January 28th, 2016
A few weeks ago, my eldest daughter, age 10, had a sleepover party for her birthday. I wrote a post about my reaction to the use of technology by her friends during the sleepover. My daughters were introduced to new apps during the party and I noticed an increase in their use of technology. This alarmed me because we have always done fun activities together after school. We do art, cook, do each other's nails and play hang man. Sometimes, if the weather cooperates, we play on our snow hill or toboggan out back. We also like to play ball with our lab who will run up the stairs to chase her ball hundreds of times. She also likes to play hide and seek. We hide while she is chasing her ball and she has to find us. The girls always laugh, making it easy for the dog.
Suddenly, nothing I suggested interested my daughters. They wanted to "join worlds" on Minecraft or play with Angela, a cat that matures as you play her app. I had to unplug their technology. They were very upset with me. They stomped off then hung around bored but refusing to engage in any activities with me. They sulked. I even heard one of my daughters crying. What?! Over a computer? At supper, we played headbands. The girls chose what each of us would be and they started to giggle. They decided my husband would be Iggle Piggle. Haha! Then each of our daughters showed us how to do a craft they had learned at school......and just like that, we had our girls back. That was scary.
At my Neurofeedback appointment on Monday, I talked to Carol about this experience. She made a comment that stuck with me. The games are stimulating pleasure centres. I wondered if spending a lot of time on technology pre-disposed the brain to become addicted. If your brain's pleasure centre is stimulated for hours at a time, can real life be anything but boring? What if your brain needs more and more immediate gratification to meet its needs? Wouldn't that lead to exploring sex and drugs in order to create the same response? This freaked me out. I did some digging and here is what I found:
In an article titled, 11 Reasons Why Children Under the Age of 12 Should Not Use Handheld Devices, I learned that the brain grows very quickly in childhood up to the age of 21. "Overexposure to technology impaired executive functioning", attention, cognition, learning, impulsivity and self-regulation. The lack of movement impedes learning and contributes to obesity. Using technology at bedtime, increases sleep deprivation which affects school performance. Exposure to physical and sexual violence through video games increases the child's own aggressive behaviours. The high speed of technology means children are less able to focus for long periods of time, they need this skill to learn in school. Being on the computer for more than 30 minutes also causes eye strain in children. Overuse of technology is linked to depression, anxiety and other mental health issues which are prevalent. Children can become attached to technology in the absence of parental attachment. As if all of this was not enough, the radiation emissions from cell phones are considered "probable carcinogens". For more about this, visit www.foodsandhealthylife.com.
I did some research to find out how playing on the iPad resulted in addiction. An article by David J. Linden on www.psychologytoday.com titled, Video Games Can Activate the Brain's Pleasure Circuits, proved my theory. David performed brain scans of men and women playing simple video games. He detected "rapid brain dopamine release". This was also measure with PET scans during an other study. He saw that "key regions of the medial forebrain pleasure centre circuit were also activated, including the nucleus accumbens as well as the amygdala, and the orbitofrontal cortex".
The cycle of addiction is well explained on www.helpguide.org, under the heading, Understanding Addiction. "Addiction hijacks the brain. This happens as the brain goes through a series of changes, beginning with recognition of pleasure and ending with a drive toward compulsive behaviour". The speed of the release of dopamine determines how addictive an experience will be. "The hippocampus creates a memory of this satisfaction and the amygdala creates a conditioned response to this stimuli".
I can certainly see how the immediate gratification and praise available through most computer games would lead to a release of dopamine. As I read this, I was reminded of the Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development, a theory developed by Erik Erikson. I am worried that children are not learning essential skills they can apply in the real world. Instead, they are becoming competent in the virtual world of computers. What will happen when they get older and realize these skills are not transferable? The first stage of Erikson's theory involves learning to trust that your parents will meet your needs. If your parents are busy and you are feeling neglected, you may become attached to technology. It is always there and rewarding. The next stage's challenge is to develop autonomy. Parents encourage their children to explore the world while keeping them safe. They become more confident, develop interests and become self-sufficient (in an age appropriate way). If the child is glued to a computer screen, this exploration is limited and the learning opportunities are lost. In the Initiative stage, children are learning to master their environment. They challenge themselves and feel successful when they reach their goals. Parents can assist with the parts that are a bit challenging. Children can go through an experience and feel proud of their accomplishment. If children are not interested in pursuing interests beyond computers, they gain a sense of mastery while playing that game as their skills develop. However, these skills don't matter when they are at school, needing to complete homework or collaborate in groups on assignments.
This post is my SOS to other parents who are in the same situation. I am not denying that learning computer skills can be helpful or suggesting that technology be banned. However, I am discovering the long term consequences of allowing my children to explore technology for extended periods of time. I will continue to monitor their use of technology and prepare alternative activities to enjoy with my daughters after school. I don't want to lose my girls: their creativity, their spontaneity, their presence to the overstimulating, numbing world of technology.
Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org
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