Cutting screen time

I’m moving away from the focus on smartphones to cover the rest of digital ICTs. In particular, I’m concerned that while parents and educators fret much more about smartphones, which are seen almost as a vice, computers were, and still are, generally seen as educational.

No doubt, computers did contribute in many ways to education in terms of improving accessibility to information but it has also created an entire industry with too much self-interest. This is not just about computer manufacturers but companies designing and distributing programs and apps that supposedly enhance learning, with all kinds of studies claiming benefits.

Now it’s becoming clear that the companies’ research has often been self-serving, with more well-designed research finding that not only are there few or no benefits from some of the programs but that they even cause harm.

Not only that, it seems that the promotions of these programs now involve administrators, especially in government, with outright corruption in purchases of computers and “learning” materials. We know that’s been happening as well in the Philippines with overpriced substandard laptops.

Let’s be on the lookout, too, with the way schools, private ones especially, keep pushing parents to buy new computers each year, which is not only expensive but adds to the destruction of the environment.

Let me get to the main problem with the digital ICTs: screen time. For several years now, pediatricians and mental health professionals have noted how extended screen time—using smartphones and computers—harms both the physical and psychological health of the users, much more so with children. This extends from myopia or nearsightedness (and, I was surprised, hearing loss) to delays in developing social skills.

One study that I found particularly alarming, involving an admittedly small sample of 52 children aged 3-5 years, found the lower thickness of the brain’s cortex and in the depth of the brain’s sulci (grooves in the cortex). These are the areas responsible for language development, reading, and social skills including empathy.

These concerns are even more important when we get to adolescents, whose brain development becomes even more crucial for those skills, yes, whether for dating or for studying! This is why I tell my adolescent kids I prefer they go out on face-to-face dates rather than staying cooped up in their rooms with online swooning and whispering sweet nothings through the night (and day).

Screen breaks are crucial, a general guide being 10 minutes pausing after every 30 to 40 minutes of screen time.

But just last week, China, which has had screen time restrictions for some time, ordered smartphone manufacturers to build in a “minor mode” in the gadgets to regulate and monitor phone use, and not to provide airtime connections between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.! There are also going to be age-related restrictions on screen time: for children below 8, 40 minutes a day, for children aged 8 to 16, one hour a day increasing to two hours a day for those aged 16-17.

Where does this leave the rest of the world, including gadget-crazy Filipinos?

I don’t like total bans and extreme restrictions in general and feel the solution must include parents and educators, starting with a recognition of the dangers of computers and smartphones and moving into what we can do at home and in school. I worry, in particular, about the exchanges on social media, such as the shameless consumerism promoted by companies pushing their products through influencers, and peer pressure.

Last week, I wrote about extreme cases of cyberbullying but let’s not forget that so much of everyday social media is being nasty and vicious. Seems to be the default mode, even becoming a source of pride for young people.

I cannot imagine anything worse for our young people as they go out into the world with their stunted vocabularies limited to boasting about their latest purchases and the use of profanities, while emotional skills are equated with manipulating feelings and hurting people.

If that description reminds you of many adults, even leaders of nations, think of a future where their ranks are multiplied by the world’s population.

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mtan@inquirer.com.ph