Effect of Screen Media on Brain Functioning of User

Dr. Harjot Kaur Dhatt

In past few years, there has been noticeable increase in the internet participation rate
of children and young people in India. Go to any family restaurant and you’ll be
surrounded by kids, ranging from toddlers to teens. Some are antsy, others are well
behaved, but a good number of them play on their phones and iPads. However, very
young children (0-8) are showing particularly increased patterns of internet use.
Whereas, pattern of internet use of children of 9-12 year group is now resemble those
of teenagers five to six years ago. Pre-schoolers are going online too, and most babies
under the age of two in developed countries have an online presence (or digital
footprint).
Increased internet participation implies increased screen time. Screen time can be
described as the time spent in viewing of TV/video, computer, electronic games,
hand-held devices or other visual devices. From iPads to Xboxes, the modern child
has a vast array of electronic media to help alleviate boredom, pass the time and play
online games. Even parents use screen time as reward for their children to do their
homework.
Nicole Crawford in her article Wired Kids reported some reasons of exssive use of
screen media.
1. It's easy and convenient.
Easy and convenient way out to get time for self or to get children engaged in doing
“something”.
2. It's educational.
Many TV programs and computer games are targeted to young audiences to help
them learn to read or do math, or teach them social values like cooperation and
teamwork. However, that's not necessarily an excuse to sit your 2-year-old down in
front of Baby Einstein. Studies have shown that watching educational programs is
most effective when a parent or other caregiver is present and interacting with the
child, particularly during early childhood. According to research scientist Yalda T
Uhls of the Children's Digital Media Center, children younger than age two don't
understand that the world on the screen corresponds to their world, and have a hard
time translating what they see into real life. "Without social interactions, screens at
young ages don't teach anything," says Uhls in a recent article by BBC News.
3. It helps my child focus.
One of the telling signs of attention-deficit disorder is the ability to focus for hours
on video games, movies, or computer games, but the inability to focus in a classroom
setting. In an article by the New York Times, pediatrician Dimitri Christakis notes
that the ability to focus during a video game is about the pacing, how fast the scene
changes per minute. Which is again not correlated to real life of the user.

Observable Behavioral Results of Exessive Usage of Screen Media

• Moodiness. • An inability to focus on tasks
• Restlessness. that require concentration.
• Strange cravings. • Emotional outbursts.
• Incoherent speech.

These qualities may be used to describe a person on drugs or trying to quit

smoking. They also perfectly express what a four-year-old child is like after a two
hour gaming on xbox.
It is observable that many of the children with extended exposure to screen media
suffer from sensory overload, lack of restorative sleep, and a hyper-aroused nervous
system. These children are impulsive, moody, and can’t pay attention.
Screen time has a powerful effect on children and adults. Finding a way to combat
screen time in adults is a bit complicated, since many of us work on computers and
have to be in front of a screen for a good portion of our days. Finding a way to
combat screen time in children, who don't have inboxes to tend to and spreadsheets to
create, is a bit more simple.
However, that's not always as easy as it sounds, since screens can be addictive,
partcularly for young children. That might sound extreme, but as of May 2013,
"internet use disorder" (IUD) has been added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Health Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association. In
order to be added to the manual, research had to demonstrate not only that screen time
can become a regular habit that has the potential to disrupt daily life, but also that
there is neurological evidence to back up that claim. Like other addictions, screen
time creates notable changes in brain chemistry - most notably, in the release of
dopamine. Over a decade ago in 1998, a group of neurologists from the Imperial
College of Medicine in London demonstrated a pretty conclusive link between video
games and increased dopamine levels. This pernicious neurotransmitter, also known
as the pleasure chemical, which also plays a significant role in sugar addiction to
cocaine addiction. When kids develop a dopamine habit during early childhood, be it
through sugary treats or computer games, more serious problems may ensue.

Research Findings about Working of Brain while using Screen media

It shouldn't surprise anyone that all the different gadgets we juggle daily are probably
rewiring our brains in weird ways. Watching cascade of posts and tweets on our
desktop screen, scrolling through Instagram on our phone—all those cognitive
cartwheels are taxing our brain.
In a study, neuroscientists Loh and Kanai (1995) at the University of Sussex took a
deeper look at the brain structures of 75 adults, to determine how multimedia
multitasking might be reshaping their brain activity. First, researchers had participants
take a survey about their media consumption habits. Do you watch a lot of
TV? Maybe you're not really watching TV, because you're poking around on your
phone at the same time? Etc..

Then, they used fMRI to peer a bit closer into participants' brain structures. The team
was most interested in the anterior cingulate cortex, an area of the brain associated
with cognitive and emotional functioning, as well as behavior.

What they found may or may not shock you, When they controlled for different
personality traits in the individual, researchers found that the gray matter density in
the anterior cingulate cortex tended to be smaller. While previous studies have found
links between media multitasking and mental ailments like depression and anxiety.

Loh concluded that media multitasking is becoming more prevalent in our lives today
and there is increasing concern about its impacts on our cognition and social-
emotional well-being.
Multiple studies have shown atrophy (shrinkage or loss of tissue volume) in gray
matter areas (where “processing” occurs) in internet/gaming addiction (Zhou 2011,
Yuan 2011, Weng 2013,and Weng 2012) Areas affected included the important
frontal lobe, which governs executive functions, such as planning, planning,
prioritizing, organizing, and impulse control. Aside from the obvious link to violent
behavior, these skills dictate the depth and quality of personal relationships.

Research has also demonstrated loss of integrity to the brain’s white matter (Lin 2012
, Yuan 2011, Hong 2013 and Weng 2013 ). This loss of white matter implies loss of
communication within the brain, including connections to and from various lobes of
the same hemisphere, links between the right and left hemispheres, and paths between
higher (cognitive) and lower (emotional and survival) brain centers. Yuan et al found
reduced cortical thickness in the frontal lobe of online gaming addicts (late adolescent
males and females) correlated with impairment of a cognitive task.

Research on video games have shown dopamine (implicated in reward processing and
addiction) is released during gaming (Koepp 1998 and Kuhn 2011 ) and that craving
or urges for gaming produces brain changes that are similar to drug cravings (Ko
2009 , Han 2011).

Weiss, Baer, Allan, Saran and Schibuk (2011) reported that children’s use of
electronic media, including Internet and video gaming, has increased dramatically to
an average in the general population of roughly 3 h per day. Some children cannot
control their Internet use leading to increasing research on “internet addiction.” The
objective of this article is to review the research on ADHD as a risk factor for Internet
addiction and gaming, its complications, and what research and methodological
questions remain to be addressed. The literature search was done in PubMed and
Psychinfo, as well as by hand. Previous research has demonstrated rates of Internet
addiction as high as 25% in the population and that it is addiction more than time of
use that is best correlated with psychopathology. Various studies confirm that
psychiatric disorders, and ADHD in particular, are associated with overuse, with
severity of ADHD specifically correlated with the amount of use. ADHD children
may be vulnerable since these games operate in brief segments that are not attention
demanding. In addition, they offer immediate rewards with a strong incentive to
increase the reward by trying the next level. The time spent on these games may also
exacerbate ADHD symptoms, if not directly then through the loss of time spent on
more developmentally challenging tasks.
There corpses of research on Screen Multi-Tasking i.e. • Constant attentional shifts to
one screen media to another with little sustained attention (concentration) and is
occurring at younger ages. Most children today have more than one screen in their
bedroom, and even with one screen, often switch between various windows Brain
imaging reveals that screen multi-tasking activates a different brain region (the
striatum) to the one used when you learn one thing at a time (medial temporal lobe),
and this is a significant hindrance to learning. (Foerde et al., 2006).
Conclusion
In conclusion, excessive screen-time appears to impair brain structure and function.
Much of the damage occurs in the brain’s frontal lobe, which undergoes massive
changes from puberty until the mid-twenties. Frontal lobe development, in turn,
largely determines success in every area of life—from sense of well-being to
academic or career success to relationship skills.
If you happen to be one of those people who succumbs easily to distractions, try being
a bit more mindful of how you're spending your time. Or go get a flip phone. Or
just close all your tabs and hurl your Tabs into the ocean.

References

Crawford, N. (n.d.) Wired Kids: How Screen Time Affects Children’s Brain,
[Link]
brains [Retrieved on 17/03/2015]

Foerde, K. and others (2006) Modulation of competing memory systems by

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Hyun Kim, Jeong-Eun Suh, Chang-Dai Kim, Jae-Won Kim, and Soon-Hyung Yi
(2013), Decreased Functional Brain Connectivity in Adolescents with Internet
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Hong, Soon-Beom, Jae-Won Kim, Eun-Jung Choi, Ho-Hyun Kim, Jeong-Eun Suh,
Chang-Dai Kim, Paul Klauser, et al. (2013), Reduced Orbitofrontal Cortical
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Ko, Chih-Hung, Gin-Chung Liu, Sigmund Hsiao, Ju-Yu Yen, Ming-Jen Yang, Wei-
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[Link]
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