TEACHING US TO PRACTISE SAFE TECH
U.S. experts in Edmonton giving talks on how our devices can affect our health
When California research psychologist Larry Rosen gives presentations about the effects of technology on our brains and bodies, parents with long lists of questions follow him into the parking lot after the hall doors are locked.
Pediatrician Dr. Michael Rich’s Boston office is taking two or three new referrals weekly for patients with “problematic interactive media use.”
The professors don’t favour using the words “addiction” or “obsession” to describe how people might overuse their mobile phones, computers and other technologies.
Instead the researchers say nowubiquitous devices can have profound effects on our health that everyone should know about.
Rosen — psychology professor emeritus at California State University, Dominguez Hills — and Rich — associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and associate professor of society, human development and health at Harvard School of Public Health — are in Edmonton this week sharing their expertise with teachers, health-care workers and the public.
In a hotel meeting room with phones pinging and buzzing in the background, Postmedia asked them what steps users can take to prevent technology from becoming overly intrusive. Answers have been edited for length.
Q What are some of the key things we know about devices and distractibility?
Larry Rosen Because of the device, our level of focus has deteriorated rapidly. All of the research seems to be showing a very consistent pattern that we are able to focus for about three to five minutes. My concern is, what drives that distraction? On the one side is accessibility. My phone, since I’ve been in here, has beeped about 10 times. Q Has your heart rate elevated?
Rosen Yes, it does every time. If your phone is right here, and you’re studying, you grab your phone just because it’s there. We don’t allow ourselves to be bored anymore. And boredom breeds creative thinking, breeds daydreaming, interesting thoughts. Things you wouldn’t put together in your brain. The No. 1 variable that seems to predict everything in all of our studies is what people refer to as FOMO — fear of missing out. But it’s really anxiety. It’s not just that you’re an anxious person. It’s that you’re anxious about what might be going on in your virtual world that you might be missing out on. We’ve shown that drives why you get a bad night’s sleep. If you have more anxiety, more FOMO, you’re going to be more likely to sleep with your phone next to your bed. You’re going to be more likely to get up in the middle of the night to check your phone. Part of my goal is to try to help people put (anxiety) at bay for short periods of time, so they can focus.
Q How do you dial down the anxiety?
Rosen I use a technique called technology breaks. Imagine you’re sitting and having a group meeting. Everybody check your phone for one minute. Turn it on silent. Set your alarm for 15 minutes. Everybody put your phone down, in front of your face, face down. The reason it’s face down is you don’t see the light, indicating you have an alert or a notification. The reason it’s in front of you is it’s a stimulus to your brain chemistry that says, ‘Don’t start leaking those chemicals that signal anxiety.’ Your brain now is trying to learn that in 15 minutes, you will then get to check in for one minute again. Start the process again, 15 minutes studying, one minute looking.
Q What should schools do with students’ phones? What should the rules be?
Rosen I think that time limits need to be set on how much you use it versus how much (human) interaction there is. There’s emerging literature that shows that screen time negatively impacts your ability to identify emotions on other people’s faces.
Dr. Michael Rich There’s good research showing that when two or more kids are working with a device, they learn more than every kid with (their own) device. It’s the human interaction with each other and the device that is much richer in terms of the learning experience, in terms of collaborative problem solving, collaborative questioning. (We
shouldn’t) call the kid out (for using a phone in class). Rather than pretend it’s not happening, or punish them, let’s talk about it, because we’re all needing to learn this.
Rosen One of the bad choices I think teachers are making with devices is removing them, thinking that will then help the students focus. Some teachers have a box by the door, you put your phones in the box. Within 10 minutes, your anxiety starts to rise. And it keeps going up and up and up, and when your brain is anxious, you are not able to focus on the teacher, your neighbour or anything. We know that out of sight is not out of mind.
Q How do you treat “problematic interactive media use?”
Rich Virtually all of these kids have co-morbidities of an anxi- ety disorder, an obsessive compulsive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder. As with many drug users, they start as selfmedication. There’s not much crossover between the gamers, the (constant users of ) social media, the porn seekers and the information seekers. That’s why maybe we are barking up the wrong tree to come up with a monolithic diagnosis. Then, in some ways, we’re blaming it on the technology. We have to understand what the transaction is between the individual and the device, or the Internet or the game — what is being satisfied in that process. It starts with self-reflection. Let’s really look at what you want, and build out from there. Not, ‘Get rid of this, cut it out.’