Most of the adults in our society are responsible enough to know when they’ve hit their digital limit and when it’s time to put their phone, computer, or tablet away. However, many adults fail to pass this understanding of balance and moderation on to their children. They’ll place a phone or a tablet in a child’s hand and let them “have at it” for hours on end. For some adults, this is a simple and obvious solution; the child is happy, the adults aren’t being annoyed to death, and the child is in no danger. Or are they? Maybe not any immediate physical danger, but, for the child, the possible detriments of staring into a screen far outweigh the benefits.
A child’s mind is incredibly malleable, allowing them to absorb information like a sponge. This explains why it is important to teach a child to behave correctly at such a young age, because that’s when it is easiest to teach healthy behaviors and ideals. It is also proven that children learn the most through hands-on activities and actually seeing and practicing the things they have learned. With that in mind, is it really the best idea for a child to be inside, completely inactive, and glued to a screen? Will a child really learn the skills necessary to become a functioning member of society through the Internet?
The inactivity that accompanies playing on a tablet, computer, or cell phone is also another major issue. According to KidsHealth.org, “Too much screen time and not enough physical activity add to the problem of childhood obesity,” as well as a plethora of other health problems including high blood pressure and diabetes. It is highly recommended that children engage in at least sixty minutes of physical activity each day, something that many children who are used to being entertained by a smart phone, tablet, or TV do not experience. Keeping children active is also proven to lower the risks of diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure in children.
However, the most alarming effects that smart phones and other devices have on children involve the child’s brain. According to an article titled “How Cell Phones Affect A Child’s Brain,” written by Dr. Devra Davis from the Environmental Health Trust, cell phones release large amounts of microwave radiation over a prolonged period of time, significantly increasing an individual’s risk of brain and, if they are male, testicular cancer. Dr. Davis also goes on to say that, “the bone marrow of a child’s head absorbs 10 times more radiation than that of an adult, while that of infants and toddlers will absorb even more.” Because a child’s brain is still developing and is extremely vulnerable, this increases this risk of brain cancer even further.
The clearest memory I have of my childhood, and the one that I think encompasses my whole childhood experience, is of my mother yelling, “JOHN! DANNY! DINNERTIME!” from the front porch almost every day around six in the afternoon, after my brothers and I had spent the whole day exploring the neighborhood and seeing what kind of mischief we could get ourselves into. Each day was an adventure, full of imagination and excitement. We would make up games in our backyard, see how far we could ride our bikes without getting into too much trouble, build forts in trees and in other people’s backyards without their knowledge (In our defense, we thought the house was abandoned), and play in what I now realize was a man-made drainage trench. We called it “The Creek.”
In all of those adventures, each of us was challenged in some way, whether it was mentally, physically, or emotionally. I can’t even begin to count the number of times we all got injured, quarreled with each other, or had to think fast in order to narrowly escape getting caught for trespassing. Through those challenges we learned how to operate and survive in an unpredictable environment, developing skills that have become extremely useful to us now in the adult world. I am eternally grateful for the freedom I was given as a child; the freedom to explore, the freedom to learn, and the freedom to create. My experiences have served me well, now that I am an adult and have been set loose into the world. I highly recommend that if you have a child in your life, whether they are your own, your sibling, or simply a child you care for very much, that you encourage them to do the same. Allow them to experience the world with all five of their senses and not just through a phone screen.
