We live in a digital age where screen time has become a part of our daily lives. Short video content has surged in popularity, becoming one of the hottest forms of entertainment today.
These 1-minute videos, by constantly switching scenes, can continuously attract attention and become a hidden hazard, a black hole of time, easily controlling the afternoon or even the whole day of adults and children.
Becoming addicted, children’s visible vision declines, and their bodies become lazy. In invisible places, the brain is also degenerating…
Faced with the trend of the short video era, what should parents do? Can a strict ban really be achieved?
Do Short Videos Really Make Children Stupid
When watching short videos, children receive continuous excitement and pleasure, which is also the reason behind the mental control and addiction of short videos.
Short videos can affect the secretion of neurotransmitters in the brain, including dopamine, cortisol, endorphins, oxytocin, and serotonin, which are closely related to human daily life.
Short videos can cause the brain to secrete a large amount of dopamine, so children can immediately feel happiness and satisfaction, and this pleasure and excitement can be continuously stimulated by one short video after another, forming a dependence on dopamine – children will develop a serious dependency on this feeling, unable to control their own desire for dopamine, thus becoming addicted.
Subsequently, the body also releases a large amount of unhealthy cortisol. Cortisol is related to stress, which means that when children watch short videos, their physical condition is actually already alarming.
At the same time, the natural release of endorphins, oxytocin, and serotonin in the body is reduced. The release of these three neurotransmitters is the foundation for maintaining the physical and mental health of children, allowing them to stay clear-headed and emotionally stable, feel the love and care around them, and generate lasting happiness.
Therefore, short videos can easily push children into a crisis of body and mind.
Impact on Children’s Brain Cognition
The Oxford University Press announced the word of the year for 2024: Brain rot.
Translated into Chinese, it means “brain decay”.
It refers to the state of mental fatigue and intellectual decline that modern people experience after their brains are excessively exposed to fragmented information from social media, such as short videos.
This is not an exaggeration, especially for children whose brains are still developing.
In a brain science study, researchers scanned the brains of 3-5 year old children and found that children who used screens for more than 1 hour a day without parental involvement had lower levels of white matter development in their brains. White matter is crucial for the development of language and cognitive abilities.
The first few years of life are also a period of rapid brain development, and the impact on children is huge.
Impact on Children’s Attention
In the latest article from 2023, researchers tracked more than 400 infants. When the infants were 12 months old, they inquired about the average daily screen time of the infants, and then monitored their brain waves at 18 months using electroencephalography (EEG).
The study showed that the longer the screen time at 12 months, the more intense the slow-frequency theta waves in the brain would be, and the weaker the high-frequency beta waves.
This means that the brain is in a state of inattention and lack of alertness.
It’s not hard to understand that under the impact of short videos, even adults find it difficult to concentrate on reading or studying quietly, let alone children. Age-appropriate picture books, toys, and early education songs find it difficult to attract children’s attention.
Impact on Children’s Social and Communication Skills
Excessive screen time can lead to developmental delays in children, especially in communication skills and social development.
In a longitudinal study involving more than 7000 children, researchers recorded the time children used electronic screens at the age of one, and then tested their performance in various developmental areas at the age of two.
The results showed that children who used screens for more than four hours a day were five times more likely to have delayed communication skills at the age of two, and twice as likely to be behind in social development compared to normal children.
Screen time cuts off children’s connection with the outside world, and staring at the screen replaces communication with people around them. Where do children have the opportunity to acquire relevant skills?
It can be seen that exposure to screen time too early and in excess is “devouring” children’s brains and all aspects of life.
A Self-Help Guide for the Short Video Era
In today’s information age, it is almost impossible to completely isolate screen time, and it can also lead to alienation from society.
Moderate screen time can also have a positive effect.
A study from the National Survey of Children’s Health in the United States shows that moderate screen time (1 hour per day) compared to lower or higher screen use, their psychosocial functioning is higher. Psychosocial functioning represents a person’s ability to carry out daily life and participate in meaningful interpersonal relationships.
So, if screen time can be used appropriately, it can also help children improve cognitive development and social skills.
Control Daily Screen Time
We can refer to the recommendations given by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP):
1. Before 18 months
Try to avoid all screen time except for video calls. Video calls can cultivate babies’ social skills and language development. The screen is just a medium, and the focus is on interacting and communicating with family and friends.
2. 18-24 months
Gradually introduce screen time under the accompaniment of family members, and avoid short and intense fragmented content. This long-lasting high-intensity sensory stimulation will lead children’s attention patterns to extremes. Select videos with educational significance.
3. 2-5 years old
No more than one hour a day, parents should do a good job of screening and accompanying in advance.
Select Suitable Screen Content
Short video content: Stay away.
These short and fast-paced videos with continuous stimulation and no lasting value should be kept as far away from children as possible.
Appropriate video content can be selected to help children from the following aspects:
1. Content is meaningful and reflects children’s daily life and habits
Select animated films that cover family life scenes, reflecting and connecting with children’s daily lives.
2. Content is social, encouraging children to interact and apply it in life
Video calls are a good example, as there are real people on the other side of the screen, which is equivalent to interacting through the screen.
3. Content is attractive to children
It is interesting and knowledgeable, and includes learning objectives: children’s video time can also become a channel for acquiring knowledge. Select videos with early education and enlightenment qualities, and children can learn while watching. For more reading 👇:
Off-the-Beaten-Path High-Quality Animated Series Recommendations — Pediatrician’s Roundtable
High-Quality Parental Accompaniment
Don’t just give a phone to the child and think everything is fine.
An important reason for children’s addiction to short videos is that their lives are too monotonous and tense, and short videos are the easiest entertainment for them to obtain.
Therefore, high-quality parental accompaniment is very important. For young babies, the richness of their lives also represents the parents’ attentiveness.
For little babies, outdoor activities are the best early education. Taking children to explore the outside world and engage in outdoor sports also greatly increases the opportunities for children to socialize, which is very helpful for their physical and mental development.
At home, in addition to mobile phones, we also have many meaningful parent-child activities, such as parent-child reading, early education games, and making children’s handicrafts together.
This can also effectively prevent adults from being addicted to short videos~
On the other hand, in this fast-paced society, we choose high-quality videos, and while controlling children’s screen time, we should also restrain ourselves.
“Leading by example” is never just talk. As parents, we should also try to use our mobile phones less in front of our children, give them high-quality companionship time, enrich effective outdoor time, and cultivate good reading habits.
A good role model can change a child’s life.
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