S2E5: Smart Start- Balancing Screens & Growing Brains w. Dr. Carrie Clark
Nebraska Extension Early Childhood Program Area-Emily Manning, Dr. Holly Hatton, Ingrid Lindal, Erin Kampbell, Linda Reddish, Katie Krause, and LaDonna Werth
Author
11/12/2024
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9
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Description
Dr. Carrie Clark joins us in this listener requested episode about screen time. Dr. Clark and host Emily Manning discuss screen time and the impact it has on brain development, emotional regulation, and relationship skills. Dr. Clark also shares strategies for guiding children through the realities of a screen-filled world.
References & Resources
Common Sense Media- https://www.commonsensemedia.org/
American Academy of Pediatrics- https://www.aap.org/
Dr. Carrie Clark- https://naecr.unl.edu/people/bios/clarke-carrie.php
Up First NPR podcast about impacts of TikTok- https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Tl2QDjorO02B7nMYNwIln?si=o1WgWEabQ5SzmC9zmhQILw
The following music was used for this media project:
Music: Afterparty Review by Sascha Ende
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/2962-afterparty-review
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Searchable Transcript
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- [00:00:00.000]Welcome to another episode of The Good Life in Early Life. I'm your host, Emily Manning,
- [00:00:09.660]an early childhood extension educator located in Seward County. This episode today was a
- [00:00:14.820]direct result of a request from you, the listener. It was among our top requested topics, so
- [00:00:20.420]of course we had to cover it for you all. And what we're going to be diving into is
- [00:00:24.360]screen time and how that impacts brain development and self-regulation in young children. And
- [00:00:29.980]just to note, we do want to hear from you. We want to know what you want covered on the
- [00:00:34.920]podcast. We want to make sure that we're serving you, our listeners. So just a reminder, you
- [00:00:40.080]can always share topic ideas at any time on our social media platforms. We have a Facebook
- [00:00:44.960]and an Instagram account. Or if you would prefer, you can also email your topic ideas
- [00:00:50.200]to us at earlychildhoodatunl.edu.
- [00:00:53.280]Today I have with me Dr. Keri Clark. She's an associate professor at UNL. She focuses on
- [00:00:59.960]executive functioning and self-regulation, particularly during early childhood, which
- [00:01:04.660]makes her the perfect fit for this episode. We're going to be diving into brain development
- [00:01:08.900]and self-regulation during this episode and how screen time impacts these areas of development
- [00:01:13.840]in early childhood. So without further ado, welcome to the show, Dr. Keri Clark.
- [00:01:19.360]Hi.
- [00:01:20.480]Hi. Thanks for being here. Appreciate it.
- [00:01:23.460]So instead of asking Dr. Clark about her favorite childhood memory, I wanted to hear her
- [00:01:29.940]reaction to a quote from our current Surgeon General of the United States.
- [00:01:35.040]The most common question parents ask me is, is social media safe for my kids?
- [00:01:40.920]The answer is that we don't have enough evidence to say it's safe. And in fact,
- [00:01:46.220]there's growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people's mental
- [00:01:50.980]health. Children are exposed to harmful content on social media, ranging from violent and sexual
- [00:01:55.680]content to bullying and harassment. And far too many children,
- [00:01:59.920]social media use is compromising their sleep and valuable in-person time with family and friends.
- [00:02:05.600]We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social
- [00:02:11.300]media is an important driver of that crisis, one that we must urgently address. That was a long
- [00:02:18.220]quote, but what's your reaction to that, Dr. Clark? Yeah, well, first of all, I would say that
- [00:02:24.200]I think it is really important to bear in mind that we need more research on this.
- [00:02:29.900]And the research that is out there has some limitations. But in general, I would wholeheartedly
- [00:02:35.200]agree with what the Surgeon General is saying in terms of the evidence that is out there,
- [00:02:39.960]with some qualifications that I will elaborate on as we talk. But we do know that social media
- [00:02:45.760]use in particular can be harmful in terms of exacerbating some of the things that we see
- [00:02:50.680]socially for children. So for example, you know, we see bullying in the playground,
- [00:02:55.360]the effects on social media are the same on the brain. But we
- [00:02:59.880]know that if kids are constantly surrounded by that social media, then it's harder
- [00:03:04.840]to escape, right? Also, there's quite a bit of evidence for the impact of screen
- [00:03:09.800]time and social media on children's sleep and on adults' sleep. And it's
- [00:03:14.940]a really important problem. And it's good to know that there are people addressing it. And
- [00:03:19.800]there's definitely a need for more research on it. Yeah, well said. Thank you for highlighting the importance
- [00:03:24.800]of that and reacting to his quote. Now, we often hear from experts and advocates that the first food
- [00:03:29.860]years of a child's life are critical for brain development. Can you please walk us through a basic
- [00:03:34.540]overview of why this is so important and what happens during these early years?
- [00:03:39.620]Yeah, well, a lot happens. And the first thing that I'll say is, you know, I always stress for my
- [00:03:45.860]students that when we say that the brain is really sensitive in early childhood, we don't
- [00:03:50.880]mean that the brain is not plastic throughout the lifespan. The brain is a very, very plastic organ.
- [00:03:55.620]It's constantly changing. It's what allows us to adapt to our environments.
- [00:03:59.840]The difference is that the way that the brain changes for adults is kind of different from
- [00:04:05.020]what we see in early childhood, because obviously in early childhood, the brain is
- [00:04:09.260]really literally building. And so, you know, starting with prenatal development, which I
- [00:04:14.060]always say minus nine to three rather than zero, prenatal development is obviously super important.
- [00:04:20.620]And it's a super critical period for brain development because that is where all our
- [00:04:24.720]neurons are. Most of our neurons are created and they kind of move up to,
- [00:04:29.820]the outside of the brain and a kind of an inside out fashion. It's really cool. There
- [00:04:33.920]are neurons that form on the very inside of the brain and some of them crawl up to the outside
- [00:04:37.760]of the brain. And when a child is born, what's really happening is most of that structure is
- [00:04:43.240]in place, but it's really the growth of the connections between neurons or nerve cells in
- [00:04:50.260]our brain that really is a key part of early childhood. So from when a child is born,
- [00:04:55.520]it has about 35% of its adult brain volume.
- [00:04:59.800]By the time they are two years of age, it will be about 80% of brain volume.
- [00:05:04.580]And I love this one anecdote that somebody said in a talk that I heard once before,
- [00:05:10.300]that if you put your hand on a child's brain or on a child's head at about two,
- [00:05:15.200]you'll feel it's really hot. And that's because, you know,
- [00:05:18.660]the brain is just using so much energy to create these connections. And all of these connections
- [00:05:24.020]are becoming much more complex and elaborated. And what's also really cool is that this
- [00:05:29.780]happens in a kind of a sequential fashion. So the parts that are going to become more connected and
- [00:05:35.640]are going to build up more connections between the neurons, that will start off in more of the
- [00:05:41.040]visual and sensory motor areas of the brain, and then move gradually to areas of the brain that
- [00:05:46.520]are more important for kind of integrating information from our environments. So that kind
- [00:05:52.660]of development of these more integrative or higher level parts of the brain is kind of slower than
- [00:05:59.760]is the development of visual regions and regions that are important for sensory motor activities.
- [00:06:04.440]So really, when we say that this is a sensitive period of brain development, it's because
- [00:06:09.580]we're just seeing the building of these connections. After these connections build,
- [00:06:14.340]what they're going to do is progressively actually start to trim away. And that happens
- [00:06:19.120]through the course of childhood. And now that we have these connections and these structures in
- [00:06:23.540]place, you can imagine that it's harder to kind of reconnect them and rewire them.
- [00:06:29.740]Because they're becoming wired up in early childhood. But what we can do as adults to
- [00:06:33.880]change our brain is to change the strength of the connections between each other. So it's
- [00:06:38.820]just a different process of plasticity for adults. But the reason that we say it's such
- [00:06:43.200]a sensitive period is because it is this period where these connections are really forming. And
- [00:06:47.840]then depending on how the child and what the child does in their environment, cues from the
- [00:06:52.100]environment, these connections, some of them will gradually trim away, the ones that are not as
- [00:06:56.700]useful, and the ones that are really useful and adaptive.
- [00:06:59.720]And that survive will be the connections that kind of stay with the child for maybe across
- [00:07:04.680]their lifespan. So yeah, yeah, yeah, I think an analogy that is used a lot to describe brain
- [00:07:11.420]development in early childhood is like building the foundation of a house, you want to make sure
- [00:07:15.720]that your foundation of the house is really sturdy and stable, so that the rest of the house can
- [00:07:20.420]stand on it and develop some of those upper levels of thinking that you were talking about.
- [00:07:25.080]There's a lot going on. But I really like your point about our brains are still plastic,
- [00:07:29.700]throughout our lifespans, and we can still adapt and change because I think that brings
- [00:07:33.520]in like a resiliency piece that is really important to highlight as well.
- [00:07:37.220]Yeah, the other thing I'll say is, we as neuroscientists often think about the brain as
- [00:07:41.720]a prediction machine. It's really based on patterns, right? So as an adult, we are so
- [00:07:48.560]familiar with so many patterns in our environment that we don't even think about things. We're so
- [00:07:53.880]used to these patterns that we see them and we immediately recognize them. And that is actually
- [00:07:59.680]networks of connections that are built in our brain. So when we see a face, we'll see this
- [00:08:05.220]network of connections in our brain light up. When we see a house, we'll see a different network of
- [00:08:09.820]connections. During early childhood, this is where we are learning those patterns and we are creating
- [00:08:15.200]those patterns. And I think we can think about that on a number of different levels, right?
- [00:08:19.680]So we're learning the patterns of not only the sensory environment, but also the patterns that
- [00:08:25.480]we have in interactions with others and learning, you know, what sort of cues
- [00:08:29.660]signal threat and what sort of cues signal safety and all that sort of stuff that's really going to
- [00:08:35.940]become important for us throughout the lifespan. Yeah. Learning those social cues on someone's
- [00:08:40.780]face, like does that facial expression mean they're sad or angry or happy? And should I run
- [00:08:46.060]or should I run to them and hug them? They're learning all of those things. And so I love these
- [00:08:50.800]conversations because it just reminds me of how much they're learning and growing and what they're
- [00:08:55.660]taking in at the time. Yeah. And actually there's quite a bit of evidence that kids
- [00:08:59.640]can actually be much better learners than adults because of the fact that they don't have such
- [00:09:04.360]fixed patterns, right? And so they're much more kind of ready to learn it than our adults. So
- [00:09:10.020]yes, in some ways they're kind of better at learning than what we are.
- [00:09:13.060]Yes, that makes total sense. And I'm a little jealous of them. I wish I had that
- [00:09:17.720]superpower, the learning superpower. But let's go back to the subject of screen time and talk about
- [00:09:23.620]how does being exposed to screens impact or even change a child's brain during these critical periods
- [00:09:29.620]of development? There is some literature that suggests that actually exposure to screen time
- [00:09:35.460]does have consequences for the structure of the brain. Again, these studies have limitations.
- [00:09:39.780]So I talked about how important these connections are that are forming between neurons. And some
- [00:09:48.220]studies have shown that actually children who are exposed to more screen time have less what we call
- [00:09:55.080]gray matter in the brain, which is really, you know, the cell bodies of these neurons. But
- [00:09:59.600]also less elaborated connections when it comes to white matter. And white matter is really that
- [00:10:06.880]fatty sheet that wraps itself around our brain neurons. And it really increases the speed of
- [00:10:12.920]our processing in our brain. Oh, like the myelin sheath?
- [00:10:15.320]Yep, that's right. So really important for our brain's connectivity. And there are some studies
- [00:10:20.420]suggesting that even in young children and preschoolers, that that is less developed
- [00:10:25.200]in children who are exposed to more screen time. When it comes to, you know, as children
- [00:10:29.580]transition into adolescence, and we know that that's happening really early nowadays, you know,
- [00:10:34.400]around age 10 for most girls, it's getting earlier and earlier that children are transitioning into
- [00:10:40.140]puberty. What happens in the brain is that the reward circuits become exquisitely, exquisitely
- [00:10:46.120]sensitive and more so than in early childhood and more so than in adults. And that extra sensitivity
- [00:10:53.060]is a really great thing about adolescence because it allows adolescents to learn from reward and
- [00:10:59.560]really well. But it also means that these social media triggers, like the number of likes that a
- [00:11:07.200]person gets, really amplify the activity in these reward circuits in the brain. And so that can be
- [00:11:13.120]really difficult to gain because it's hard to escape the social media in adolescents' lives
- [00:11:20.660]nowadays. So there is some evidence that that can be for adolescents that have a lot of sensitivity
- [00:11:27.840]to social cues.
- [00:11:29.540]That that can actually have an impact on their mental health as well. So yeah, so there's,
- [00:11:34.500]I think, growing evidence for differences in brain development associated with screen time.
- [00:11:40.800]On the other hand, I should point out that there are also studies that show that some
- [00:11:45.200]aspects of screen time can also have plasticity the other way. So for example,
- [00:11:50.540]playing video games that involve moving through space can also change the structure of your brain.
- [00:11:56.120]But what's really important to keep in mind is how much time
- [00:11:59.520]is being spent with a screen and how sort of potent and kind of addictive these behaviors
- [00:12:06.440]are. So for example, we know that adolescents who are really engaged in constantly checking
- [00:12:12.160]social media, that is more problematic than just the amount of social media that they're exposed
- [00:12:18.120]to or the amount of screen time they have. And then a lot has to do with the quality of the
- [00:12:22.840]screen time that kids are engaging in and how they're engaging with these devices rather than
- [00:12:29.500]just coming down to how much they're engaging with things. Yeah, that makes sense. So it's the
- [00:12:34.620]way that they engage with the screens and what is happening during that screen time versus just
- [00:12:41.600]the time span itself spent on screens. Even though you're saying that what happens when
- [00:12:48.180]children engage with screens is maybe more important than the actual time spent on screens,
- [00:12:54.460]there are still recommended amounts of time that children should spend on screens.
- [00:12:59.700]For example, it is commonly recommended that children should not have any amount of screen
- [00:13:04.180]time until they're at least two years old. That's right. Yeah. The World Health Foundation
- [00:13:09.200]and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that children aren't exposed to screens before
- [00:13:15.180]two years of age. And then after two to about age five, the recommendation is less than an hour of
- [00:13:21.920]screen time. And definitely in the research that is out there, we do see that when you exceed those
- [00:13:29.460]guidelines, when you exceed an hour a day, that's when we start to see effects on children's learning
- [00:13:35.740]and their self-regulation. So let's talk about self-regulation and emotion regulation. First of
- [00:13:42.740]all, what is that? What is self-regulation and emotion regulation? So I would say that
- [00:13:48.080]self-regulation is all of the stuff that allows us to be a highly functioning adult in society,
- [00:13:53.200]that, you know, an adaptive and well-functioning adult. You can think about when you are really
- [00:13:59.440]desperate to send an email to your boss telling them how much you hate this new assignment and
- [00:14:04.180]you litter the swear words, etc. But you hold yourself back, right? You don't engage in those
- [00:14:09.840]kinds of behaviors. You stay at work and you finish your tasks that you've been allocated
- [00:14:15.000]rather than leaving and going home at 2.30 in the afternoon, right? These things are really
- [00:14:20.580]important to be a well-functioning adult in society.
- [00:14:24.380]Emotion regulation is a really interesting aspect or component of self-regulation,
- [00:14:29.420]that has to do with both being able to process emotions, to kind of recognize emotions in
- [00:14:36.580]yourself and in others, but also to be able to manage them in a socially appropriate way.
- [00:14:41.100]And that is going to vary quite substantially across cultures, of course. But being able to
- [00:14:46.120]manage your emotions, you can imagine, is a huge part of everyday living and has massive implications
- [00:14:52.080]for mental health and well-being. And we can see self-regulation, I think sometimes it's much more
- [00:14:59.400]to understand what it is when you see its absence. And you just think about like the young kid who is
- [00:15:04.500]coming with you to the grocery store and turns around and says, mommy, mommy, why does that
- [00:15:08.720]person have so many wrinkles, right? We would never do that as an adult because we know to
- [00:15:13.420]stop ourselves from blurting out things in public. But young children often are lacking in these
- [00:15:20.180]skills. And so the development of self-regulation is really, really important and it takes a really
- [00:15:25.260]long time during early childhood. How long does it take to develop?
- [00:15:29.380]Well, self-regulation goes through a massive period of development in the preschool years,
- [00:15:34.300]but there are aspects of it that continue to evolve and develop throughout adolescence.
- [00:15:39.380]And really in adolescence, these kind of very fine-grained aspects of self-regulation are
- [00:15:45.340]developing. Again, adolescents are really developing their ability to use social cues
- [00:15:51.640]to regulate their cognition. And so, yeah, it's a long process.
- [00:15:56.540]Yeah. I can see why these are really critical
- [00:15:59.360]for being successful in adulthood and then also academically at school. And again,
- [00:16:04.500]I'm going to bring back in that screen time component and say, how does screen time,
- [00:16:09.400]exposure to screens, impact the development of self-regulation and emotion regulation?
- [00:16:13.900]Yeah. So first I would say anecdotally, when I talk to teachers, this is the thing that they
- [00:16:21.780]really think of as the most important aspect of what children need to succeed at school. And it's
- [00:16:29.340]something that they think is highly valuable in early childhood to focus on self-regulation.
- [00:16:33.480]They're also telling me more and more often that they are seeing an impact on children's
- [00:16:40.400]self-regulation in relation to screens. And I can say that anecdotally, the children that we see in
- [00:16:45.900]my lab as well, I also, I feel like we're seeing differences in children's capacity, particularly
- [00:16:51.400]to hold their attention on one thing. And that is to some extent backed up in the literature that
- [00:16:57.660]there does seem to be an impact.
- [00:16:59.320]of screens on children's capacity to manage their focus and their attention. There was one study,
- [00:17:05.860]for example, that used SpongeBob SquarePants and found that after children had watched an episode
- [00:17:11.440]of SpongeBob, they had more difficulty with their self-regulation. And what seems to be really
- [00:17:17.340]important though, is first of all, the pacing of the information. So you can imagine like SpongeBob
- [00:17:23.780]is one of those cartoons where like things are happening really quickly and the screen is changing
- [00:17:28.680]a lot.
- [00:17:29.300]So that does seem to have an impact that actually that very fast paced information is more
- [00:17:36.640]detrimental than a slower paced information that children can follow. Another aspect that is really
- [00:17:42.880]important is whether the system is able to keep up with the pace of the information.
- [00:17:45.740]stuff that they're seeing on the screen is stuff that they can interact with effectively. So can
- [00:17:50.290]they touch and engage with that screen? Another really important part of this is how much that
- [00:17:56.790]screen is being used alone by the child versus as a tool, you know, with the support of a parent.
- [00:18:03.530]So if a parent or a caregiver is with the child and they're engaging with the screen together as
- [00:18:10.210]an activity, as you can imagine, that means that the child is getting a lot out of the information
- [00:18:15.630]that they're taking in from the screen because the parent's providing that guidance and that
- [00:18:19.410]scaffolding. So this is why I said it's not just the amount of screen time that is important. It's
- [00:18:25.270]also how we use that screen time and how we use it when we're interacting with children and how
- [00:18:30.930]much guidance children are being given when they're interacting with screens. And it seems
- [00:18:35.530]to be really important for their self-regulation development.
- [00:18:38.670]Yeah. So having more interactive programs like a video game where they're engaging with that
- [00:18:45.530]it's more interactive engaging for the child. So then there's more happening cognitively if
- [00:18:51.610]they're engaging with that material. And then having an adult as a guide really, really helps
- [00:18:56.410]to support their learning and can make screen time less detrimental and more helpful to a child's
- [00:19:04.490]development. Right. So in addition to, you know, we talked about the guidelines for making sure
- [00:19:10.030]that you're not over overextending screen time and not no more than an hour a day,
- [00:19:15.430]as what the American Academy of Pediatrics would recommend for young children. You can really play
- [00:19:21.170]around with the quality of that screen time. Right. And whether it's just that kids are
- [00:19:25.690]watching something that's really fast paced, that they probably aren't processing very well
- [00:19:30.610]versus whether it's meaningful screen time where you are talking things through with children
- [00:19:35.290]or pointing out things on the screen that are that are relevant. And in that way,
- [00:19:40.190]you're trying to support their self-regulation and their management of attention.
- [00:19:43.690]Yeah, that's wonderful.
- [00:19:45.330]And sometimes we see screens using a way to keep children distracted. For example,
- [00:19:52.050]you might see this at a restaurant. I've often heard parents say that they give their child
- [00:19:57.770]like an iPad or a tablet in the car to help keep them calm during the car ride so that the parent
- [00:20:03.630]can get safely to their location. Or maybe at events for older siblings, like they came to a
- [00:20:09.490]basketball game and it's hard for a child to sit through a whole basketball game or maybe a concert
- [00:20:15.230]or older sibling or just other similar situations like this. How might the use of screen time in
- [00:20:21.110]these instances impact the development of self-regulation for children? And what strategies
- [00:20:28.170]can parents try in moments such as these to help support self-regulation?
- [00:20:32.750]I don't think we're ever going to get to a place where kids are not exposed to screens in society.
- [00:20:37.610]I would agree. I would agree. There are going to be moments when you can pull out the screen and
- [00:20:41.950]as a parent, you always have to give yourself some grace.
- [00:20:45.130]Right. But I also think that there are opportunities within these moments for teachable moments.
- [00:20:51.510]For instance, we grew up without screens at our siblings events.
- [00:20:55.610]Right. Sometimes my mom would make me bring a book somewhere or go out and play with the other kids who were also waiting for their siblings.
- [00:21:04.410]So there are opportunities here for not only for children to actually practice managing their attention.
- [00:21:10.870]Right. And waiting is part of self-regulation.
- [00:21:15.030]It's a good thing. So being patient and being able to wait, but also opportunities for kids to actually engage in social interactions with others or in things like reading, etc.
- [00:21:23.190]But the other thing that we can do is really talk to children about how to responsibly use social media, particularly after, you know, after when we're in when they're in elementary school and in those early adolescent years to try and get them used to sort of self-evaluating how much they are actually spending, how much time they're spending.
- [00:21:41.910]So having conversations with your children about.
- [00:21:44.930]Well, you know, what else did you do today?
- [00:21:47.470]Apart from being on the phone, did you go outside?
- [00:21:50.930]Did you engage in some sport, making sure that children are balancing their activities, that they're not just spending time on social media, but they are actually getting time to go outside and be physically active.
- [00:22:01.990]It's really important.
- [00:22:03.110]So it sounds like give yourself grace as a parent and then know that it's OK for children to learn to wait or to have them bring a book or or even.
- [00:22:14.830]Even involving them in selecting those activities for what they're going to do when they're waiting.
- [00:22:20.390]So it's like we're going to have to go to the doctor's office.
- [00:22:22.410]We're going to be waiting for that appointment.
- [00:22:24.090]What do you want to have with you while you wait?
- [00:22:26.630]And giving them some items to maybe select from to involve them in that process as well to help support that.
- [00:22:33.070]I love that because that's also coaching them to learn to plan, to learn to think about the future.
- [00:22:41.190]These are all really important aspects of self-regulation.
- [00:22:44.070]So.
- [00:22:44.730]Then you're turning it into an opportunity for kind of coaching that self-regulation.
- [00:22:49.070]That's so vitally important as well.
- [00:22:50.790]Well, thanks.
- [00:22:51.330]You made me sound smarter than I am, probably.
- [00:22:53.250]So thanks for that, Dr.
- [00:22:55.850]Carey.
- [00:22:56.230]I really appreciate that.
- [00:22:57.890]Earlier, you had mentioned the impact greens have on sleep.
- [00:23:01.870]Did you want to talk about the impact of sleep?
- [00:23:04.810]Yes.
- [00:23:05.430]This is one of the areas where we really have quite substantial evidence for an impact on sleep.
- [00:23:10.730]And maybe one of the one of the main ways that screens impact.
- [00:23:14.630]Sleep is firstly by reducing sleep duration.
- [00:23:17.370]And this could this could be the same for parents as well, of course, because if we're engaging with these devices, then we're spending less time asleep.
- [00:23:25.710]We know that particularly for adolescents, you know, they're waiting for that next like or that next post.
- [00:23:31.210]Right.
- [00:23:31.590]They are spending less time in sleep and significantly reduces their sleep time.
- [00:23:36.670]The other thing is that devices, particularly use of devices before bedtime, actually changes melatonin levels.
- [00:23:44.530]And melatonin is really important for regulating our sleep-wake cycles.
- [00:23:48.990]And so there seems to be a difference in kind of those physiological processes that are going on that are supportive of sleep.
- [00:23:55.870]So the reason that this is so, so problematic is because sleep is one of our best teachers in life.
- [00:24:05.050]Sleep is absolutely critical for forming memories, for learning.
- [00:24:10.350]In young children, sleep really is important in helping them to process.
- [00:24:14.430]Process new language that they're learning, for example.
- [00:24:16.790]Sleep is also a really good emotion regulator because while we sleep, we kind of process some of those emotions and some of them can more dampen down.
- [00:24:25.990]So we know that emotion regulation is linked to sleep.
- [00:24:29.190]You know, sleep is such an important part of not only our physical health, but also of our learning and of our mental well-being.
- [00:24:36.790]And so having screens available right up until before bedtime is probably not the best idea.
- [00:24:43.390]You want to have a.
- [00:24:44.410]Buffer between that screen time use and that bedtime.
- [00:24:47.570]So kids aren't still in that hyper activated state of being engaged with the screen.
- [00:24:53.030]And you want to make sure that screens are not impacting the duration of sleep.
- [00:24:57.410]You know, that kids are away from screens that they can sleep comfortably for the amount of sleep that's appropriate for their age.
- [00:25:03.810]I think it's important reminders for us as adults to to create that buffer from screens in our going to bed routine.
- [00:25:11.650]One thing that I hear pretty frequently.
- [00:25:14.330]From people is they are talking about how it could potentially be impacting relationships.
- [00:25:19.910]So I've heard some people who are pretty direct about it and they're like youth won't even look me in the eye anymore.
- [00:25:25.390]They're there. It's uncomfortable for them to have a conversation again.
- [00:25:29.510]I want to make a note like culturally, not everyone is comfortable with making eye contact.
- [00:25:34.550]Some cultures, that's a sign of disrespect.
- [00:25:36.910]Do you have any comments on how screens and screen time might be impacting relationships?
- [00:25:44.250]Yeah, so I think we have to think about, you know, in terms of common sense,
- [00:25:48.250]more time on a screen is less time in a relationship with engaging in a relationship with someone.
- [00:25:53.770]And particularly in an early childhood, when this back and forth interaction with caregivers is so,
- [00:26:01.110]so important for helping to establish children's social responsiveness, but also their emotional well-being.
- [00:26:08.650]These kind of back and forth cycles are really, really critical.
- [00:26:11.990]And we know that children just don't learn.
- [00:26:14.170]They don't learn from screens in the same way that they do from real people.
- [00:26:17.970]The other thing that I think is really important to bear in mind in early childhood,
- [00:26:22.470]where we have quite a bit of research, is that parents' use of screens is also really impactful.
- [00:26:29.070]It's not just about the modeling.
- [00:26:31.130]You know, obviously, modeling is a really important part of this,
- [00:26:34.450]where the child is seeing what you're doing, right?
- [00:26:36.630]But it's actually that by engaging with the screen, you're not engaging with the child in the same way.
- [00:26:42.750]And the quality of the interaction.
- [00:26:44.090]The interactions that you can have with a child are different.
- [00:26:46.190]So there is some scope for putting your phone down for a bit every day
- [00:26:51.390]and making sure that you are engaging in interactions with your child
- [00:26:55.470]rather than looking to looking at the screen.
- [00:26:57.930]Because these screen interactions literally change our attention, right?
- [00:27:03.570]We know that even having a screen, a cell phone on the table while we're engaging at dinner, right,
- [00:27:08.910]is going to impact the dynamic, that social dynamic.
- [00:27:11.730]And particularly for young children,
- [00:27:14.010]where that social dynamic is really, really critical.
- [00:27:16.550]We want to make space for, you know, engaging in those interactions
- [00:27:20.430]that are really focused on the child
- [00:27:22.450]and able to be responsive to what the child, the cues that the child is giving you.
- [00:27:26.710]Yeah, it just reminds me of my own social media use and screen time use.
- [00:27:31.990]I actually have noticed, I started noticing, I don't know,
- [00:27:35.170]maybe a year or two ago that I was spending quite a bit of time on social media scrolling
- [00:27:39.510]and it's addictive in its nature.
- [00:27:41.710]So it was just pulling me in.
- [00:27:43.170]I'm just giving myself...
- [00:27:43.930]Grace with that.
- [00:27:45.070]So I made a rule with myself that every time that I would see a dog video or some kind
- [00:27:50.230]of dog content that I needed to engage with my real dog.
- [00:27:54.090]And this has worked so well for me.
- [00:27:56.770]So it's just like whenever I see dog content and I'm like, oh, that's a cute dog.
- [00:28:00.570]I'm like, wait, I have a real dog.
- [00:28:02.090]I'm going to go engage with my real dog.
- [00:28:03.970]And so I put my phone away and go and pet my dog and hang out with my dog.
- [00:28:07.930]And so that's been a really helpful way for me to change my habits with screen time.
- [00:28:13.850]But I just want to give grace to our listeners and everyone because it's just a part of our lives and they are designed to be addictive.
- [00:28:22.050]They are designed to steal our attention.
- [00:28:24.670]So just finding out ways that work for you to reduce kind of that screen time and that time on social media so that you can show up in the ways that you want to.
- [00:28:34.150]That's right. Yeah.
- [00:28:35.650]And it can be as simple as, you know, having a sleep time of day where you say, OK, this is my time of day that I'm going to put the phone away.
- [00:28:43.770]Or this is when we have family time.
- [00:28:45.910]Recognizing, of course, that the social media and screens are just part of our everyday life.
- [00:28:52.010]And we can teach children how to responsibly engage with social media, particularly in early adolescence.
- [00:28:57.270]We can be monitoring what children are doing on social media, but we can also be talking to them about what content is appropriate and, you know, talking to them about when it's appropriate to maybe intervene with something that like something where they see this bullying occurring.
- [00:29:12.490]We can, you know,
- [00:29:13.690]make that a space for actually helping our children to learn how to regulate their own social media use and how they interact with others on social media.
- [00:29:23.190]Yeah. You're teaching them social skills and like really complex, high level social skills that you're talking about.
- [00:29:28.670]Like, when do I step in? When do I need to? What do I say? How do I handle that?
- [00:29:32.950]Those are complex skills. And if we can scaffold that, that will help support their relationship development and social development.
- [00:29:39.970]And so you had mentioned teaching children.
- [00:29:43.610]How to use social media, how to use screens.
- [00:29:47.090]Are there any other tips or strategies that parents could do to help scaffold children to set limits for themselves with technology and screens?
- [00:29:56.590]It has to be developmentally appropriate, right?
- [00:29:59.750]So when we're dealing with early childhood, it probably is going to be a lot more kind of like setting limits.
- [00:30:07.130]But as children develop into elementary school and towards puberty or adolescence, again, we can start.
- [00:30:13.530]We can start to sort of negotiate rules with children, like how much social media we think is appropriate and engage them in dialogue about it.
- [00:30:22.110]What types of activities are they doing on social media?
- [00:30:24.770]Some platforms are actually educational and probably there's quite good evidence that they actually are helpful for children.
- [00:30:31.770]So helping them to choose the type of activities they're engaging with on screens is also something that we can do.
- [00:30:38.850]And then, like I said, modeling is really powerful.
- [00:30:43.450]We're copying what we're doing a lot of the time.
- [00:30:46.030]And if we can set some limits for ourselves and teach children about how we're setting limits for ourselves, for example, you know, I'm making sure that I'm going to put my phone away before bed and take some time for myself.
- [00:30:59.790]So that's modeling and showing children that this is possible, that this is a way that they can regulate their behavior as well.
- [00:31:08.170]What I take away from what you just said is really this is not something that's going to go away.
- [00:31:13.370]We cannot banish screens completely from society that the cat's already been let out of that bag.
- [00:31:19.390]So we need to be with children, teaching them how to manage this tool and just like we would with any other thing in their lives and really helping set them up for success.
- [00:31:30.790]One last thing that I would say is when I think about things from more a neuroscience lens, one of the things that we know about the brain is it's evolved over years to act in a three-dimensional sensory environment.
- [00:31:43.290]And when I think about screens and very young children, we know that a lot of children's early development is centered on their actual physical engagements with things in their environment, right?
- [00:31:56.090]Touching things and moving things and moving their bodies around.
- [00:32:00.930]This is how children start to grow and learn.
- [00:32:04.230]And screens just don't afford that kind of thing for young children.
- [00:32:08.710]And so, you know, really being aware of screens not being an ideal.
- [00:32:13.210]Ideal teacher, teacher for toddlers and for young children.
- [00:32:16.770]I think it's really important that that really they do need to be doing that physical gross motor activity.
- [00:32:22.690]In fact, motor activity is helpful for all learners across the lifespan.
- [00:32:27.610]So it's probably the case that engaging with screens is different and using different brain systems for young kids than actually engaged, engaging with physical objects and making sure that we have space for them to do that is really, really important.
- [00:32:43.130]That's really impactful.
- [00:32:44.250]Sadly, we are coming to the end of our time with Dr. Clark.
- [00:32:48.350]And so I wanted to ask her, where could the listeners go to hear more information about you or about the research that you're currently working on?
- [00:32:58.830]Yes, I do have a website or you can just check out the website for educational psychology at UNL.
- [00:33:04.350]But we do have a lab website as well.
- [00:33:06.150]We are doing studies at the moment with young children aged three to five.
- [00:33:10.090]So if you're interested, check us out.
- [00:33:12.010]And then in terms of.
- [00:33:13.370]Just learning more about the stuff that we've been talking about today, I can't recommend
- [00:33:17.730]enough.
- [00:33:18.130]Just Google American Academy of Pediatrics, and they have multiple resources for parents
- [00:33:24.010]and for educators as well when it comes to screens and how to teach children about screens
- [00:33:29.430]and encourage responsible screen management.
- [00:33:31.710]So those are the places that I would check out.
- [00:33:34.350]Yeah, awesome.
- [00:33:35.250]Thanks for suggesting those.
- [00:33:36.690]Another resource that I've seen that I've come across for parents and families specifically,
- [00:33:40.990]it's called Common Sense Media.
- [00:33:42.970]And I'll put that in our show notes for our listeners,
- [00:33:45.590]as well as the resources that Dr. Keri Clark mentioned.
- [00:33:48.510]It's helpful for parents and families because it gives like an overview of what that podcast
- [00:33:54.850]or that movie or that television show is about and the recommended age ranges
- [00:34:01.010]and kind of some things to think about with exposing children to that media content.
- [00:34:06.530]So it's really helpful for selecting content for children to engage with
- [00:34:10.570]and making decisions around that.
- [00:34:12.110]So I will.
- [00:34:12.890]We'll put that in there as well.
- [00:34:14.030]Well, thank you so much for joining me, Dr. Clark.
- [00:34:17.570]This was a lovely conversation.
- [00:34:19.470]I learned a lot and I think our listeners did too.
- [00:34:23.550]And as I mentioned at the beginning, it was one of our top requested topics.
- [00:34:27.730]So definitely something that people are wanting to hear.
- [00:34:30.430]So thank you for being here.
- [00:34:31.770]Thank you for sharing your research and the knowledge you have around this topic.
- [00:34:35.450]It was really, really lovely.
- [00:34:36.830]Great to be here.
- [00:34:37.590]Thanks so much.
- [00:34:38.370]Next up, we're going to have Nebraska youngsters sharing what their favorite movie
- [00:34:42.810]or television show is.
- [00:34:44.350]What's your favorite movie or TV show?
- [00:34:46.550]Lightning McQueen.
- [00:34:47.750]My favorite movie is Doc Mad.
- [00:34:57.790]This has been an episode of The Good Life in Early Life,
- [00:35:01.830]a Nebraska Extension early childhood production with your host, Emily Manning.
- [00:35:05.770]For more information on early childhood, check out our website at child.unl.edu.
- [00:35:10.650]If you like the show, subscribe and tell
- [00:35:12.730]your friends to listen. The show production team is Emily Manning, Dr. Holly Hatton,
- [00:35:17.550]Erin Campbell, Ingrid Lindahl, Linda Reddish, Kim Welsant, Katie Krause,
- [00:35:22.730]and LaDonna Wirth. See you next time and thanks for listening. Bye-bye.
- [00:35:26.950]♪♪♪
- [00:35:29.950]you
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- Tags:
- brain development
- child development
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- emotion regulation
- screen time
- self-regulation
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