Research & Stats

1. Movement: Movement is a proven treatment for ADHD. One study showed that when children jogged for 30 minutes 3 times a week their cognitive performance increased after only 12 weeks – and it plummeted when exercise stopped. REF

   Cerebellum: It is only 10% of brain volume but holds over 50% of the brain’s neurons. REF. Pediatric Occupational Therapist, Cris Rowan teaches, “Humans have two sensorimotor systems that are stimulated by movement: the vestibular system located in the brain (often referenced as our inner ear) and the proprioceptive system located in our muscles. These two systems integrate with each other and with the visual system to provide core stability, motor coordination, and balance. Children who don’t move enough, don’t adequately develop these essential sensorimotor systems resulting in poor core stability, poor coordination, and poor balance.” Email communication.

   Crawling: REF Babies should crawl over 1,000 feet a day.

2. Limbic Resonance: From Hilarie Cash, in her article in Psychology Today, “Let me begin by explaining limbic resonance. It refers to the energetic exchange that happens between two people who are interacting in a caring and safe relationship. Their interaction stimulates the release of certain neurochemicals in the limbic region of the brain. These chemicals are necessary for full emotional and physical well-being. Without enough limbic resonance in our lives, over time, we function and feel less and less well. This is why isolation is bad for us. We are social animals; we need one another.”
3. Language Development. Dr. Dana Suskind, author of Thirty Million Words, Building a Child’s Brian. says that by kindergarten, a gap of 32 million words separates children in linguistically impoverished homes from their more stimulated peers.
   • “It’s almost magical how parental conversation appears to influence the biological growth of the brain.” John Gabrieli
   • With background TV, words spoken are reduced from 900 words an hour to 200. Dimitri Christakis, pediatric researcher at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, reports that children learn language skills largely from verbal interactions with their parents. In his recent 2009 study where he used digital recorders on both parents and children in their homes, Dr. Christakis found that adults typically utter approximately 941 words per hour, yet these adult words are almost completely eliminated when television is audible to the child. Dr. Christakis found that each hour of audible television was associated with significant reductions in child vocalizations, vocalization duration, and conversational turns. On average, each additional hour of television exposure was also associated with a decrease of 770 words the child heard from an adult during the recording session. Since 30 percent of American households now report having the television always on, even when no one is watching, researchers report these findings have grave implications for language acquisition and therefore perhaps even early brain development (Christakis 2009).
4. Play. Stuart Brown, author of the book Play. How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. “Play is a profound biological process. It shapes the brain and makes animals smarter and more adaptable. In higher animals, it fosters empathy and makes complex social groups possible. For us, play lies at the core of creativity and innovation. Humans are built to play and built through play. It is the truest expression of our individuality. We feel most alive and our best memories are moments of play.” (175).
5. Nature. Nature is a natural stress reducer and according to Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, “New studies suggest that exposure to nature may reduce the symptoms of ADHD, and that it can improve all children’s cognitive abilities and resistance to negative stresses and depression.” (35).
6. Playing Music. Scientists have found that playing music stimulates more parts of the brain than any other human activity. A child’s brain will develop faster with music training, and the good news is that your child doesn’t need to be gifted at music to get the brain benefits—they just need to play. 
   • One research study found that people with musical training show better executive functioning in the brain as compared to non-musicians. From study “Brain imaging shows enhanced executive brain function in people with musical training.” 
   • See video at end of the lesson: TED-Ed, written by Anita Collins and animated by Sharon Colman Graham, explains why playing music benefits the brain more than any other activity, how it impacts executive function and memory, and what it reveals about the role of the same neural structure implicated in explaining Leonardo da Vinci’s genius. Quote from this short film: Playing music is the brain’s equivalent of a full-body workout… Playing an instrument engages practically every area of the brain at once — especially the visual, auditory, and motor cortices. And, as in any other workout, disciplined, structured practice in playing music strengthens those brain functions, allowing us to apply that strength to other activities… Playing music has been found to increase the volume and activity in the brain’s corpus callosum — the bridge between the two hemispheres — allowing messages to get across the brain faster and through more diverse routes. This may allow musicians to solve problems more effectively and creatively, in both academic and social settings.
7. Handwriting. The brain needs the hands to reach its full developmental potential. Handwriting is important for the early recruitment of brain regions needed for letter processing and reading. According to a study conducted by the University of Washington, learning to print, write in cursive, and type on a keyboard all contribute to brain development in students. But instruction in cursive writing in particular seems to produce the greatest neurological effects. Brain scans show that more of the areas of the brain associated with memory formation are activated when writing than when typing (Darling 2014).
8. Reading. Reading for pleasure at 15 is a top predictor for academic & life success. (Renaissance) It is found to be more important for children’s cognitive development than their parents’ level of education. Patricia Greenfield, professor of psychology at UCLA, analyzed more than 50 studies on learning and points out that “reading for pleasure among young people has decreased in recent decades, which is problematic because studies show that reading develops imagination, induction, reflection and critical thinking, as well as vocabulary…in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not.” Quote here. 
9. Empathy. When you examine the data, there are distinct parallels between the introduction of social media and the decline in empathy or compassion. Liraz Margalit,  author of Psychology today Post “What Screen Time Can Really Do to Kids’ Brains“ says, “So if your young child is spending all of his time in front of an iPad instead of chatting and playing with teachers and other children, his empathic abilities — the near-instinctive way you and I can read situations and get a feel for other people — will be dulled, possibly for good.”
10. Physical Touch. From Wendy Rose Gould, Navigating Touch Deprivation in the Social Distancing Era, Touch is the first language babies learn. The lack of a loving, physical touch deprives the body of the feel-good hormone oxytocin. The long-term effects pose a real threat to a child’s emotional well-being. 
11. Downtime. Research has found that taking breaks can improve one’s mood. When the mind isn’t given a chance to pause and refresh, it doesn’t work as efficiently. And watching TV, scrolling through social media or playing games on your phone also don’t count as downtime.
12. Creativity & Imagination. Childhood imagination is like a muscle—it must be used and worked. Creativity builds problem-solving skills for use later in life and has such a short season to develop in the foundational early years. According to Cris Rowan, in “The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child,” There are four requirements for healthy Childhood Development: Movement, Touch, Human Contact, and Exposure to Nature.
    • Communication skills are more than just saying words. They involve learning and practicing how to read nonverbal cues such as body language, tone, inflection, and eye contact.
    • Sleep is especially vital for growing and developing brains. This is especially important for the school-aged child to get enough sleep to properly function in schools. The recommended amount is 9-12 hours for a 5-12 year old. According to the Sleep Foundation, sleep deprivation impairs attention and working memory, but it also affects other functions, such as long-term memory and decision-making. Lack of sleep can affect mood causing irritability, exaggerated emotional reactions. 
13. Belonging. The need for purpose, competency and belonging are critical human needs. Being connected to a community is also good for brain health. It is the foundation for important social, mental, and cognitive skills. It is necessary for life satisfaction as well as helping manage hard times. Research has shown that the loss of belonging, or loneliness, is associated with a shorter life expectancy, stress, illness, decreased well-being, and depression. “According to this meta-analysis co-authored by Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University, lack of social connection heightens health risks as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day or having alcohol use disorder. She’s also found that loneliness and social isolation are twice as harmful to physical and mental health as obesity.” quote here.
14. Attachment. The need for family attachment is the most essential need for all humans. Excellent info here and also see book by Gordon Newfield, Hold On To Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers.

• From Adolescent Brain Development: Current Research and the Impact on Secondary School Counseling Programs Gail K. Roaten and David J. Roaten found here: “While 95 percent of brain development takes place before age 5 or 6, a second wave of development takes place during adolescence, typically from age 11 or 12 through approximately 24 (Spinks, 2000; Jensen, 2010; Yurgelun-Todd, Killgore, & Young, 2002). The human brain contains approximately 100 billion neurons. Neurons, the only cells in the body that do not touch, must rely on chemicals called neurotransmitters to relay messages from cell to cell. The spaces between cells, or synapses, are formed early on. Some of these are formed genetically, but vast numbers are formed due to the child’s engagement in experiential activities. Children are born with many more synapses than needed; those that are unused will die off in a process known as synaptic pruning.”

• Suicide and sleep info here.
• Sports and Sleep. Info here. 

1. The hook. The persuasive design elements in games and social media Most of the techniques center around how often rewards are offered in the experience.
2. Everything New is Fun. Dopamine.
3. The Fear of Dying Works Every Time
4. Entering Survival Mode
5. The thinking Part of the Brain Shuts Down
6. The revved Up Brain is Stressed
7. Stress in Virtual Life equals stress in Real Life
8. Chronic Stress Becomes a Way of Life REF
9. Behavior Problems Increase
10. The Game becomes his new family

“The results aren’t in yet. Bonnie Nagel, one of the study’s investigators and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at Oregon Health & Science University, said she predicts they will find that when brains repeatedly process rapid, rewarding content, their ability to process less-rapid, less-rewarding things “may change or be harmed.” Quote from: WSJ article

There is an explosion of up to 100 billion new nerve connections in the adolescent brain. See here.

1. Language development
2. Sedentary lifestyle
3. Limits Free Play 
4. Disrupts Development of empathy
5. Prevents Movement
6. Impedes Downtime or time in Nature
7. Hinders Creativity
8. Causes Eye Strain, Dry Eye and Myopia
9. Hinders Sleep
10. Causes stress in the Home
11. Detachment
12. Social Isolation

Also: “American children spend more time in front of electronic screens than any other activity except sleeping. The brain becomes what the brain does.” Dr. Douglas Gentile, award-winning educator, research scientist, ScreenStrong Podcast #23 with Dr. Doug Gentile

“Excessive screen time can impinge on children’s ability to develop optimally; it is recommended that pediatricians and health care practitioners guide parents on appropriate amounts of screen exposure and discuss potential consequences of excessive screen use. REF ”The researchers found that greater screen time at 24 months was associated with poorer performance on developmental screening tests at 36 months, and greater screen time at 36 months was associated with lower scores on developmental screening tests at 60 months.” REF

1. No imagination
2. Isolation
3. Missed milestones
4. Start bad Habits
5. Disengaged
6. Can’t Self Soothe

1. Chronic Stress  
2. Detachment
3. Social Anxiety
4. Rejection Pain
5. Lack of Sleep 
6. Identity Confusion

1. Anchoring Bias: The first thing you hear sticks.
2. Confirmation Bias: Seeking out and listening only to others who believe the same way you do.
3. The Conversation Bias: Conversations are the golden ticket to screen success.
4. The ‘Not My Kid’ Bias or ‘My Kid Would Never…’
5. Status Quo Bias: Change is much harder than stagnation.
6. Availability Bias: Out-of-context examples.

• Managing multiple accounts
• Taking selfies
• Wasting time
• Talking with a predator
• Trying to communicate
• Working around parental controls
• Building a personal brain
• Lurking
• Posting
• Sexting
• Feeling lonely and left out
• Comparing

• Waste of time hours of time on screen each day
• Loss of social skills and friends
• Weak identity formation
• Impressionable stage of development
• Pain from rejection and fear of missing out
• Unnecessary comparison and envy
• Too much peer pressure
• Group texting 
• Less time for meaningful activities
• More exposure to porn and sexual content
• Feeling of entitlement
• They never come home

• According to research, social media makes teens anxious, stressed, and depressed. Many girls go to counseling for social media anxiety. The damage is linear, meaning that the more your teen is on social media the more anxious and depressed they will become.
• 71% of teens who spend five or more hours per day on their devices are more likely to have one risk factor for suicide. Twenge study.
• One in five children have been diagnosed with mental health problems. National Alliance on Mental Illness here. 
• Three common stressors
  • Building a brand
  • FOMO
  • Unpredictable changes in Social Currency

1. Myth #1: Middle School is a Good Age to Get a Smartphone.
   • Why 8th grade is the worse age for a smartphone
     • Internet searches change work here by Linda Charmaraman, PhD, also listen to ScreenStrong Podcast Episode with Linda Charmaraman.
     • Being Mean to others
     • Low self confidence
     • Mimicking others
     • Rejection Pain
     • Identity role confusion
     • Addicted to social drama
     • Too many distractions
     • Quote ScreenStrong Workshop 
   • Notes on why 13 is used as age for social media apps: How did 13 become the Internet age of adulthood?  Due to COPPA, 13 is the minimum age requirement for companies to legally collect data from minors. This age has nothing to do with content appropriateness or age of maturity. Here is the actual ruling. Rule Summary: COPPA imposes certain requirements on operators of websites or online services directed to children under 13 years of age, and on operators of other websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information online from a child under 13 years of age. The age limit for most apps was not set because researchers believe children are mature enough to handle social media at age 13. This is not similar to movie ratings like most parents are led to believe.
2. Myth #2: My teen is more mature than her peers. The middle school girl’s phone speech. 
   • QUOTE: “We were so impressed with our daughter’s presentation to us! We fell for it and thought she was so mature. But giving our daughter a smartphone was the worst parenting decision we ever made.” Dad of a 14-year-old teen girl from a ScreenStrong Workshop.
3. Myth #3: Conversations are how teens stay safe online.
   • Parent-teen conversations about avoiding toxic online content are a must but they don’t work the way parents think. Studies show that talking about addiction with teens can reduce drug use and alcohol by 50 percent but only if the parents are NOT allowing access to the addictive substance or activity while having those ongoing conversations. Reference here
   • Conversations can feel like lectures because they can be too abstract. Kids can’t “hear” higher level reasoning when they are anxious or stressed. Young brains—tweens and teens—are not at the point of development where they can easily understand an adult’s reasoning.
   • Conversations only work in tandem with other protective factors such as inaccessibility to problematic substances/activities, strong family values, clear expectations, close family relationships, early intervention, and plenty of healthy activities. Conversations are very important and a wonderful way to build a bond with your teen, but they do not ensure changing teen behavior, making them more mature, nor will they keep your teen safe online.
   • Facts About Teen Brain Development, Newport Academy
4. Myth #4: If I get the right controls on the smartphone, my child will be safe.
   • No filter exists on the market today that removes 100% of pornography from your child’s device. ScreenStrong Podcast #86 with Officer Gomez
5. Myth #5: The right smartphone contract will help my teen use social media well.
   • Reasons why your smartphone contract may fail. See ScreenStrong Podcast #90
     • You are dealing with a teen brain
     • You can’t trust your teen—and that is normal, prudent, and perfectly okay.
     • We don’t make deals with our teens.
     • Teens are not your equal; you are the parent.
     • On a practical level, smartphone contracts work about as well as those chore charts did.
     • Smartphone contracts are impossible to enforce.
     • A phone contract may damage your relationship with your teen.
   • A Better Option
     • Delay smartphone use for teens. 
     • Start with a basic phone without internet access.
     • Require manners, etiquette, and responsibility in real life first, before allowing phone ownership. 
     • Don’t mix the phone decision with the social media decision.
     • Spend more time with your teen (off screens).
     • Focus on learning and practicing in-person social skills. 
     • Establish enforceable rules (with clear-cut consequences, not contracts). 
     • Teaching good behavior on a smartphone begins before the teen gets a phone. It must be taught in real life and usually takes about 18 years.
6. Myth #6: It is wrong to monitor my teen’s smartphone activity; teens need digital privacy. Eighty-two percent of online sex crimes against minors started when the perpetrator used the victim’s social networking site to gain information and introduction. Social Media is not private. (ScreenStrong Blog Post)
7. Myth #7: My teen won’t have any friends without social media or a smartphone.
   • Science tells us that we can only have five close relationships at any given time. Robin Dunbar, How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Dunbar’s Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks (32-33).
8. Myth #8: Only overprotective parents delay smartphones.
   • QUOTE: 1:5 girls have experienced major depression. Suicide is at an all time peak. “One-in-five teenage girls – or nearly 2.4 million – had experienced at least one major depressive episode (the proxy measure of depression used in this analysis) over the past year in 2017. By comparison, 7% of teenage boys (or 845,000) had at least one major depressive episode in the past 12 months.” 2019, A growing number of American teenagers – particularly girls – are facing depression. Geiger and Davis Pew Research Center
   • “If parents simply delay the age they give their children smartphones and social media we would see a very different statistic.” Thomas Kersting, author, Disconnected (28).
   • But data shows that the opposite is true. Kids who spend more time in the virtual world, on video games and social media, are less able to function in the real world. They are more depressed, anxious, and dependent. 
9. Myth #9: My teen needs a smartphone for driving.
   • Texting involves all three types of driving distraction: Manual distractions are those where you move your hands from the wheel; visual distractions are those where you focus your eyes away from the road; a cognitive distraction is when your mind wanders away from the task of driving.
   • Driver distraction is responsible for more than 58% of teen crashes. (REF)
   • Ninety-four percent of teen drivers acknowledge the dangers of texting and driving, but 35% admitted to doing it anyway. (REF) 
   • 21% of teen drivers involved in fatal accidents were distracted by their cell phones. (REF)
   • 15.6% of young drivers (ages 18-24) have admitted to texting while driving and 20% of them claim to be “not familiar at all” with their state’s texting while driving laws. This is compared with 12.2% who also reported as being “not at all familiar” with state laws. (The Zebra)
   • 14% of fatal crashes involved the use of cell phones. (The Zebra)
   • 14% of distracted driving deaths in driving accidents were attributed specifically to cell phone use, as opposed to other forms of distracted driving. (The Zebra)
   • In 2016, almost four thousand people were killed due to the actions of a distracted driver. (The Zebra)
   • 4,637 people died in car crashes in 2018 due to cell phone use and electronic device use. (The Zebra)
   • 3,255 = number of teen (15 to 19) drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2017. (NHTSA)
   • Research has found that dialing a phone number while driving increases your teen’s risk of crashing by six times, and texting while driving increases the risk by 23 times. (NHTSA)
   • Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. At 55 mph, that’s like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed. (NHTSA)
10. Myth #10: A little bit of social media is fine, it is all about balanced use. Moderation doesn’t work for addictive screens.
11. Myth #11: If I don’t give them use now they will binge and go crazy later. (ScreenStrong Blog)
    • Virtue begets virtue. There is no guarantee, but by delaying smartphones through adolescence, you are increasing the odds that your child will not binge later. Social media (and video gaming) are powerful habit-forming activities. Early use builds cravings and will increase the odds that they will overuse addictive screens in the future, not use them less. Dr. Leonard Sax discusses this in his book The Collapse of Parenting, (131), and Chapter 6.
12. Myth #12: My kids need smartphones because I need to teach them how to resist temptations while they are under my roof.
    • The science behind habits reveals that the way to resist temptations is by removing tempting cues from the environment, not being more exposed to the tempting activity.
    • The average child will spend significantly more than 10,000 hours on entertainment screen media before college. Your child does not need 10,000 hours to learn how to use social media, a smartphone, or a computer. Practicing technology skills on their school screens is all they need to learn about technology. James Clear, author, Atomic Habits (92-93). Review Lesson 8 in The Solutions Course to read about 10,000 hours.
13. QUOTE: “Just because social media exists doesn’t mean that our teens need it. They have the rest of their lives to have social media, but only one short window to enjoy being a teen.” – Melanie Hempe, ScreenStrong Founder
14. Phone companies agree that 18 is a good age to get a smartphone because that is the legal age for a cellphone contract. This is the age when your child can legally sign a phone contract.
15. QUOTE: “Stop giving smartphones to your children. It can only cause damage. It cannot help. You are giving them something that you know will harm them and you’re doing it because it’s what everyone does.” Matt Walsh, author & speaker
16. Solution: A basic phone through high school 48 months smartphone free
17. What Teen Girls need instead of a smartphone: Journal, Physical activity, Girlfriends
18. QUOTE: “When my mom first suggested taking away my smartphone & social media for a week, I was not happy about it! I truly didn’t think it was affecting me negatively. A week turned into many weeks without it. I started to feel so free. I realized it was doing a lot more bad than good for my mental health. I can now look back now and say that I am thankful she made the decision! “ Lydia Hamann ScreenStrong Teen, ScreenStrong Podcast #16, and interviews.
19. Video: Letter of resignation from my generation to yours by Lydia Hamann used with permission.
20. QUOTE: “Do we need parental controls for Legos, books, or pulling weeds in the backyard? No. Rethink how screen use is controlling our kids’ lives and stop giving kids smartphones and video games.”

1. In the famous Skinner Box experiment, the pigeon got food each time the button was pressed, but eventually would get bored and stop. However, if the food was randomized and they didn’t know when to expect it, they would keep pecking. REF

• • • Dopamine
    • Posture problems
    • Fight flight
    • Adrenaline
    • Cortisol
    • Eye strain
    • Frontal cortex shuts down
    • Increasing blood pressure
    • Increased heart rate
    • Muscle weakness
    • Motivation decreases
    • Blood sugar drops
    • Carpal tunnel syndrome

• • • Escape
    • Social connection
    • Lazy
    • Replacement for athletics 
    • Creativity 
    • Curiosity
    • Competition
    • Purpose
    • Fill loneliness 
    • Accomplishment 

• • • Craig Anderson  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11554666/
    • Gentile: Dr. Douglas Gentile explains how violent video games affect the brain, YOUTUBE

• Fortnite is marketed as a cartoon style game without virtual blood, complete with cute dances and costumes or skins. Some parents explain, “It’s like Call of Duty for little kids.” But Fortnite is not for little kids. The official rating for Fortnite is T for Teen, meaning no one under 13 should even play. Don’t let the cartoon claim fool you. 

• “Parents should be mindful of what shows their children watch and which games they play. When possible, they should co-play games with their children so as to have a better sense of what the games entail. Young children (under the age of 6 years) need to be protected from virtual violence. Parents should understand that young children do not always distinguish fantasy from reality. Cartoon violence can seem very real, and it can have detrimental effects. Furthermore, first-person shooter games, in which killing others is the central theme, are not appropriate for any children.” from American Academy of Ped Policy Statement on Virtual Violence, point 2 on page three of the policy. See also ScreenStrong Blog. More than 50 years of research involving over 300 studies demonstrate that watching TV violence makes kids more aggressive. See more  American Academy of Ped REF Policy Statement on Virtual Violence. 

• • • Starting too young
    • Creating easy access
    • Using games as a reward
    • Too much privacy in the game
    • Ignoring your gut feeling
    • Using the game to shelter your children and teens

• • • Games almost every day
    • Plays for hours at a time
    • Gets restless if he can’t play
    • Sacrifices social and sports for play
    • Plays instead of doing homework
    • Tries to cut down but can’t
    • Seems to be losing interest in real life activities.

• • • Physical activity
    • Creative outlet
    • Tribe

• • • He will Binge later if I take it away
    • He won’t have any friends if he does not game
    • He is learning strategy skills
    • Gaming leads to STEM development
    • Gaming develops his creativity
    • He must learn to manage addictive activities 
    • He will outgrow his gaming habit

• • • Bill Gates REF
    • Steve Jobs REF
    • Jeff Bezos REF 

• • • 85% of college boys are video gamers REF
    • 48% of college gamers report that their gaming keeps them from studying REF
    • Addicted college gamers play an average of 31 hours a week REF

• 56% of young adults seek out porn at least once a month
• A new porn movie is produced every 39 minutes 
• 80% of porn watched is watched on smartphones
• “Teens” is in the top ten of porn hubs most searched terms for the last 6 years 
• 27% of teen receive sexts 15% send them
• 57% of teens search for porn at least monthly 
• 42% of teens frequently clear their browsing history to hide porn usage from their parents
• Every second:
  • • 28,258 users are watching pornography on the internet.
    • $3,075 is being spent on pornography on the internet.
    • 372 people are typing the word “adult” into a search engine.
    • 15% of online content 50% online traffic.
    • 88% of porn scenes contain acts of physical aggression.

• Access
• Early sexual conditioning
• Fetishes

• Video: Clip from Gary Wilson (REF)

• Easy access
• Craving novelty
• Seeking rewards
• Habit forming
• Late nights with screens
• Sleepovers
• Lack of family communication
• Too much screen privacy

• Short term memory
• Long term Memory
• A good night’s sleep

• Multitasking: It can take up to 25 minutes to get back on track once you are interrupted. Switching tasks is mentally fatiguing and negatively impacts long-term memory efficiency by as much as 40% REF. Checking text messages or social media just a couple times during class led students to drop from a “B” to a “C+” on average. REF.
  • “Heavy Multitaskers have trained their brains to constantly search for alternative stimuli. By doing this they neglect the regions of their brains designed to focus. Eventually, with enough neglect, these regions of the brain wither and die. It is not uncommon for teens to also use multiple devices when they are doing homework, which leads to spending more time on homework but getting worse grades.” Screen Schooled (95).
• Distraction: “Whenever kids are huddling around a phone it is never a good thing.” Screen Schooled (16).
  • Three percent of a teen’s digital time is spent on actual content creation  (real writing, taking a creative photograph, coding, composing a song, etc.) REF Teens with cell phones send 440 text messages a week and 110 a week while in the classroom. REF.
• Heavy Cognitive Load: Cognitive load is the mental effort needed to process information. Extraneous cognitive load refers to the way information or tasks are presented to a learner. When learning is “gamified” by making programs look like a cartoon show full of cute interfaces and novelty, the available space in a child’s short-term working memory is crowded out. This is why he can get the concept better when he has a tutor working one-on-one with pencil and paper with no distractions at the kitchen table. Regarding cognitive load: REF.
• Listening to music. Students who listen to music with lyrics have more difficulty concentrating and may struggle more to recall the information they’ve learned because their working memory gets worse. REF, REF Music can also interfere with working memory, so don’t allow ear buds when doing homework. ”Students who listen to music with lyrics may have more difficulty concentrating and may struggle more to recall the information they’ve learned.” REF
• Cheating in School 35% of students use smartphones to cheat in school REF.  76% of parents say that cell phone cheating happens at their teen’s school, but only 3% believe their own teen has ever used a cell phone to cheat REF. 41% of teens say that storing notes on a cell phone to access during a test is a serious cheating offense, while 23% don’t think it’s cheating at all REF. 45% of teens say that texting friends about answers during tests is a serious cheating offense, while 20% say it’s not cheating at all REF.

• Low grades
• Video games are frequent topics of book reports, speeches & class projects
• Falling asleep in class
• Inability to focus, hyperactivity, low impulse control, nervous habits or ticks
• Eye problems (Myopia, Dry Eye) ScreenStrong Podcast #73
• Social awkwardness and isolation

• Sleep, diet exercise imbalance Insufficient Sleep and Suicidality in Adolescents
• Loneliness and loss of community. Key predictor for depression. 
• Poor social skills
• Increased stress and anxiety
• Peer rejection
• Loss of family attachment REF, REF

• Loss of interest in hobbies or activities they used to enjoy. REF
• Doesn’t like school
• Friends are anxious and depressed
• Self harm (cutting)
• Difficulty sleeping or eating
• Low energy, unusual fatigue
• Feelings of guilt about things that are not their fault
• Difficulty thinking, paying attention, or making decisions
• Increased tearfulness, crying, or emotional outbursts
• Spending more time alone, avoiding social activities

• Also, study by psychologists Dr. Jean Twenge with 44,734 children and adolescents, reports that among 14- to 17-year-olds, high users (7+ hours/day, “were more than twice as likely to ever have been diagnosed with depression, ever diagnosed with anxiety, treated by a mental health professional, or have taken medication for a psychological or behavioral issue in the last 12 months.” 

• Less curiosity
• Less self-control
• Less focused
• Less confidence in making friends
• Less emotional stability
• Less able to finish tasks
• More difficult to care for

• More creative & innovative
• More confident
• More physically active
• More focused
• More friendly
• More emotionally intelligent
• More charismatic in social settings

• Previous research revealed that teens who spend more time on digital media are more likely to be depressed and unhappy. In our new paper, we found that this link was stronger for girls than for boys. Both girls and boys experience an increase in unhappiness the more time they spend on their devices. But for girls, that increase is larger. REF

• Depression  The number of teens with depression doubled between 2011 and 2019. More than 23% of girls ages 12-17 experienced a major depressive episode during 2019. Twenge, Joiner, Rogers, & Martin (2018). Increases in depressive symptoms, suicide-related outcomes, and suicide rates among U.S. adolescents after 2010 and links to increased new media screen time. Clinical Psychological Science.
• Cutting and self harm REF
• Suicide increase was highest for girls ages 10-14 REF
• Anorexia. 90% of teens with anorexia are female. REF 53% of American girls report that they are unhappy with their bodies at age thirteen. 78%percent are unhappy with their bodies at age seventeen. REF

• User interacts in real time, talking via their headsets
• Not as portable, hence, they are used less
• Some games have natural stopping points
• Success is concrete, can be measured by levels
• Time investment pays off as levels are reached

• Not in real time, waiting between responses creates anxiety
• Portable, interferes with face-to-face social interaction. Phones can be brought into private places   
• No stopping point, never-ending
• Success is not concrete; rules change without warning 
• No guarantee, time investment with creating posts may not pay off

• Experts tell us that the pain from social rejection is felt the strongest during the teen years.

• Direct
• Indirect
• Public
• Chronic

• Leads to: anger, anxiety, depression, jealousy, sadness, aggression
• Reduces: intellectual tasks, impulse control, immune system, sleep

• Change behavior to fit in
• Seek inclusion in another group
• Take on the bully role

• Video Games
• Pornography
• Social media

1. Early exposure to adult topics, violence, and negative content Early exposure REF, Doomscrolling REF REF Dr Bill Petite on Panic Attacks – social anxiety Inside Out Video here. 
2. Interruption of identity development & communication skills. REF
3. Delayed maturity: Jean Twinge points to the delayed maturity development in teens: “Across a range of behaviors — drinking, dating, spending time unsupervised — 18-year-olds now act more like 15-year-olds used to, and 15-year-olds more like 13-year-olds … Childhood now stretches well into high school.” REF
   • Communication skills and emotional intelligence are being traded for practicing abbreviated texting and picking out the perfect emojis. 
   • It is best to allow your child to progress through the natural stages of development and learn the harder executive function skills first without taxing them with skills that will not only cause anxiety but prove to be invaluable down the road. When childhood is rushed, there is a greater risk for mental health problems. From Dr. Peter Nieman, “The mental impact of an accelerated childhood is huge. When these rushed children say goodbye to the innocent years of early childhood they are at a higher risk of anxiety and depression; their sleep may deteriorate; they are at risk for developing pathological eating habits.” quote found here. 
4. Fear of missing out (FOMO)
5. Comparison to others and pressure to be perfect. Social comparison REF
6. Loss of empathy
7. Lack of privacy
8. Disorders can be contagious. Recent studies in the medical literature conclude that mental health may be highly contagious, much like infectious diseases. REF Friends are very influential in the spread of mental health disorders from one person to another, to up to three degrees of separation (friends of friends). This is known as the network phenomena. REF From the site of Dr. Michael Yapko, author of Depression is Contagious, “..the latest research provides overwhelming evidence that depression is far more a social problem than a medical disease. Depression’s effects reach into the interactions you have with others, rippling destructively through marriages, families, work environments and communities like a viral contagion.” REF Depression spreads to friend groups Social network determinants of depression (nature.com)
9. Too much power. 
10. Loss of protection and family influence