Screens and things we should be careful with our children is very asked question. All parents care about their children, whether they have to spend a lot of time in front of television screens.
Whether it can affect their eyesight or any other health problems.
After much speculation, it has finally been proven that over-exposure of children to screens contributes to a decrease in brain development, especially in preschool children.
The results are really important and significant because children develop their brains at that time.
The most recent studies
The most recent studies of preschoolers who spent more time in front of screens, or more than the recommended daily time frame, were far more disorganized and their brain white matter levels were much lower.
When it comes to white matter it should be emphasized that it is crucial for children.
This is important to have good results in language learning,
literacy and cognitive skills, any reduction in white matter mean that the brain is not functioning at all It is worrying when it is taken into consideration that children in that period need to develop their abilities most and when they need to learn new things.
The study examined the display-related and cognitive skills of 47 children between the ages of 3 and 5, and brain scans of all 47 children were performed to determine if their skills had undergone changes.
Children took a cognitive test
Before the scan was done, the children took a cognitive test.
And the parents filled out a questionnaire based on recommendations for spending time in front of screens at the American Academy of Pediatrics.
At the end of the test, ie the final ScreenQ score was obtained according to criteria such as whether the child had a television set in his room.
Whether the child was exposed to the screen before he was 1.5 years old.
Other criteria were whether and how much time was spent in front of the screen.
Whether she was watching alone or in the presence of her parent. All results were distributed on a numerical scale from 0 to 26.
The higher the score, the greater results mean the negative child’s cognitive skills and expressive language.
Also including his ability to quickly name objects.
The average result
The average result was 8.6. While the calculated optimal time spent in front of the screens was an hour and a half a day.
Spend it on promoting brain development, including reading and more communication with the people around them, with the family.
At preschool, it is better for children to talk, imitate, and solve problems than to look at digital screens.
For young children, perhaps the biggest problem is the transition.
The transition from what they see on a two-dimensional screen to what they see in the real three-dimensional world.
Therefore, it is important that the more they focus and learn from what they see in normal conditions.
Without the use of screens, the more easily they will be able to develop their abilities.
Which is most important during this time of their childhood development.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is also investigating the impact of using cell phones in the process of child development.
But this way adversely impacts children with their development of crucial coping skills.
If we take the example of a child using an iPad, then it is very important an adult to participate in the application or video game to allow social interaction with the child.
Another important recommendation that should be applied more often is for parents to sit with their children while watching a video or
playing fun video games, teach them to use these examples as part of a healthy and ethical way of normal life development.
Children under 18 months
One should not underestimate the opinion of the World Health Organization, which recommends that all children under 18 months of age not be exposed to screens.
Except when used for video chatting with their parents. on screens.
Or to be not more than 1 hour a day.
These studies are just the beginning of probably much more research so that we can fully understand them.
Understanding how screens affect children’s brain development.
The National Institutes of Health has already begun research involving 11,000 children who will be tested.
Testing how screens (smartphones, video games) affect their brains and the changes that occur.
Summary
In today’s very interesting article, we found out some new things about children.
For their exposure to screens and the negative moments that may arise from their use, our greatest wealth and that is why we need to fight for them and their mental and physical development.
