The Scariest Overuse of Technology… the iPad Kid

We’ve all seen it before, a little kid is loud, upset, or onery in a public place, and their parent just wants them to be quiet, so they pull out the most successful attention-grabbing, kid-distracting item on the market, the iPad. While videos or online games do successfully calm the child, excess screen usage in young children causes long term harm to their mental and physical health.
The World Health Organization advises that kids two years and younger do not have any screen time and two- to four-year-old kids have less than an hour each day. Pre-pandemic, two- to four-year-old kids used screens for an average of two and a half hours a day. The CDC reports that only 24% of children between 6 and 17 participate in physical activity every day. Kids typically get physical activity from playing on a playground, walking a dog, doing a sport, or running around with friends outside, however, children have replaced this valuable time with screen usage. This excessive sitting leads to an increase in childhood obesity.
The pandemic nearly doubled youth recreational screen time because children had to reduce the time they spent with their friends face to face. While watching tv or connecting with others over social media provided temporary distraction from the uncertainty in the world, it created long term technological dependence, anxiety, and depression. Individuals begin developing their lifelong emotional coping mechanisms during childhood, so kids using screens instead of processing their emotions prevents positive strategies from forming. Children also face cyberbullying and participate in inappropriate or dangerous activities online while trying to fit in. The internet also exposes them to violent and explicit content before they have matured enough to understand it. Using screens slows the development of motor and social skills and shortens attention spans in toddlers and preschool aged kids
The solution may seem simple, get kids to use less technology. Unfortunately, that can be difficult. The youth screen overuse epidemic disproportionately affects the low to middle class Americans more than any other socioeconomic group because parents do not have the time or resources to occupy their children in other ways. Affordable childcare and recreation options must be made available through schools and other public resources to give children an alternative to screen time. Parent must also be diligent in monitoring and restricting technology usage in their children, even though children may resist.

Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7451199/
https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Children-And-Watching-TV-054.aspx
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/physicalactivity/facts.htm