Episode 4- Effects of Screen time in Child Development

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PHILIPPE: In this podcast session, we’re going to be talking about the effects of screen time in child development o I don’t know if they could call this a pandemic. When you talk about pandemic it’s usually viral, it’’s viruses, it’s bacteria, bad bacteria that spread around all the world but what do you call like a thing that’s spread all over the world that affects children?

Okay, it’s not viral. It’s not. It’s sort of like it affects their mental capacity and their development as children. So it’s a  very big  topic that we need to discuss here is children. These days, even  children in the past 5, 10 years, we would say yeah, when was the first tablet or iPad? When was the the iPad launched ? You have any idea ?

GAB: No, maybe few years ago, 10 years ago?

PHILIPPE: All  right, I found it. Here, January 27, 2010 so we are 15 years into  the technology of  iPads.

GAB: Yeah.

PHILIPPE: But not tablets, tablets has been around for a very long time. They started it Steve Jobs just made the iPad way more  user=friendly just like as in any Apple product, okay and then, it was just a start of  in 2010, now the reason why this is so significant because the iPad was so user-friendly that everyone started developing games on it.

GAB: Yeah.

PHILIPPE: And then somehow like we have creators who started creating like um shows for children hence, they have developed  the name for children who are on iPads every day. They call them the “iPad children”. You know IP? Until now, IP on any smartphone so I don’t know what you call that. Is it a pandemic of things happening because apparently, it’s  affecting children all over the world.

Yeah, you know and so I see because I have two kids all right, so they’re still kids  one is currently  three and one is almost seven and you know, we see their classmates at school right  even during an activity or we see our friends and our kids, we see a lot of these parents outside when we eat in a restaurant. Now when they have a child with them, number one phone.

GAB: Yeah.

PHILIPPE:  Right, phone  and apparently there’s a very very very big effect on their children’s development. It doesn’t affect every every children but most children. Let’s say, I’m saying I don’t know the stats  worldwide but based on our circle of friends, I think it affects at least 95% of the children around us. One thing that I’ve seen  firsthand okay, I didn’t have to do any research with this.

Firsthand is Child Development, Like in two years old , they get they sort of have delays in learning stuff that they can’t communicate properly or they still don’t know how to communicate their emotions or even say simple words like,I want to go to the bathroom or hungry you know.

There’s a huge delay and one particular, there’s a large case of children using phones or iPads since birth. They actually lead to  certain levels of autism so I think in autism, I think there are three levels autism based on what our doctor says I have friends who are doctors who are in uh Child Development so there are three levels of autism like the first is like um sort of like the light one and there you like light medium and high.

GAB: Yeah.

PHILIPPE: Or those are severeness, right? So like level one is just

GAB: Mild case, it’s not too much.

PHILIPPE: Yeah, very not too much. The children or adults they’re they’re functional. They’re like, like you and me but they have certain habits like they like to be alone or they’re intrate but they could communicate. They’re functional. they could do things level two is a bit um they’re they’re sort of hard up in coping with like society and they could still function but they would rather stay alone they’re more introverts uh they would rather do things on their own time or their own Comfort level three is just …

GAB: There’s a bar barrier in a yeah.

PHILIPPE: Not only that there’s a barrier they can’t even function they can’t go to can’t eat by themselves you know they can’t go to the a washroom by themselves so they need assistance from someone like they need to be like  in sort of a special care.

GAB: Yeah.

PHILIPPE: Yeah, so what are your have you experienced any of this like around like gen Z like?

GAB: Yeah actually growing up, I was somehow like an iPad kid so from what you said earlier having an iPad is some what something like a part of your hand already for a kid so being an iPad kid for example, I’m eating, I’m just eating and then, I need to have an iPad screen here on the left side so I can eat while watching. So it’s kind of something like  a mannerism because I can’t eat without watching something. I can’t do something without watching or without this this iPad open there so I may not know the specific age when I was like that but until now, there are some situations now I still have it so it’s this it’s this behavior that I develop where I  can’t do something without holding this phone, without texting without watching. So far, it’s a physical concern because  we can’t so basically, the more we put ourselves in situations it damages our eyes, our basically how we think. It all started when we were kids daily. For other yes, I realized IP or phone yeah right not only is just it’s not a regular tantrum, do they really scream their hearts out now?

PHILIPPE: They really need the screen time especially when they’re eating and the only thing that would pacify them is an iPad or phone. Now  that’s very concernin. So some like you said, their temper, number one their  attention span is so short ,very very very short and then number two, they get very aggressive right? you take something from them, it’s like candy yeah, right. So to all the parents out there you know young parents or even old parents, I think what was  suggested what was suggested from from therapists and uh doctors huh limit it to 30 minutes a day which is too short you know, but in other cases, my delay in child development tang-galin screen time totally. That’s what we did actually you know and then based on personal experience like my my daughter, we were kind of worried that’s why we had her checked up and everything. She’s  fine right now

GAB: Yeah.

PHILIPPE: But from we were wondering like  she was almost two years old and we’re like she can’t say a single word, she doesn’t how how to communicate. She doesn’t tell us what she feels or if she’s hungry doctor suggest you just take off screen time totally. Yeah, imagine two weeks with no screen time she started talking to us, two weeks two weeks, so imagine imagine how fast she started adapting first few days. She was kind of bored. She was you know, she had all the tantrums and all that but imagine in two weeks time we saw drastic improvements you know and we kept it on. Now, she’s like almost three, no no screen time at all you know and now, she knows how to sing, she knows how to wake us up, she knows how to tell us she’s hungry, she knows how to tell us she wants to go to the washroom and that alone proves enough that you know screen time can really affect a child’s development. Yeah, especially  when they’re at a very young age like from a year old up to let’s say 5 years old.

GAB: Yeah.

PHILIPPE:  Okay 5 years old, it’s very critical that you don’t you don’t even find a recommendation that you have to show and give them a chance to do screen time like these kids like watch what Coco melon.

GAB: Cartoons everything

PHILIPPE: Cartoons and it’s repetitive you know it’s repetitive what um…

GAB: Yeah cartoons, they have on YouTube animations.

PHILIPPE: Yeah and educational but still screen time. Yeah you know, so like to the parents out there, minimize new screen time you’ll see a big difference. Don’t say it’s too late so be not. You have a three or four year old all right but try to limit  it small portion 24 hours. Let them rest for a couple of hours and then not drastically but in time was in you screen time you’ll see how improvements,

GAB: Yeah.

PHILIPPE: This does not only affect children. Imagine adult for one week straight, you don’t feel you’re productive. You’re going to feel sluggish. You’re going to feel very lazy so how much work children in right so I’m not talking about children just here in Manila or in the Philippines, I’m talking about children worldwide. Right, there’s a big I don’t know if you could call that as a pandemic to me, it’s still a pandemic because it affects all all children from the time they’re born up to let’s say being a toddler even teenagers ,right? Teenagers you know, they have to cut down on screen time. I was…

GAB: Yeah basically the the word there is I’m not sure if this is right but it could be that they need a digital detox from their own devices it can be from a at a young age teenager and adult. Yeah, it needs regularization but at the same time at some point, they have to have digital detox .

PHILIPPE: Exactly and we have to. Parents should be able to regulate.

GAB: Yes.

PHILIPPE: It’s a responsibility of our parents Guardians and make sure that they limit the screen time. You know, it’s for their own future because eventually, if it affects them too much it could lead to autism.

GAB: Yes.

PHILIPPE:  which is irreversible right the moment you get autism. In any three of the levels, either the mild or the you know just the normal one or the severe one well no turning back. So as soon as now, like minimize screen time  especially like I know this school for Child Development,  they try to um it’s called Child therapy. Okay so it’s a Child therapy clinic, so there are activities you know there are kids with autism that go there. There are kids that has kind of slow development like they can’t talk yet but they don’t have any signs of autism.

So it’s but they’re specialized clinics for these types of cases so I was there one time and you know could still I could still hear parents like you see that you know that’s it starts with us with the parents and the guardians so yeah, so all right, so we got a minute left, You want to add anything to it?

GAB:  I think basically, I just want to remind again that being able to detox on screen time would be very beneficial not only for children teenagers and adults.

PHILIPPE: Yeah okay, wise words from a Gen Z.