Screen Time Rules

Groundbreaking study discovers an association between screen time and actual brain changes

Delaney Ruston, MD
December 11, 2018

Big news has hit us this week about brain morphology and screen time, and I want to weigh in as we all try to make sense of the findings. Here is the gist of what headlines are saying:

Researchers studied 4,500 9-and 10-year olds and found that many of those who spend more than 7 hours a day on screens —such as smartphones, tablets, and video games—showed premature thinning of the cortex which is the outermost layer of the brain.

This new data comes from the ABCD study funded by The National Institutes of Medicine (NIH). I just got off the phone with neuroscientist Elizabeth Sowell PhD who leads a ABCD study site at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. I have some important information to share.

I met Elizabeth when The Los Angeles Unified School District asked me to speak at a Screenagers’ event in 2016. Elizabeth and her team had a booth outside the screening where they were trying to recruit youth to be in the ABCD study —there are 21 sites around the country. Not many people were coming up to the booth.

Having spent two years working at NIH as a researcher, I understood how hard it is to find people to participate in studies, and I knew this study was a game changer, so I was eager to help. During my Screenagers presentation, I told the audience all about the landmark study and the learning opportunities that their children could glean from participating in a major research study. I was so pleased that many of the audience went straight to the booth after the talk to sign up.

group of children with screens

For this study, 9-and-10-year-olds were recruited between 2016 to 2018. Kids will be followed for a total of ten years. At their yearly visits, the children and their parents will complete questionnaires, and some years MRI scans will be done on the kids. A total of 11,000 youth have been enrolled, and scientists will be gathering important data about brain development in response to things like marijuana, alcohol, and... screen time.

THE FINDINGS

The study just released included only the first cohort of 4,500 kids and it gives data based on questionnaires and MRIs of their brains at one moment in time. Researchers found that kids who spent more than 7 hours a day on screens, on average, had a thinner outer layer of their cerebral cortex than kids who spent less time on screens. The cerebral cortex is the area that houses “executive functioning” —ie, higher order thinking, such as data consolidation, problem-solving and planning. It also helps us regulate our responses to emotions that come from deeper areas of the brain.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Babies are born with many more brain cells than they will end up with as adults. Why so many cells at birth? The hypothesis is that this abundance of cells gives humans incredible adaptability to whatever environments they find themselves. As babies grow older and have experiences, these experiences dictate how neurons begin to lay down patterns. Neuronal connections that are not used, start to be pruned away. Evolutionarily, it is important that the brain loses some of what it does not use because running a brain takes a lot of energy—in fact 20% of the food we eat goes just to support the brain. Pruning promotes efficiency.  

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

The researchers revealed thinner cortexes of these 9 and 10-year-olds. The level of thinning found is what one finds on MRIs for older children. This is why this is being called premature thinning. One could see this as a bad thing, that the brain is consolidating neurons earlier than it normally would.  On the flip side, one could say that the brain appears to be maturing faster, so isn’t that a good thing?

Early maturation can sound good but the ABCD researchers found that this thinning in the cortex was correlated with lower “crystalized” intelligence. Crystalized refers to the knowledge that youth glean from simply living life, such as vocabulary (as opposed to “fluid” intelligence which is not as much about “what is known” as opposed to “how something is known”). I do not know which crystalized intelligence they measured because it is not in the science report.

AM I CONCERNED?

Does all this have me concerned? Yes...but at this point, we have no idea if the screen time caused this thinning, or if the kids who were inclined to spend more than 7 hours on screens were more likely to have a thinner cortex to begin with. The real power of this study will come with follow-up data collection and MRI scans. The changes that will be revealed over time will help sort out cause and effect relationships.

But don’t get me wrong, this is really important information, and we need to talk with our students in schools and universities, students in afterschool programs, Boy and Girl Scouts, team sports, along with children and teens in our homes. This is the type of science that can engage young people. It is about their brains, and they do care about their brains!

In fact, last month I was in France filming their new national law to limit screen time by prohibiting cell phones in classrooms for students 15 and younger. When discussions turned to screen time at home, many tweens and teens told me how they were comfortable keeping their phones out of their bedrooms at night because they had learned that there might be problems from too much radiation exposure. Science is still looking into this, but what is telling is that that the students were concerned enough by this research to change their habits.

Today let’s use this new scientific study from ABCD to engage our youth in this important topic of screen time effects on kids’ brain development. As we sit in the middle of this tech revolution, let’s help the next generation be data-driven and scientifically minded —their input is key to creating a society committed to preventing unthwarted outcomes of excessive screen time.  

Here are questions to ask your kids about the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study.

  1. Given that 9 and 10-year-olds who were on screens over 7 hours a day were found to have thinner cerebral cortexes of the brain—where higher order thinking occurs, such as problem-solving and planning—what do you make of this?
  2. Could it be that kids who have thinner cerebral cortexes are inclined to look at screens more?
  3. Once we have follow up data in about a year, how will that give us a lot more information about cause and effect?
  4. Why might it be that researches found that kids who looked at screens over 7 hours a day scored lower on knowledge tests (also called crystalized learning)?

HOST A SCREENING to help spark change.

FIND EVENT LISTINGS

Stay in touch with the Screenagers community on Facebook, Twitter and at www.screenagersmovie.com


We encourage you to share this, and other TTTs, widely with your community. You are welcome to republish this in your newsletters as long as you credit us and put a link to our TTT page. If you do this please let us know by emailing lisa@screenagersmovie.com.

As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel

Join
443
others who have made the pledge!
Thank you for making the pledge!
Please try again
Book page button

Available now - Parenting in the Screen Age, from Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD

Order Here
Find A screening Button

Find a Screening - Find a screening of our movies in your local community

Learn More

Screenagers Podcast - Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for the latest Podcast

Learn More
Book page button

Available now - Parenting in the Screen Age, from Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD

Learn More
Host a Screening Button

Community Screenings - Learn more about hosting your own Screenagers community screening event!

Learn More
Parenting In The Screen Age Book Cover

Free Book Preview - Download a free preview of "Parenting In The Screen Age" by Delaney Ruston, MD

Learn More

Join Today - Members can screen and view our movies year-round, access new lesson plans, resources and much more!

Learn More
Screenagers Under The Influence Banner

Our New Movie - Learn more about the third movie in the Screenagers Trilogy

Learn More

The Screenagers YouTube Channel - Subscribe for new videos and content from our team weekly!

Learn More
Host a Screening Button

Community Screenings - Learn more about hosting your own Screenagers community screening event!

Learn More
Find A screening Button

Find a Screening - Find a screening of our movies in your local community

Learn More
Screenagers Podcast

Screenagers Podcast - Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for the latest Podcast

Learn More
Book page button

Available now - Parenting in the Screen Age, from Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD

Learn More
Host a Screening Button

Community Screenings - Learn more about hosting your own Screenagers community screening event!

Learn More
Parenting In The Screen Age Book Cover

Free Book Preview - Download a free preview of "Parenting In The Screen Age" by Delaney Ruston, MD

Learn More

Join Today - Members can screen and view our movies year-round, access new lesson plans, resources and much more!

Learn More
Screenagers Under The Influence Banner

Our New Movie - Learn more about the third movie in the Screenagers Trilogy

Learn More

The Screenagers YouTube Channel - Subscribe for new videos and content from our team weekly!

Learn More
Book page button

Available now - Parenting in the Screen Age, from Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD

Order Here
Find A screening Button

Find a Screening - Find a screening of our movies in your local community

Learn More

Screenagers Podcast - Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for the latest Podcast

Learn More
Book page button

Available now - Parenting in the Screen Age, from Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD

Learn More
Host a Screening Button

Community Screenings - Learn more about hosting your own Screenagers community screening event!

Learn More
Parenting In The Screen Age Book Cover

Free Book Preview - Download a free preview of "Parenting In The Screen Age" by Delaney Ruston, MD

Learn More

Join Today - Members can screen and view our movies year-round, access new lesson plans, resources and much more!

Learn More
Screenagers Under The Influence Banner

Our New Movie - Learn more about the third movie in the Screenagers Trilogy

Learn More

The Screenagers YouTube Channel - Subscribe for new videos and content from our team weekly!

Learn More
Host a Screening Button

Community Screenings - Learn more about hosting your own Screenagers community screening event!

Learn More
Find A screening Button

Find a Screening - Find a screening of our movies in your local community

Learn More

Screenagers Podcast - Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for the latest Podcast

Learn More
Book page button

Available now - Parenting in the Screen Age, from Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD

Learn More
Host a Screening Button

Community Screenings - Learn more about hosting your own Screenagers community screening event!

Learn More
Parenting In The Screen Age Book Cover

Free Book Preview - Download a free preview of "Parenting In The Screen Age" by Delaney Ruston, MD

Learn More

Join Today - Members can screen and view our movies year-round, access new lesson plans, resources and much more!

Learn More
Screenagers Under The Influence Banner

Our New Movie - Learn more about the latest movie in the Screenagers Trilogy

Learn More

The Screenagers YouTube Channel - Subscribe for new videos and content from our team weekly!

Learn More
Screen Time Rules

Groundbreaking study discovers an association between screen time and actual brain changes

Delaney Ruston, MD
December 11, 2018

Big news has hit us this week about brain morphology and screen time, and I want to weigh in as we all try to make sense of the findings. Here is the gist of what headlines are saying:

Researchers studied 4,500 9-and 10-year olds and found that many of those who spend more than 7 hours a day on screens —such as smartphones, tablets, and video games—showed premature thinning of the cortex which is the outermost layer of the brain.

This new data comes from the ABCD study funded by The National Institutes of Medicine (NIH). I just got off the phone with neuroscientist Elizabeth Sowell PhD who leads a ABCD study site at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. I have some important information to share.

I met Elizabeth when The Los Angeles Unified School District asked me to speak at a Screenagers’ event in 2016. Elizabeth and her team had a booth outside the screening where they were trying to recruit youth to be in the ABCD study —there are 21 sites around the country. Not many people were coming up to the booth.

Having spent two years working at NIH as a researcher, I understood how hard it is to find people to participate in studies, and I knew this study was a game changer, so I was eager to help. During my Screenagers presentation, I told the audience all about the landmark study and the learning opportunities that their children could glean from participating in a major research study. I was so pleased that many of the audience went straight to the booth after the talk to sign up.

group of children with screens

For this study, 9-and-10-year-olds were recruited between 2016 to 2018. Kids will be followed for a total of ten years. At their yearly visits, the children and their parents will complete questionnaires, and some years MRI scans will be done on the kids. A total of 11,000 youth have been enrolled, and scientists will be gathering important data about brain development in response to things like marijuana, alcohol, and... screen time.

THE FINDINGS

The study just released included only the first cohort of 4,500 kids and it gives data based on questionnaires and MRIs of their brains at one moment in time. Researchers found that kids who spent more than 7 hours a day on screens, on average, had a thinner outer layer of their cerebral cortex than kids who spent less time on screens. The cerebral cortex is the area that houses “executive functioning” —ie, higher order thinking, such as data consolidation, problem-solving and planning. It also helps us regulate our responses to emotions that come from deeper areas of the brain.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Babies are born with many more brain cells than they will end up with as adults. Why so many cells at birth? The hypothesis is that this abundance of cells gives humans incredible adaptability to whatever environments they find themselves. As babies grow older and have experiences, these experiences dictate how neurons begin to lay down patterns. Neuronal connections that are not used, start to be pruned away. Evolutionarily, it is important that the brain loses some of what it does not use because running a brain takes a lot of energy—in fact 20% of the food we eat goes just to support the brain. Pruning promotes efficiency.  

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

The researchers revealed thinner cortexes of these 9 and 10-year-olds. The level of thinning found is what one finds on MRIs for older children. This is why this is being called premature thinning. One could see this as a bad thing, that the brain is consolidating neurons earlier than it normally would.  On the flip side, one could say that the brain appears to be maturing faster, so isn’t that a good thing?

Early maturation can sound good but the ABCD researchers found that this thinning in the cortex was correlated with lower “crystalized” intelligence. Crystalized refers to the knowledge that youth glean from simply living life, such as vocabulary (as opposed to “fluid” intelligence which is not as much about “what is known” as opposed to “how something is known”). I do not know which crystalized intelligence they measured because it is not in the science report.

AM I CONCERNED?

Does all this have me concerned? Yes...but at this point, we have no idea if the screen time caused this thinning, or if the kids who were inclined to spend more than 7 hours on screens were more likely to have a thinner cortex to begin with. The real power of this study will come with follow-up data collection and MRI scans. The changes that will be revealed over time will help sort out cause and effect relationships.

But don’t get me wrong, this is really important information, and we need to talk with our students in schools and universities, students in afterschool programs, Boy and Girl Scouts, team sports, along with children and teens in our homes. This is the type of science that can engage young people. It is about their brains, and they do care about their brains!

In fact, last month I was in France filming their new national law to limit screen time by prohibiting cell phones in classrooms for students 15 and younger. When discussions turned to screen time at home, many tweens and teens told me how they were comfortable keeping their phones out of their bedrooms at night because they had learned that there might be problems from too much radiation exposure. Science is still looking into this, but what is telling is that that the students were concerned enough by this research to change their habits.

Today let’s use this new scientific study from ABCD to engage our youth in this important topic of screen time effects on kids’ brain development. As we sit in the middle of this tech revolution, let’s help the next generation be data-driven and scientifically minded —their input is key to creating a society committed to preventing unthwarted outcomes of excessive screen time.  

Here are questions to ask your kids about the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study.

  1. Given that 9 and 10-year-olds who were on screens over 7 hours a day were found to have thinner cerebral cortexes of the brain—where higher order thinking occurs, such as problem-solving and planning—what do you make of this?
  2. Could it be that kids who have thinner cerebral cortexes are inclined to look at screens more?
  3. Once we have follow up data in about a year, how will that give us a lot more information about cause and effect?
  4. Why might it be that researches found that kids who looked at screens over 7 hours a day scored lower on knowledge tests (also called crystalized learning)?

HOST A SCREENING to help spark change.

FIND EVENT LISTINGS

Stay in touch with the Screenagers community on Facebook, Twitter and at www.screenagersmovie.com


We encourage you to share this, and other TTTs, widely with your community. You are welcome to republish this in your newsletters as long as you credit us and put a link to our TTT page. If you do this please let us know by emailing lisa@screenagersmovie.com.

As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel

More Like This

Must-Knows About Incognito Web Browsing
March 12, 2024
Screen Time Rules

Must-Knows About Incognito Web Browsing

I've noticed a lot of confusion in my conversations with adults and teens about using incognito mode. Many don't realize that, even in incognito mode, the websites they visit can still track their activity and show them ads related to what they did during that session. If you are unfamiliar with Incognito mode, today I explain why and how kids may use it and why you want to know.

READ MORE >
Finally, Screen Time rules That Actually Work For Your Family
August 29, 2023
Screen Time Rules

Finally, Screen Time rules That Actually Work For Your Family

Today I share my top 3 main screen time categories and offer many options of rules that can be tailored to your specific family. Let’s be real that policies for a 10-year-old will be different for a 17-year-old. Then there are factors such as kid’s maturity levels, outside activities, sibling dynamics, bandwidth of parents/guardians, and the list goes on. For this reason, having many ideas can be helpful. Let’s get started.

READ MORE >
My 3 steps for successfully creating healthier tech policies at home
August 22, 2023
Screen Time Rules

My 3 steps for successfully creating healthier tech policies at home

It’s back-to-school time and an ideal time to readdress screen time at home. Ahhhhh, so not easy! When we approach emotionally triggering topics with our kids, having a road map, including specific things to say, can be extremely helpful. I know all too well that without those things, my reactive brain can take over, and everything can go sideways. Eleven years now into studying the intersection of biology, psychology, communication science, and parenting screen time, I offer my top 3 steps for creating new or cementing existing tech time policies as back-to-school kicks off.

READ MORE >

parenting in the screen age

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.  

ORDER HERE
Parenting in the Screen Age book cover