e-Media Health Effects

Excessive Screen Media Increases Risk For:
  • ADHD
  • Depression
  • Obesity
  • Language Delay
  • Sleep Dysfunction
  • Antisocial Behavior
  • Substance Abuse
  • Distorted Body Image
Viewing before age 3 has the most definitive negative effect:
  • Cognitive and language delay
  • Attention problems
  • Sleep disorder
  • Obesity
  • Inactivity
  • Aggression
  • Effects are dose-dependent, i.e. more is worse.
  • Effects tend to persist but are often reversible with reduced viewing.
- A 2010 study affirmed that early TV exposure (under 2.5 y/o) has a persistent, dose-dependent effect.  Every additional hour at 29 months old was associated with:
  • 7% unit decreases in classroom engagement by 10 years old
  • 6% decrease in math achievement
  • 10% increase in victimization by classmates
  • 13% decrease in weekend physical activity
  • 9% decrease in activities requiring physical effort
  • 10% increase in consumption of snacks & soft drinks
  • 10 % increase in video game use
  • 9% decrease in general fitness
  • May result from decreased early real-world experiences and blunted critical stages for developing attention and self-regulation.
Cognitive/Language:

- Baby Einstein Study - 2007 study of baby-marketed DVD/videos:
  • Strong association between exposure in babies aged 8-16 months and impaired language development.
  • Baby Einstein worse than all other media, including grownup TV.
    • Educational claims provide false sense of security, "outsourcing" parental role?
  • Dose-dependent effect, i.e. more viewing, worse outcome.
  • Baby Librarian: Babies read to daily showed an increase in language skills.
- Other Studies, Older Kids:
  • The Poet Channel is off the Air: Television and videos have been shown to discourage reflection and interpretation, and depress imagination and creativity among preschoolers. 
  • So is the Writing Channel: First graders who depended on TV or video games for narrative foundations in a story-writing workshop were less able to develop skills during the course. 
  • The Play Channel is Staticky: Background TV interferes with toddlers’ ability to focus on play, a key mode of learning; when play is resumed it tends to be less vigorous.
- Contributors To Cognitive/Language Effects:
  • Absorbing But Not Constructive - developing brains unable to fully process video stimuli.
  • Maladaptive Habits of Mind - children become accustomed to passive video stimuli.
  • Maladaptive Habits of Parenting - parents become accustomed to doing other things while children are absorbed in passive video stimuli.
  • Displaced Parent-Child Interaction - parents are their child's primary teachers.
  • One Way, Wrong Way - language is an interactive, trial-and-error process requiring child plus caregiver, poorly reproduced by electronic media.
  • Not-So-Sensory - children depend on multi-sensorial inputs, not just audio-visual, for learning.
  • Baby Human - numerous studies confirm that a human face is more effective at communicating with an infant than a face on a video screen.
Obesity:

- Rate has more than doubled in the US since 1980, parallelling the rise of electronic media.
  • Dose-dependent Effect: Every hour in excess of AAP guidelines (2 hours/day) increases obesity risk threefold.
  • Displacement Effect: Viewing steals time from active endeavors, such as reading or playing outdoors.
  • Increased Snacking: Kids snacking while viewing tend to eat more, especially unhealthy foods.
    • Most US food ads are of poor nutritional content.
    • Gaze, gulp: Decreased satiety cues (feelings of fullness) while viewing.
    • Snacking while viewing TV with food ads for 30 minutes/day leads to ~10 pound weight gain/year if not compensated.
    • Snacking + viewing akin to drinking and driving - a deadly combination!
  • Television in the bedroom is the greatest single predictor of child obesity.
  • Computer use is related to increased flabbiness but not weight status.
- Reducing screen time is a potent tool in reducing obesity, especially in the bedroom.
  • Decreasing sedentary behaviors (TV, computer) was found to be more effective at reducing BMI in overweight kids than increasing physical activity. 
  • Combo Meal For Health: Reducing screen time and increasing physical activity is likely the optimal strategy for pediatric weight loss.  
Behavioral:

- Excessive viewing in early childhood is associated with increased risk of ADHD.
  • Overstimulation of neural pathways during development
  • Impaired critical stages for developing focus
  • Impaired sleep also a likely culprit.
  • Dora - enfoca!  Diego - deja de saltar en el sofá!  The greatest association with attention problems is for non-educational viewing before age 3.
  • Reality is mega boring 4eva: Childhood viewing is associated with attention problems in adolescence, independent of early attention problems, adolescent viewing, cognitive ability, and socioeconomic status. 
- 2009 study of kids 4-12 found 24% increase in psychological distress (e.g. depressive Sx) with screen time >2.7 hrs/day.
  • 46% increase when combined with low physical activity.
  • Poor diet associated with excessive screen time may also contribute. 
Why Snuffalupagus is a Loner:
  • Sustained (i.e. >2hours/day) media exposure is a risk factor for behavioral problems: inattention, sleep dysfunction, aggression, self-control, decreased emotional reactivity.
  • Concurrent (i.e. same-day) exposure is associated with fewer social skills (cooperation, assertion, self-control), and impaired caregiver relationships.
   
Violence Via Satellite: The correlation between exposure to TV violence and aggressive behavior in children is stronger than that between condom nonuse and HIV, lead exposure and lower IQ, and passive smoke and lung cancer.
  • Media violence activates brain zones involved with “fight or flight” responses and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
  • Children who view excessive screen violence are more likely to view the world as “scary."
  • Increased tendency to behave violently - aggressor effect.
  • Increased fearfulness of victimization and self-protective behavior.
  • Increased desensitization - bystander effect.
  •  Cycle of aggression - identify with violent characters, habitually act like them, social and academic failure, isolation, comfort in more violent programming...
  • Pokemon in Prison: Boys preferring violent programming at age 8 are twice as likely to be arrested for a violent crime by age 30.
Social/Family:

- So much surfing, So little time: Time spent watching TV is "strongly negatively related to time spent interacting with parents or siblings."
  • Decreased homework and creative playtime.
  • Increased social isolation.
  • Major implications for older children (i.e. 7-12 y/o), who have less “forced time” with parents and greater peer influence.  
  • Worsening with the rise of handheld devices (e.g. texting at dinner).

- The Media Guillotine: France banned TV shows/channels for children under 3 in 2008 to shield from developmental risks.

 
  • Citations available on request.