A child cries. A whim in a supermarket, a moment of boredom at the restaurant, a crisis in front of a difficult task. The parent, exhausted or simply distracted, extracts the smartphone: cartoons, apps, videos on YouTube. Silence falls. The problem seems solved. But what really happens behind that screen?
In recent years, parents and educators are faced with an increasingly urgent issue: the management of the digital time of minors. The Daily Fact has recently reported the results of an important research published in the journal Psychological Bulletin and conducted by the Australian Catholic University, which has monitored nearly 300 thousand children worldwide. An investigation that launches a real alarm on how the devices are remodeling – and perhaps compromising – the emotional and relational development of the little ones.
According to the study, “the time spent in front of a screen not only causes emotional and behavioral problems in children, but also becomes their ‘preferred’ defense mechanism when they are in trouble”. In other words, digital is not only the cause of malaise, but also the refuge where that malaise hides, creating a dangerous vicious circle.
The research has analyzed data from 117 international studies, observing subjects for periods from six months to several years. The results are clear: “The use of screens can increase the risk that children develop socio-emotional problems, and children with socio-emotional problems could be attracted to the screens, perhaps as a way to manage their discomfort.”.
Video games, in particular, have been identified as the main risk factor: “Children playing video games were significantly more likely to develop emotional and behavioral difficulties in the future.” But what worries the most is that the already fragile subjects are “still more attracted by video games than other activities involving a screen”.
Contrary to what one might think, they are not the very small (0-5 years) the most exposed, but the children from 6 to 10 years, who enjoy greater autonomy and choice. “A 7-year-old child can actively search for games or videos when he feels upset, angry or anxious,” he reads in the studio. Gender differences are not to be underestimated: “The girls showed more marked negative reactions to the use of the screens”, while the males, especially in the higher band, are more subject to addiction to video games.
In my book, Sons of Apps, I have dealt with these issues, highlighting that technology is not at all a neutral factor and how hyperconnection is profoundly changing educational and relational processes. We often mistakenly consider the digital environment as a safe space by default, and assume that so-called “digital assets” fully understand the world in which they are immersed only because they were born. But it’s not.
The reality is that many adults have not yet acquired the tools to educate to a conscious use of technologies. We are in full “mediated society”, where children are often left alone in front of a device that, like a modern “digital pacifier”, calms them down without really helping them grow.
Professor Michael Noetel, one of the authors of the study, warns: “We discovered that more time spent in front of the screens can lead to emotional and behavioral problems, and children with these problems often turn to screens to survive.” His colleague, Roberta Vasconcellos, stresses the urgency of a “ approach articulated to the management of time that children spend in front of the screens”.
As a sociologist, I have been hoping for the creation of a genuine School for Parents for years. Not to demonize technology, but to promote healthy and conscious use. We must accompany our children in growth also within the digital world, offering meaningful experiences on the emotional, relational and physical level.
Change must start with us adults: we return to be guides present, not spectators distracted. We turn off the screen, turn on the dialogue. We offer listening, time, game and relationship. And above all, let’s form. Because we cannot afford to grow anesthetized children.
L’articolo Children: the silence of the screens and the educational urgency of adults proviene da IlNewyorkese.
