[ad_1]
Children who spend too much time in front of a screen can develop poor social skills and low emotional intelligence well into adolescence, researchers have found.
University of Sunshine Coast Associate Professor Michael Nagel said the effects of excessive screen time could be similar to some symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Dr Nagel, co-author of the book Becoming Autistic which cites his own and others’ research, said affected children showed poor theory of mind — the ability to understand the thoughts or emotions of others.
The developmental psychologist said children with “virtual autism” — which is not a recognised clinical diagnosis — often had difficulty maintaining eye contact, paying attention, and regulating emotion.
The term “virtual autism” was coined by clinical psychologist Marius Zamfir, from Romania’s Spiru Haret University, but is not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5).
Dr Zamfir’s 2018 paper published in the Journal of Romanian Literary Studies looked at children under three who had more than four hours of screen time per day.
The peer-reviewed paper found declines in language, cognition, and social skills in those children.
It also found a “recovery therapeutic process” — consisting of occupational therapy, play therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, language stimulation, and other treatments — could improve symptoms in heavy screen users.
More research needed
Dr Nagel said screens had a “displacement” effect, reducing the amount of time spent interacting with other humans during a child’s critical development phase.
He said the early years of life were particularly crucial for developing social and emotional skills.
“We’re seeing too many young people with no history or clinical diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder looking like, acting like, and engaging in the world like people who actually do have autism,” Dr Nagel said.
“This is not to say that it’s making people autistic, but it seems to create situations where that’s what it looks like.
“Fortunately, it seems we can wean kids and adolescents off [screen time].”
Research and development manager at Autism Queensland Jill Ashburner said research had explored the correlation between excessive screen time and developmental issues.
However, she said more research would be needed to prove causation.
“We are aware there has been some recent research exploring the links between excessive screen time in children under the age of three years and with language delay and issues with attention,” Dr Ashburner said.
“However, further research is needed to establish a causal link.”
Autism CRC was contacted for comment.
How gaming can harm the body
A University of Queensland paper has found gaming for more than three hours a day can also harm physical health.
Author Daniel Stjepanovic, from the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, found heavy gamers had higher rates of eye fatigue, back pain, and wrist strain than casual gamers.
Dr Stjepanovic said aspiring eSport gamers had higher rates of body fat and decreased bone mineral density.
The study of 955 gamers, published in the Computers in Human Behaviour journal, found young people were also susceptible to back pain and spine mobility problems, despite those being symptoms typically associated with older people.
Dr Stjepanovic said, as a child, he had partaken in long gaming marathons on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
However, he said gamers should try to keep their gaming sessions shorter in length to avoid physical harm.
“We know that video gaming play is an important part of many people’s lives. It brings a lot of joy and entertainment to people,” he said.
“However the main takeaway message is it would be good for individuals to moderate how much time they spent in an individual sitting.”
Generational changes
Dr Nagel said the problem of excessive screen time was not likely to go away in the short term.
He said younger generations were increasingly spending more time in front of screens, disrupting a critical period of emotional development.
Dr Nagel said this could explain why internet users often showed low empathy, vehemence, poor perspective-taking, and the inability to put themselves in other people’s shoes.
“We speculated if this was one of the reasons why we see such a polarisation of opinion in the current sociocultural context where it’s my way or the highway,” he said.
“If you’re a baby boomer or gen Y you grew up in a time when there weren’t screens, and now your brain is fully matured.
“We now have a generation of kids who have grown up with these devices.”
Get local news, stories, community events, recipes and more each fortnight.
|
Sources 2/ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-22/research-finds-screen-time-video-games-linked-social-problems/103606100 The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
[ad_2]