How Excess Screen Time can Affect Your Children

Studies have associated too much screen time with inattention problems in children between four to 17 years old ⁽²⁾. This observation was affirmed by a 2019 study from PLOS One. Researchers observed that children who had more than two hours of screen time had an increased risk of meeting ADHD criteria ⁽³⁾. Furthermore, a study saw a connection between increased screen time of children with ADHD and parents' stress levels due to the severity of the condition's symptoms⁽⁴⁾. Experts observed these findings in kids with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and language deficit disorders⁽⁵⁾. With the correlation of increased ADHD symptoms and screen time exposure, parents are growing more concerned about how to approach online learning programs.

Note that these studies only refer to recreational screen time. Multisensory stimulation from mobile devices cannot replace the cognitive skills developed during playtime in an enriching environment⁽⁶⁾. Since most traditional schools have recently adopted e-learning, there is still a lack of studies on whether e-learning is associated with increased ADHD symptoms.

How to Help Children Adapt to E-learning

So how can parents help children in this current situation? How do you protect them from the repercussions of excess screen time?

Here are some tips on how you could make e-learning more productive for you and your child:

Managing Your Expectations

Talk to your child before the start of the school year and ask them about their expectations. As a parent, you must also share your expectations. If you and your child are new to e-learning, this can be a learning process for you both.

As a parent, your role is to become your child's moderator. Your involvement depends on your child's age. Older children may require less supervision since they can learn how to operate a computer or mobile device independently. Parents must understand that their role as moderator is not just to supervise their child's behavior during e-learning. A moderator should be supportive and encouraging. If your child encounters some challenges, you can help by addressing these problems together.

You may also get in touch with your child's teacher or school administrator, and ask them about their expectations from students, especially those faced with learning difficulties.

Understanding Your Role

Executive skills develop at different rates in different children. However, true executive difficulties do exist in many students, and tend to be even more prevalent in students with learning disabilities or disorders of attention (ADD/ADHD). Effective development of executive skills lies in not just teaching students how to organize themselves, but helping them develop into stronger problem solvers with better self-regulation skills. This can be done through a range of remediation programs, including Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment, Quantitative EEG training (neurofeedback), meditation practice, and one on one skill based work designed specifically to strengthen frontal lobe functioning.

Finding a good learning specialist is crucial to the process of proper executive functions development in students who exhibit these difficulties. This differs from traditional tutoring, which tends to focus on the development of academic skills without work aimed at developing underlying areas of cognitive and information processing. A good specialist will take a very individualized approach to the development of executive skills, working to help strengthen frontal lobe functioning and helping students develop a tool-belt of skills for stronger school based functioning.

Understand Your Child's Struggles

Put yourself in your child's shoes. An e-learning environment will require some time for adjustment. As a parent, you must understand that online learning can be challenging for both children and adults.

Online learning may cause anxiety in adults⁽⁷⁾. Moreover, adults with ADHD and ASD who enrolled in online learning programs experienced navigational, contextual, and procedural disorientation⁽⁸⁾.

In a survey, an adult with learning difficulties recalled being overwhelmed with hyperlinks and documentation⁽⁹⁾.

If these struggles are not addressed carefully, any individual (adult or child) with learning difficulties has an increased risk of abandoning tasks.

As the moderator, you must help your child navigate through the documentation and assignments online. If there is an overwhelming amount of required documents or homework, you should help your child go through these requirements one-by-one.

Moreover, personal communication with the lecturer may also help with mitigating the struggles your child may encounter.

Balance Your Child's Screen Time

While some experts advise parents to moderate screen time during the pandemic⁽¹⁰⁾, it may be more challenging for parents who have kids with ADHD to become stricter. Extra screen time has been known to cause a lack of sleep and behavioral problems⁽¹¹⁾. The additional stress on parents can be overwhelming to both students and their parents.

Here are some tips on how to manage your child's screen time:

• Ask your child's school regarding the appropriate screen time for his or her age. Older children may be able to handle more screen time than younger ones. Express your concerns if you feel that they are getting too much screen time for their age.
• Allow your child to have some breaks in between classes.
• After their class, encourage them to do something else that does not involve any device's screen.
• Maintain a schedule to help them avoid screen time by assigning chores or recreational activities.

Here are some more ways to help your child cope with online learning.

• Determine what works best for your child. Does your child respond well to a specific learning activity? If yes, you can adapt that into your child's learning exercises. Inform your child's lecturer of which exercises work well for your child.
• Reduce the distractions around your child's learning environment. These distractions include visual and noise clutters, such as toys and television.
• Encourage movement and physical activities after online class. Your child may respond better if you also participate in these activities.
• Some children may excel or experience difficulty in specific topics. Understand which topics need more attention and adjust your schedule accordingly.
• Do not be afraid to ask for help from your partner or loved one if you are overwhelmed.

How to Reduce Symptoms Caused by Excess Screen Time

Studies observed that excess screen time⁽¹²⁾ and online learning cause an increase in anxiety among young individuals⁽¹³⁾. In the event of increased ADHD symptoms, parents must consult with physicians regarding proposed medications.

Parents who want to avoid pharmaceutical drugs may explore alternative options, such as supplements and CBD. The consumption of omega-3 fatty acid has been linked to a decrease in ADHD symptoms⁽¹⁴⁾.

There are not enough studies on how CBD may affect children. However, a pharmaceutical drug called Epidiolex, with CBD as the active ingredient, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating child epilepsy⁽¹⁵⁾.

Meanwhile, studies have acknowledged that CBD might help reduce anxiety⁽¹⁶⁾. Click here to know more about how CBD oil may help with ADHD symptoms. Parents must consult with the child’s primary doctor before administering alternative treatments.

Conclusion

During the pandemic, e-learning is no longer an alternative but a logical solution for children to continue their education without the risk of COVID19 exposure.

Understandably, parents are concerned about how excess screen time may affect children with ADHD. However, you must remember that you are protecting your child from the risk of contracting the coronavirus.

Currently, aside from offline modules that require full-time attention, there are no other alternative solutions right now for e-learning, especially for working parents.

You can make the best out of the situation by providing support, guidance, and positive feedback to your child.

References

1. Screen Time Exposure in Preschool Children with ADHD: A Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study from South India. Sivapriya Vaidyanathan, Harshini Manohar, Venkatesh Chandrasekaran, Preeti Kandasamy. (August 2020) doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213995

2. Ibid
3. Sivapriya Vaidyanathan, (2020). Op cit.
4. Saade, Raafat & Kira, Dennis & Mak, Tak & Nebebe, Fassil. (2017). Anxiety & Performance in Online Learning. 147-157. 10.28945/3736. " Retrieved from www.researchgate.net/publication/320656547_Anxiety_Performance_in_Online_Learning

5. Meyers, C. A., & Bagnall, R. G. (2015). A case study of an adult learner with ASD and ADHD in an undergraduate online learning environment. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 31(2). https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.1600
6. Ibid
7. How to help your Child Cope with the Pandemic. Retrieved from www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-to-help-your-young-child-cope-with-the-pandemic-2020063020515

8. Tamana SK, Ezeugwu V, 2019. Op cit.
9. Khouja, J. N., Munafò, M. R., Tilling, K., Wiles, N. J., Joinson, C., Etchells, P. J., John, A., Hayes, F. M., Gage, S. H., & Cornish, R. P. (2019). Is screen time associated with anxiety or depression in young people? Results from a UK birth cohort. BMC public health, 19(1), 82. doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-6321-9

10. Saade, Raafat & Kira, Dennis & Mak, Tak & Nebebe, Fassil. (2017). Anxiety & Performance in Online Learning. 147-157. 10.28945/3736.
11. Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation for the Treatment of Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptomatology: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Bloch, Michael H. et al. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Volume 50, Issue 10, 991 - 1000
12. FDA Approves First Drug Comprised of an Active Ingredient Derived from Marijuana to Treat Rare, Severe Forms of Epilepsy. Retrieved from www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-drug-comprised-active-ingredient-derived-marijuana-treat-rare-severe-forms

13. Khan, R., Naveed, S., Mian, N. et al. The therapeutic role of Cannabidiol in mental health: a systematic review. J Cannabis Res 2, 2 (2020). doi.org/10.1186/s42238-019-0012-y