“Throughout the world – in caves, huts and houses – it was almost a
reflex to turn your face to a returning parents,” explains health education
expert Dr Aric Sigman. But, he says, kids are now so glued to their screens
they no longer look up.
Though some parents might
be glad of the respite that screen-time provides, research suggests that
excessive screen use seems to damage our ability to interpret faces. “They [excessive internet users] find it more
difficult to read faces in experiments,” explains Sigman.
In one study, children
showed a significant improvement in reading facial emotions after spending 5
days away from all devices. In another experiment, Chinese psychologists
scanned the brains of ‘normal’ versus ‘excessive’ internet users, while they
viewed images of faces and objects. The internet junkies showered smaller brain
wave responses to faces than their peers.
Sigman’s view is that
technology use itself isn’t damaging – just like sweets, it’s simply a case of
ensuring children don’t consume too much, too often. Prof Mizuko Ito of the
University of California, meanwhile, believes that a reasonable serving of new
media can actually be beneficial for the development of youngster’s brains.
“Young people who are taking advantage of online tools like search,
forums, open educational resources and complex games are learning at a more
accelerated rate, and in specialties that they would never have had access to
in earlier eras,” she argues.
However, she adds that for
disengaged kids in distressed circumstances, digital media can be a distraction
from positive learning and social engagement. “It’s not the availability of media that determines this, but whether
they have life opportunities, positive peer influences and caring adults who
support and guide them to positive media engagements.”
(Summarized from BBC Earth Magazine (Vol.9 Issue 1), page
32 by Jo Carlowe)
Verdict: New
media is just a place to ‘hang out’, but for the socially disengaged there are
risks
Lord, Give
Us Today Our Daily Idea(s)
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