

Please try to update your priors.

Re: No evidence screen time is negative for child cognitive development, well-being

#45

Post by babyshake »

onemoresoop wrote: post #23

Dubious at best. If one has children they notice quite visibly that screen time makes their children more agitated during the days they have screen time. And screen time is as addictive to children as it is to adults, and we should consider the effects they have on their developing brains.

I can cite plenty of anecdotal evidence of what seems to be addiction. Major temper tantrums and hyperventilating when screens are taken away. Not to mention, zoning out for an hour or two watching unboxing videos or whatever on YouTube.

Re: No evidence screen time is negative for child cognitive development, well-being

#48

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

rickdeckard wrote: post #39

Does this factor in the impact of constant instant-gratification of whatever is done on that screen? Because (subjectively) I can see how children with lots of screen-time have a harder time with activities which do not lead to immediate dopamine release, like reading, listening to a story, drawing, etc., while children with low/no screen-time can derive satisfaction already from the process of doing something. -- Ed…

This may be the major distinction that is missing. We don't talk about what someone is doing on the screen. Some activities are better than others. Me play Path of Exile -- not great. Reading HN -- potentially not a time sink. Watching a documentary on deadly snakes -- mild time waster. Reading Terry Pratchett for 20x time -- endless joy.

edit: I guess my real point is that it is all in the eye of the beholder. I know my parents hated me playing games.

Re: No evidence screen time is negative for child cognitive development, well-being

#49

Post by usgroup »

rickdeckard wrote: post #39

Does this factor in the impact of constant instant-gratification of whatever is done on that screen? Because (subjectively) I can see how children with lots of screen-time have a harder time with activities which do not lead to immediate dopamine release, like reading, listening to a story, drawing, etc., while children with low/no screen-time can derive satisfaction already from the process of doing something. -- Ed…

Children and everyone else … I can’t watch a movie anymore without either reading something or playing chess at the same time just to up the frequency of those hits.

Re: No evidence screen time is negative for child cognitive development, well-being

#50

Post by ssijak »

Well, screen time I imagine would also not induce diabetes or clogged arteries in children 9-12. but it will few decades down the line if they don't ingrain good habits because of that screen time.

Same with this, if MRI does not detect brain "hardware" damage, that does not mean there are no software damage done to kids with excessive screen time at young age.

I had a son 2 months ago. One of my biggest concerns is how to protect him from excessive screen time and social networks until he grows up enough (~14 years at least). I plan to do a lot of nature going (with some backyard astronomy and biology if that piques his interest) and sports, active travel.. We'll see how it goes

Post reply on HN