As parents, it is only natural in wanting your children to experience those memorable and amazing things you have gone through growing up. For example, playing outside or playing activities. And there is nothing wrong with it, on contrary, it would be beneficial to kids. But sadly, the time being spent by kids on these activities is becoming lesser and lesser. The declining time that is being spent by children on physical play could be associated with the ongoing demand and popularity of technological devices that enable new types of games such as video games, computer games, and others that they could play at home or digitally. In the age of modernity, it is not surprising that kids are becoming more immersed in the different technological devices and their perks. These devices are truly a pleasure to have. They provide much-needed convenience at the comfort of their homes, much to the delight of kids. But, while technology brings convenience, entertainment, and the likes, it also brought alongside with it a lot of negative things. They negatively impact children’s attitudes, behaviour, and development. Children nowadays are showered by technologies. Different gadgets are now within the reach of children getting them as a reward, parents letting them use their gadgets to behave, or just to keep them busy. 1. Behavioural Problems Children who are exposed to long hours on screen (more than two hours) either through gadgets, computers, or television are more likely to develop emotional, social, and attention problems. Too much immersion in these things does not let kids interact more with those around them. It strips them of the time they could use to connect with others, or the time they could use to have more meaningful communication and relationship with the people in their immediate surroundings. 2. Sleep Problems Although people watch televisions or use gadgets before sleeping, immersion to screen before going to bed posed a negative effect on it such as sleep deprivation. This is true not only to adults but also to children. The amount of screen time someone spends has a direct consequence to sleep. The blue light emitted by digital screens harms the production of a certain hormone called melatonin which is associated with the sleep-wake cycle of humans. Thus, using digital devices before sleep has a contradictory effect to what people believed. 3. Cognitive Problems Too much screen time posed a risk to children’s cognitive abilities. This overexposure can shrink the brain structure responsible for cognitive processes. In a study by the National Institute of Health Children, it was shown that children who spent more than two hours immersing themselves in front of a screen scored lower in areas of reasoning and language. And though the correlation is not yet definite, there is observed thinning of the brain cortex in children who spend more than seven hours a day in front of gadgets. 4. Educational Problems Children who are exposed to devices for an extended period are at risk of developing educational problems since they prefer playing rather than studying. In a study entitled “Digital media Exposure in school-Aged Children Decreases the Frequency of Homework” by researchers from Brown University, it was revealed that children who used digital devices for non-academic purposes for two to four hours daily are 23% less likely to finish their assignments. 5. Weakened Emotional Judgement and Violence Too much screen time could hinder children’s ability to process their emotions and this hasnegative consequences for them and those around them. Extended screen time means a higher chance of exposure to violent content such as TV shows, movies, video games, videos, images, and music that might cause children to become desensitized to it, a specifically disturbing effect of a weakened emotional judgment. This overexposure and desensitization might make children imitate what they see or hear on these tv shows, movies, video games, or music and later on it might result in aggression or children using the same violence they witnessed or watched to solve even their problems. 6. Obesity Obesity is a major health risk for kids who are spending too much time in front of screens. Watching shows on television or playing video and computer games are not activities that could be considered good for the body. These activities are commonly done while seating and therefore are not good for burning calories, such a sedentary lifestyle could result in gaining unmanageable and unhealthy weight. 7. Neck and back pain While watching shows on the television or playing video games, it could not be avoided that sometimes children are doing these activities with a bad posture. This bad posture could be because of a seat that does not provide back support or devices that are not positioned at eye level. Whatever the cause is, bad posture for an extended period might result in neck and back pain. Common poor posture that is associated with these activities of watching and playing is the head-and-shoulders-forward posture which contributes a lot to neck pain. 8. Eyestrain An extended period of immersion to screens is not beneficial to eyes and vision. Children who are immersed to screen for a long period are not exempted from this effect, and its repercussions for them are more serious as they could experience these negative effects at a young age which could interfere with their daily lives. Too much screen time does not only strain the eyes and make them dry, but it also negatively affects the thin layer of tissue in the back of the eye called the retina, and could also lead to blurred vision.
