Screen time Damages our Kids

A study, from the University of Calgary psychologists and published today in the JAMA journal Pediatrics is right up my alley. 

The technological dark age in which live is causing  developmental challenges for our children. What? Technology does not make us better? Upgrading is not  the answer to the future?  

The jig is up folks. Kids 2-5 years old who engage in more screen time received worse scores in developmental screening tests. The apparent explanation is simple: when a kid is in front of a screen, they’re not talking, walking or playing, the activities during which basic skills are cultivated.

"A lot of the positive stimulation that helps kids with their physical and cognitive development comes from interactions with caregivers,” lead author Sheri Madigan said  in a University of Calgary news release. “When they’re in front of their screens, these important parent-child interactions aren’t happening.”

The paper explains:

When young children are observing screens, they may be missing important opportunities to practice and master interpersonal, motor, and communication skills. For example, when children are observing screens without an interactive or physical component, they are more sedentary and, therefore, not practicing gross motor skills, such as walking and running, which in turn may delay development in this area. Screens can also disrupt interactions with caregivers by limiting opportunities for verbal and nonverbal social exchanges, which are essential for fostering optimal growth and development.

 So let's turn off our phones, take them from our toddlers hands and lead the wee ones back to the garden before AI paves over paradise and puts up a parking lot.

If we don't step in and take some responsibility for allowing technology to overrule our life force,  children will never know that paradise IS earth and that we are here to tend.

Technology is  an evolutionary nuclear bomb in the existence of mankind. 

Steven Hawkins agrees.

 Poof! 

Bravo Calgary!!