Technology is often regarded as one of the most powerful and influential tools globally, with roughly 5.35 billion individuals accessing the Internet. While the effects of the digital world have been primarily positive, such as large economic and social growth, the adverse side effects are often overlooked in many countries, specifically in the United States.
In this day and age, the digital technology presented to children at young ages has been linked to lowered attention spans, behavioral issues, and even speech and reading disabilities. According to a study done by census.gov, around 75 percent of households in the United States with children under the age of five have a tablet. It is also recorded that 26 percent of these children spent four or more hours a day with their eyes glued to a screen, whether a TV, computer, cellphone, tablet or any other electronic device. This is four times the limit of the recommended screen time for children this age.
Face-to-face socialization is a crucial component of early development. Additionally, a large component of this is the learning aspect. According to the National Library of Medicine, Face-to-face learning is fundamental, contrary to its counterpart, digital learning. Many statistics are provided by the NLM that reinforce this idea. For example, retention spans are proven to be anywhere between 20-60 percent lower in online classes compared to in-person classrooms. Additionally, according to the Community College Research Center, online courses show a 10-20 percent lower pass rate than traditional courses. Even with these statistics, politicians and other large corporations continue to push the so-called “digital age” among younger generations in order to modernize the learning world. Additionally, online education and technology has been marketed more toward kids in recent years. Kids these days can access the internet with a touch of a button.
According to oxjournal.org, within the last decade, children have become exposed to such an array of excessive stimuli due to their unlimited access to the internet in such a short period of time that they undergo a phenomenon called attention shifting, more commonly known as multitasking. In turn, this causes parents to become worried for their children when they start demonstrating traits of ADHD. Ultimately, this unlimited internet access at such a young age has created a sort of manmade ADHD. This is shown by the 35 percent increase in ADHD diagnoses over the past two decades, coincidentally in line with the development of more modern technology such as smartphones and tablets. This is also not accounting for the countless other children who remain untreated and undiagnosed.
Excessive use of technology at a young age has also been linked to learning and behavioral disorders, one mainly being anger issues. According to allinahealth.org, it has been found that a sort of “post-screen-time meltdown” takes place following the end of screen time for a child. It has been shown that children often demonstrate outbursts of anger and sadness, and the culprit has been linked to overstimulation. This meltdown leaves less time for human interaction, socialization, and sleep. Sleep is often disregarded when it comes to screen time. However, it is recommended that any given person stops looking at screens at least two hours before bedtime to maintain a healthy sleep cycle. However, in children, this manmade ADHD reappears due to excessive nighttime screen time. It has been shown that children have not been able to sleep well due to screens, which in turn causes restlessness during the day along with poor school performance.
Overall, the adverse effects of screen time at young ages have been proven to outweigh the positive impact, whether it be restlessness, poor sleep quality, poor social skills, etc. Many doctors worldwide recommend that children stay away from screens more than what is present in today’s society. This so-called “manmade ADHD” is exceptionally prevalent and will continue to prevail unless it is acted upon.
