A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in March and April of 2018 showed that 45 percent of teens ages 13 to 17 say they use the internet ìalmost constantly.î Another 44 percent go online several times a day.The substantial time children and teenagers are spending online can have widespread effects on their health, including brain development, said Kim Boyd, director of community care for El Paso County Colorado School District 49 and licensed clinical and school psychologist.An increasing number of parents are allowing their young kids, including toddlers, to use their phones or tablets, she said. The problem is that for the first three years of a personís life, the brain is still developing; and the type of stimulation from those electronic devices can actually change the makeup of a childís brain, Boyd said.According to an article by Victoria L. Dunckley, M.D.,ìGray Matters: Too Much Screen Time Damages the Brain,î posted on the Psychology Today website Feb. 27, 2014, too much screen time can be physiologically dangerous. Screen addiction can lead to gray matter atrophy, compromised white matter integrity, reduced cortical thickness; impaired cognitive functioning; and cravings and impaired dopamine function.ìScreen time particularly at those early ages can create addictive-type qualities,î Boyd said. ìThe thing they are engaging in (online) are reinforcing and the things being put out for kids are designed to be addictive. Their feel-good transmitters are being sparked.îShaye Meissen, director of behavioral health for Peak Vista Community Health Centers and licensed professional counselor, said part of the problem is that parents often assume kids and teens can self-regulate the amount of time they spend online, but their brains are not capable of doing that. ìParents really have to do that for them,î she said.The emotional effects are taking its toll on kids as well. The sizable amount of time kids and teens are spending online, particularly on social media sites, has led to a much higher rate of depression, feelings of loneliness and feeling insignificant, Meissen said.Boyd said kids that compare themselves to online posts can have twisted ideas of reality and personal expectations. People post the best pictures of themselves on social media or photos of all the fun times. Some kids look at their own lives and feel inadequate, like they are not keeping up, Boyd said.ìThe more time they spend on the internet and social media site, the more skewed their perception of ënormalí becomes,î she said.Dr. George Athey, a board certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist with Peak Vista, said kids tend to be moodier and more irritable when they spend too much time on social media sites. ìThey get angered more easily,î he said. ìThere becomes more arguing and fighting online. They start avoiding normal social interactions. Instead of sitting down with family or friends, they are isolating themselves in their rooms, avoiding social interaction to the exclusiveness of social media.îAthey said much of the content on social media sites is negative ó bullying, body shaming, public shaming and humiliating others. Kids and teens who are already anxious or depressed get online and often those feelings are magnified, he said. Because social media has become a popular form of communication, Athey said he has observed an increase in kids and teens who exhibit delayed communication development.ìThe communication theory is that most communication is nonverbal,î he said. ìIt requires looking at body posture, facial expressions and other things. You do not get any of that on social media. Even written communication is disturbed because they do not use full sentences or even full words. There is so much potential for miscommunication.îSocial development is also stunted with increased time spent online, Athey said. Kids and teens do not have to leave the house to interact with real people in social settings, he said. While some argue that social media can be a good outlet for people who deal with social anxiety, Athey said he feels it actually makes it worse, often delaying proper social development by several years.ìThese people do not meet normal social goals,î he said. ìWhy get a drivers license, why get a job, why graduate high school when they plan to be a professional YouTuber or gamer? There are a lot of things on social media that are contrary to becoming functioning members of society.îBoyd said it is that type of isolating behavior that often perpetuates the issue of internet addiction.ìWe teach our kids how to be safe when they are young and playing outside, but when it comes to the internet, we are giving tablets and phones to younger kids; and we are not monitoring them or teaching them how to use it and set boundaries,î Boyd said. ìWhen we teach kids to cross the street, we teach them to look both ways and watch out for cars. We are not teaching that type of safety with internet access.îMeissen said that lack of guidance can become a major issue. ìThey see someone that is a YouTube star and they idolize them or model that behavior,î she said. ìIf we are not talking and having those conversations that not everything they see on social media is true and good, they may not be able to recognize the difference.îThe bottom line is that if a parent does not like what their child is being exposed to online, it falls on the parent to regulate and monitor their childís access to the internet, Meissen said.Boyd agreed, and said the stigma that it is considered ìspyingî by monitoring their childrenís internet usage or going through their smartphone to see who they are talking to and what they are talking about needs to change.ìI do not think we should call it spying,î she said. ìWe should call it parenting. We are offering the entire world to our kids, but we are not teaching the appropriate usage to them.î
