Kuwait warns social media not for kids; screen time impacts children’s brains

KUWAIT/ WASHINGTON: Kuwait’s attorney general has called for strict guidelines to ensure that children are adequately protected from the potential dangers associated with social media. Chief among the new guidelines

is introducing age restrictions requiring social media users to be at least 13 years of age, the justice ministry cited Dharar Al-Asousi as saying in a statement yesterday. It strictly prohibited the commercial exploitation of children on social media websites, with the exception of “positive advertisements” for products that usually bear the likeness of kids.

Examples of positive adverts usually deal with philanthropic deeds, healthcare and education, all of which leave a lasting impression on the lives of children, the statement clarified. Any material deemed as an invasion of privacy or an intrusion into the personal lives of children is not allowed, in addition to the exploitation of children for financial gain, it added. Such topics usually create fodder for conversation that steers away from proper

decorum instead of depicting exceptional and talented children in a positive light, the statement explained. The justice ministry added that all necessary measures will be taken to ensure that these guidelines are strictly enforced.

Meanwhile, researchers have found “different patterns” in brain scans among children who record heavy smart device and video game use, according to initial data from a major ongoing US study. The first wave of information from the $300 million National Institute of Health (NIH) study is showing that those nine and 10year-old kids spending more than seven hours a day using such devices show signs of premature thinning of the cortex, the brain’s outermost layer that processes sensory information.

“We don’t know if it’s being caused by the screen time. We don’t know yet if it’s a bad thing,” said Gaya Dowling, an NIH doctor working on the project, explaining the preliminary findings in an interview with the CBS news program 60 Minutes. “What we can say is that this is what the brains look like of kids who spend a lot of time on screens. And it’s not just one pattern,” Dowling said. The NIH data reported on CBS also showed that kids who spend more than two hours a day on screens score worse on language and reasoning tests.

The study - which involves scanning the brains of 4,500 children - eventually aims to show whether screen time is addictive, but researchers need several years to understand such long-term outcomes. “In many ways, the concern that investigators like I have is, that we’re sort of in the midst of a natural kind of uncontrolled experiment on the next generation of children,” Dimitri Christakis, a lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ most recent guidelines on screen time, told 60 Minutes. Initial data from the study will begin to be released in early 2019. The academy now recommends parents “avoid digital media use except video chatting - in children younger than 18 to 24 months”. — Agencies