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

oii.ox.ac.uk

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

#51

Post by sickofparadox »

whimsicalism wrote: post #38
sickofparadox wrote: post #10

Science reporting does itself a massive disservice publishing headlines like this, especially when the real takeaway is just "MRIs cannot see the damage done to children's brains with screens". Even other children know that the "ipad kids" are different and damaged in some way, my young cousin and his friends call them bots.

Reminds me of the famous Deng Xiaoping quote: “Seek truth from what your young cousin says about other children.”

Or his other famous quote "I do not care if it is a white iPad or Black iPad, it is good as long as it scrolls on Tiktok." Very wise man, that Deng.

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

#52

Post by vidarh »

justrealist wrote: post #44
kspacewalk2 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

There's a great deal of irony of this criticism coming from someone claiming to know better than this study while providing nothing to back up your dismissal.

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

#53

Post by HumblyTossed »

Screen time is pretty broad. A toddler watching 10 min of Ms. Rachel probably isn't the same as a teenager watching 10 min of TikTok.

We've had some single digit aged children in our care that had been exposed to GTA, scary movies, etc. Those things absolutely DID have an effect on them.

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

#54

Post by evilduck »

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.

Isn’t looking into it exactly what they did with the 12,000 kids in the study linked?

OP’s kid could have major depression for all we know, their anecdotes about their kids being extrapolated to all kids is absurd.

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

#55

Post by dfee »

Not all screen time is equal. Though, all screen time may have negative consequences.

My third grade son spends time daily on typing and Khan Academy (iMac). He spends an additional few minutes reading about sports (public school issued iPad). His video game exposure is quite limited. Though I have a PS5, he rarely plays it (once per week, perhaps – of course Madden and MLB The Show).

He spends a lot of time either at school or playing organized club sports. Shorter and colder winter days will have a negative impact on outdoor activities, so looking at fields with lights or indoor sports.

His cognitive functions are quite good. I'd say the iPad is definitely the lowest quality computer interaction he gets.

The real setback for his cohort was Covid. Those who spent time on iPhones and iPads then (likley continuing on from their early childhood) appear to lag and continue to struggle. These kids are easy to pick out, and I sympathize with their struggle.

I have another young child now (<2), and again: no iPhones or iPads for him. I'll wait for the research to catch up.

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

#56

Post by dudul »

A few kids in my 8yo son's class don't use screens. No TVs, phones, games, etc. Others are already binge watching StarWars, Minecraft, etc.

The differences between these 2 groups are enormous in terms of their play, their attention during lessons, their overall academic achievements.

I will never believe a study telling me that spending 2 hours watching star wars is better for a kid than going to build a fort in the forest.

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

#57

Post by usgroup »

ssijak wrote: post #50

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…

There is a straightforward solution if you have enough time to commit. Your kids will likely prefer to play with you than sit on the screen every time.

I think the bigger problem is that “we” just don’t “have the time” and fighting the default time sinks when kids are left to their on devises is an uphill battle.

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

#58

Post by kspacewalk2 »

justrealist wrote: post #44
kspacewalk2 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

What gets you in a spot of bother, I think, is reading what you think your interlocutor says, instead of reading what they actually say. I was, from the start, merely objecting to your amusingly cavalier use of the phrase "obviously not true". I never did claim I take the study in question as gospel, nor did I claim it's blinded, controlled, or randomly sampled, now did I?

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

#60

Post by maxk42 »

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.

Just throwing in to back you up: My child becomes unresponsive to most inputs that would ordinarily motivate him (e.g. "Would you like a cookie?") after a certain amount of screentime and becomes pronouncedly agitated should you try to limit screen time (e.g. "It's time to go to school in five minutes. You have to pause the show by then." Cue literal wailing and crying.) When screen time is limited to brief periods (< ~90 minutes) these problems do not manifest.
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