September 19, 2019
In recent years, researchers have attempted to document and quantify the extent to which various forms of media have monopolized our children’s lives. Though its tenth anniversary is approaching, the comprehensive study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation is still cited by nearly all those who write about the subject. The central role of media in our lives makes it imperative that we understand what and how much our children are consuming, as well as the effects of this consumption.
For the past nine years, bloggers have plucked this Kaiser statistic for their headlines: On average, 8-18 year-olds spend 7 hours and 38 minutes each day using various media. Additionally:
- Heavy media use correlated with poor grades, and frequent users reported less personal contentedness.
- In a typical day, 46% of 8-18 year-olds reported sending text messages on a cell phone. From this group, respondents sent an average of 118 text messages per day, and they spent more than 90 minutes sending and receiving texts.
- In a typical day, 8-18 year-olds spent an average of 1 hour and 13 minutes playing video games. Boys spent twice as much time as girls, on average.
- 71% of 8-18 year-olds had a TV in their bedroom. (Of course, today, virtually any laptop or hand-held device functions as a television.)
While I freely acknowledge that listening to music in the car is not the same as playing a video game, that figure – 7 hours and 38 minutes – has stuck with me since I first read these findings several years ago.
Several studies have investigated the effects of this media consumption, and screen time in particular. The Learning Habit (Donaldson, Pressman, and Jackson) refers to a study that surveyed more than 50,000 families. Significant screen time correlated with:
- A drop in academic performance, which is more dramatic in Middle School
- More trouble falling asleep
- Greater social-emotional volatility
Researchers also found an inverse relationship between grit (defined as the “ability to perform a strenuous or difficult task without giving up”) and amount of screen time. By contrast, performing chores correlated with greater self-worth and responsibility.
In another study, a team of psychologists at UCLA probed the link between screen time and interpersonal intelligence. 105 sixth graders were evaluated for their ability to recognize people’s emotions – happy, sad, angry, scared, confident, excited – in photos and videos. Then, kids were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Half spent five days at a camp and did not glance at a screen. The other half followed their normal routines, reporting an average of 4.5 hours per day texting, watching TV, and playing video games. When tested a second time, the “no screen” group showed significant improvement at reading human emotions. The authors concluded that, for adolescents, screen time can cause “decreased sensitivity to emotional cues.”
In my view, all of these studies (and countless more) have one thing in common: their results are alarming but not surprising. We seem to have crossed a great divide when it comes to the presence of media in our lives, and the pace of change is accelerating. From what I’ve read, the 5G network will revolutionize the connectivity of devices, the speed of information flow, and the usefulness (and thus omnipresence) of technology in our lives. As we all grow increasingly plugged in, my concerns extend far beyond the sheer number of hours spent staring at a screen. We must recognize that technological change is ecological. Our media – and smartphones in particular – have altered the environment in which we live, and how we interact with others. As we are sucked into this digital world, we can surrender the values, activities, and relationships essential to a meaningful life.
As I said last week at MS Back to School Night, while it might not always seem like it, our children are paying attention. They notice when we pull out our devices during dinner, or neglect to speak with or even acknowledge the clerk at the grocery store because we’re on our phones. So, please, don’t abandon tossing the baseball, playing hide-and-seek, racing matchbox cars, constructing an elaborate fort using couch cushions, device-free meals, or family game night. Among their many benefits, these activities all necessitate direct interaction with others – and call upon us to share in the things that make us most fully and most happily human.
Doug Norry
Head of School
