We, as a culture, are not only engaged in screens most of the day, but we are also often using multiple screens at the same time.
In Screenagers, Dr. Dimitri Christakis, Director of Child Development at Seattle Children’s Hospital, says:
"The brain isn’t actually capable of multitasking. In fact, your brain oscillates attention from task 1 to task 2. The young nimble adolescent brain can oscillate back and forth very quickly, but it comes at a cost. One study looked at children and had them watch either a very rapidly-sequenced tv program or a slowly sequenced program or play with crayons and then tested right afterward their cognitive ability and found that the kids who watched the rapidly-paced program performed more poorly than the other two. Overstimulation tires the brain and it tends to function not as well."
Our kids are very accustomed to having several screens out at once. I notice when my family watches a movie at home that they have their phones out and go will go back and forth between screens.
Let's talk about the multi-screen phenomenon for Tech Talk Tuesday:
Photo by casenbina/iStock / Getty Images
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
We, as a culture, are not only engaged in screens most of the day, but we are also often using multiple screens at the same time.
In Screenagers, Dr. Dimitri Christakis, Director of Child Development at Seattle Children’s Hospital, says:
"The brain isn’t actually capable of multitasking. In fact, your brain oscillates attention from task 1 to task 2. The young nimble adolescent brain can oscillate back and forth very quickly, but it comes at a cost. One study looked at children and had them watch either a very rapidly-sequenced tv program or a slowly sequenced program or play with crayons and then tested right afterward their cognitive ability and found that the kids who watched the rapidly-paced program performed more poorly than the other two. Overstimulation tires the brain and it tends to function not as well."
Our kids are very accustomed to having several screens out at once. I notice when my family watches a movie at home that they have their phones out and go will go back and forth between screens.
Let's talk about the multi-screen phenomenon for Tech Talk Tuesday:
Photo by casenbina/iStock / Getty Images
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
The Pew Research Center recently released findings from a study conducted in the Fall of 2023, which has important stats that can help inform our parenting and spark essential conversations with our youth. I’ve structured today’s blog to state the findings first and then write about the solutions later.
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I have one goal with this week’s blog: Inspire you to make one and only one New Year’s Resolution about screen time rules. Maybe that has to do with your own behavior with screen time, maybe with your kids, family, or even work. And I’ll share with you my one-screen time rule for 2024.
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A few weeks ago I wrote a blog and encouraged people to share with youth in their lives whatever small change they made and to share with me as well so that I could share with you! And that is what I am doing today. I received some great responses. Here are a few examples people shared with me:
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
