HOW PHONES KILL CHILDHOOD
A generation of children spending too much time online are sleep deprived, overweight and unfit...
SARAH’S tiny fingers dart across the iPad, swiping through photos to get to a particularly entertaining video — a 40- second clip of her pet dog eating bubbles. The 18-month-old taps ‘play’ and squeals with delight. After watching the video twice, she navigates back to the home screen and opens up the YouTube app to watch an episode of Masha and the Bear. Halfway through, she moves on to Peppa Pig.
When Sarah’s mum, Claire, tries to take away the iPad, a tantrum ensues. First comes the wobbly lip, followed by tears and finally a high-pitched wail. ‘She’s just tired,’ insists the flustered mother. ‘Five more minutes,’ she tells Sarah, before handing the tablet back to the frenzied toddler.
Sadly, this panic-stricken scene is not an isolated one. Go anywhere today and children are alternately staring with zombielike glazed eyes at a tablet, or having meltdowns when they’re snatched away — in restaurants, in shopping centres, on buses and at home.
Few technologies have invaded our lives — and those of our children — as stealthily as the mobile computer, most commonly the smartphone or tablet. These devices are the right size for little hands to handle, and the touchscreens are easy for tiny fingers to manipulate. But once our beloved children have them in their grip, warn experts, the consequences can be far-reaching.
‘This is going to be a huge issue into the future,’ says Dr Grace O’Malley, researcher in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and multidisciplinary lead of the W82GO Obesity Service, Temple Street Children’s University Hospital.
‘The World Health Organisation guidelines are that children under 12 should not be using mobile devices. That’s just ignored unfortunately.
‘It’s really only in the last ten years or so that mobile devices have come to the fore, and maybe only in the last five that younger children are using them, so we won’t probably see proper longitudinal studies emerging probably for the next five to ten years regarding the effects.
‘From my point of view, clinically, we are seeing a lot more difficulties for kids who are using tablets and phones a lot.’
In the W82GO clinic in Temple Street, Dr O’Malley and her team are at the frontline of the childhood obesity crisis in Ireland. As the country’s only clinic dedicated to tackling the issue, anecdotal evidence is proving that the use of mobile devices — tablets and smartphones — is contributing to the expanding waistlines of our children. Not only is the number of children being referred for treatment at the clinic increasing, but the age of the little girls and boys who come through the doors is getting lower.
‘Unfortunately we would have children as young as three attending our clinic who are spending too much time on devices,’ says Dr O’Malley.
‘It has been said before that more children can use apps than can tie their shoelaces — these are young children, toddlers. When we are substituting learning life skills and practicing life skills for entertainment there is a payoff.’
The payoff, it appears, is a weight battle that is beginning at frighteningly early stages of development. Ireland is in the midst of an obesity crisis, and those most at risk are our youngest and most vulnerable.
‘We see very young children who are already being bullied in baby infants and senior infants because of their weight,’ says Dr O’Malley.
‘It can be very hard to accept that, but the child already knows because they are being singled out. It’s really sad and often parents don’t want to highlight things because they think it might upset the child further.
‘That’s why its really important to go see a team or an expert who understands this issue. They will be sensitive about it and they will empower the family.’
It has long been established that too much screen time — up until now, time spent in front of a TV — has a large and negative impact on a child’s sleep. In recent years, with the introduction of mobile devices and the number of young people who are in possession of them, particularly in their bedrooms, a new, more worrying phenomenon has emerged.
The statistics show that the number of devices and amount of screen time children and adolescents are exposed to is continually increasing.
In a 2016 report by the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre at Dublin City University, it was found that 27% of six to eight year-olds had access to the net on their own portable device, for example, a phone or tablet. This usage rate jumps considerably by the ages of nine to ten, with 55% of children in that age range owning their own device.
‘There is no doubt kids are getting smartphones too early,’ says Cliona Curley, programme director of CyberSafeIreland, a not-forprofit organisation that delivers online safety education to primary school children and their parents.
‘Anecdotally, if I go into a classroom, most of the kids will have a smartphone. If not a smartphone, certainly another type of device.
‘Our most recent survey shows that not only are younger children now in possession of a device, but they are spending more and more time on it.’
Experts warn that screen time could be negatively influencing sleep in many ways. The timing of screen time is one important factor. The use of these devices can lead to delays in the time that children and adolescents go to bed and, consequently, shorter sleep patterns overall.
These negative impacts on sleep can be due to screen time in the evening cutting into the time that children would normally be preparing for bed and sleeping, delaying sleep onset and reducing the overall duration of sleep. There is simply less time available for it.
It has also been suggested that longer screen times may be affecting sleep by reducing the time spent doing other activities — such as exercise — that may be beneficial for sleep and sleep regulation.
Screen time in the hours directly prior to sleep is problematic in a number of ways other than just displacing the bed and sleep times of children and adolescents. The content of the screen time, as well as the light that these devices emit, may also be responsible for poorer sleep.
The content, or what we are actually engaging with on the screen, can be detrimental to sleep. For example, exciting video games, dramatic or scary television shows, or even stimulating phone conversations can engage the brain and lead to the release of hormones such as adrenaline. This can in turn make it more difficult to fall asleep or maintain sleep.
Less obvious, but still just as important, is the impact that light has on sleep and on our sleep-wake patterns in general.
Many of the devices that are now routinely used by our youth emit bright light. Exposure to these light emissions in the important evening hours before sleep can increase alertness.
Bright light at night can also disrupt the body’s naturally occurring circadian (or daily) rhythms by suppressing the release of the hormone melatonin, which is important for maintaining and regulating our sleep-wake cycle.
Poor quality sleep in turn affects appetite and hormones, which directly increases the risk of childhood obesity. ‘Most of the children who come to our clinic are not sleeping enough and are using screens for more than two hours each day,’ says Dr O’Malley.
‘Unfortunately, many are using screens for more than four hours each day.’ This is more than double the recommendations for those over the age of 12.
‘There are links in scientific literature between time spent using screens — TV, computer, tablets, phones, video games — and obesity,’ Dr O’Malley says. ‘Children and adolescents who spend over two hours per day using screens are more likely to be overweight and obese.
‘In addition, they tend to sleep less at night and to be less active during the day.’
A recent survey by Cybersafe Ireland revealed that more than half of Irish eight to 13-year-olds are daily internet users, increasing to 92% of children as they move into adolescence. They browse the internet, watch videos and chat with friends all at the same time, while also allegedly studying, doing homework or eating dinner.
The same survey also revealed that 40% of those surveyed spent over two hours a day online. Some 16% of children surveyed reported spending in excess of four hours online a day.
‘It’s very concerning,’ says Cliona Curley. ‘Particularly the 16% who are doing more than four hours online. We talk to schoolteachers and principals who are seeing the fallout of this, from kids staying up all night gaming or kids falling asleep with their phone under the pillow and every time a message comes in they are waking up.
‘Where cyberbullying is going on, kids are going to be more vulnerable if they have their devices at night time. The fact that kids are bringing devices into the bedroom full stop is a problem.’
Parental response to the issue is mixed. Many parents are happy to hand over an iPad to a child, while others are so concerned about the impact of technology on their children that they leave the room to use their mobile. Striking a balance is difficult.
The difficulty for parents is that the dangers of tablet use for children are as yet unidentified. As Dr O’Malley points out, research is in its infancy. In this, it’s interesting — while also surprising — to discover that Apple founder Steve Jobs was known to keep a tight lid on the use of screens in his own household. Many other well-known technology leaders strictly limit their children’s use of computers and screens.
Chris Anderson, founder of Wired, told the New York Times that he has time limits and parental controls on every device; Evan Williams, a co-founder of Twitter and Medium, doesn’t have iPads for his kids, he has books; Dick Costolo, chief executive of Twitter, said he’d allow children unlimited use of a gadget as long as he’s in the room, but also argued that too many time limits aren’t good because, once the children are off the leash and living on their own, they might gadget-binge.
‘Often I don’t think parents are aware of how much time their children are spending online,’ says Dr O’Malley. ‘I don’t think they see the link between too much time spent online and childhood obesity.’
Less obvious, but just as worrying, says Dr O’Malley, is the way advertisers are capitalising on the unfettered access children have to the internet.
‘This is an area I would be very concerned about,’ says Dr O’Malley. ‘The Irish Heart Foundation recently had a really good campaign called “Stop targeting kids” and when they went out on the road to engage with the public, initially many adults, particularly parents, didn’t see what the whole hullabaloo was about. This was mainly because they actually don’t understand how insidious online advertising is.
‘When they were shown some of the clips used in the campaign parents were getting rightfully really worked up about it because it’s so strategic and hidden. I don’t think parents even consider the fact that their child is being exposed to advertising of unhealthy products in this way. They’re thinking more about online safety.’
On the face of it, they seem like innocent fun. Brightly-coloured websites crowd the internet offering free games and featuring engaging cartoon characters. But experts warn that such sites are often run by fast-food chains and makers of sugar-packed cereals and sweets whose sole intention is to sell more junk food. They use subtle messages to encourage youngsters to crave their produce. And it works.
Although in Ireland, the Government restricts advertising to under-18s on TV and radio, it has not yet tackled regulation of digital marketing.
In 2016, in its study Who’s Feeding The Kids Online?, the Irish Heart Foundation called on the Government to extend existing statutory regulation on advertising to all digital media.
Whereas ads that are shown on TV can be viewed and regulated, the targeted nature of digital marketing means parents and policymakers are unaware of who is ‘feeding our kids online’.
Adverts disguised as children’s online games are called ‘advergames’. They work by the power of suggestion, motivating children to pester parents, or go behind their backs to buy advertised foods.
When children play an advergame, their conscious brains are occupied with winning — while the junk food branding messages slip into their subconscious brains. Their subconscious then makes the link: ‘Brand X equals fun and excitement.’ Psychologists call this the ‘mere exposure’ effect — being exposed to a brand logo in an enjoyable context makes a child crave the brand by association.
‘This is a huge issue and I know the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has tried to get a handle on it because we have managed to get some kind of control over advertising on TV targeted at children and unhealthy products,’ says Dr O’Malley.
‘However, the online world is completely unregulated in terms of marketing and advertising and now the devices are in the children’s hands themselves, you don’t have the filter that comes with an adult changing a TV channel.’
There is no question that Irish children are plugged in and tuned out of ‘live’ action for many more hours of the day than experts consider healthy for normal development. The effect this is having on their physical health is clear.
While the internet provides excellent opportunities for children to be creative, learn, communicate and socialise, it also poses risks.
A generation of children has now grown up in a time of unprecedented advances in technology, and only longitudinal studies will provide evidence of any possible impact — but do we really need to wait for evidence?
The question is not ‘are smartphones bad for children?’, we already know the answer to that. The question now is: what are we going to do about it?
‘Kids are getting smartphones too early’ Parents don’t see the link between this and obesity