Kids today love screens. Put a hyperactive toddler in front of an HDTV with a cartoon or video game on and I bet he’ll be completely still and attentive, too busy absorbing the action to notice anything else. Teenagers can’t seem to part with their computers and mobile phones: their eyes remain glued to the screen even while walking or driving. The irony is that while video games, TV shows, and digital media can hold one’s attention for hours, they can also be responsible for eroding a person’s ability to pay attention and stay focused once they’re back in the world. real. Can Too Much Technology Cause ADHD?
The growing number of ADHD diagnoses in children coincides with the continuing development of media and technology. Kids today spend much more time interacting with screens than kids five years ago. A 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation report study found that children ages 8 to 18 spend at least 7 hours and 38 minutes each day consuming entertainment media. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that 7% of children in this age group are diagnosed with ADHD.
While no one can say for sure if the rise in ADHD diagnoses is caused by technology, the researchers found that too much media exposure does in fact rewire the brain and cause noticeable detrimental effects. A study published in Pediatrics looked at the viewing habits of 1,323 students in third through fifth grades over a 13-month period. The authors noted that children who spent more than 2 hours playing video games or watching television were at least 1.6 times more likely to have short attention spans. The same study also found that “screen media” exposure was linked to inattention in 210 college students.
Experts who have spent time studying the effects of entertainment on children’s mental processing believe that overstimulation from technology may contribute to the onset of ADHD. One study shows that children under the age of 5 who watched at least 2 hours of TV a day were 20% more likely to have attention problems. While the researchers didn’t take note of the shows the kids watched, they believe the content isn’t to blame. Rather, the fast-paced nature of most cartoons and television shows can affect the normal development of a child’s brain. The brain grows most rapidly during the first two or three years of life, and anything can affect the development of their brains. Studies in newborn rats revealed that being exposed to different types of visual stimuli can affect the structure of their brains. If a child is overstimulated during this critical period, they are at risk of having shorter attention spans and developing habits that increase the severity of ADHD.
Other experts worry that teens and adults are headed down a dark path due to the advent of social media and the Internet. The term “acquired attention disorder” is used to describe how technology rewires the modern brain. Due to spell checkers, contact lists that automatically alphabetize names, and 140-character tweets, these experts fear that the average modern adult will become less patient with more meaningful and complex information. And with this comes the inability to analyze concepts and ideas in depth.
While there’s certainly no need to throw out the TV or computer, you can reduce your child’s risk of overstimulation by limiting screen time to less than 2 hours a day. Encourage your child to play sports, exercise, or play in the park with friends. Parent-child activities, such as reading together or taking trips to a children’s museum, are also linked to better attention span later in life.
