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Sleep
WE NOW SPEND more time on our devices than we do
sleeping. According to an August 2015 Ofcom survey,
we engage in media or communication activities such
as texting or gaming, for eight hours and 41 minutes
daily, and sleep for 8 hours and 21 minutes.
Technology keeps us up for two reasons.
First, we are stimulated by the content. Second, the
LED screen emits blue light, which prevents the brain
from producing the sleep hormone melatonin. The
blue light is in a bandwidth one sees in everyday
sunlight, explains health education expert Dr Aric
Sigman. “The blue light from your phone or tablet
informs your pineal gland that it’s morning and it
should shut down production of melatonin.”
In the journal Preventive Medicine (2016)
researchers found a strong association between
social media use and sleep disturbance, and warned
of a link between sleep deprivation and depression.
Sleep deprivation has also been associated with
obesity and poor academic performance.Verdict: Screen use at bedtime will change your
sleeping patterns.Social skills
“THROUGHOUT THE WORLD – in caves, huts and
houses – it was almost a reflex to turn your face
to a returning parent,” explains health education
expert Dr Aric Sigman. But, he says, kids are now so
glued to their screens they no longer look up.
Though some parents might be glad of the respite
that screen-time provides, research suggests that
excessive screen use seems
to damage our ability to interpret faces.
“They [excessive internet users] find it more difficult
to read faces in experiments,” explains Sigman.
In one study, children showed a significant
improvement in reading facial emotions after
spending five days away from all devices. In
another experiment, Chinese psychologists scanned
the brains of ‘normal’ versus ‘excessive’ internet
users, while they viewed images of faces and
objects. The internet junkies showed smaller brain
wave responses to faces than their peers.
Sigman’s view is that technology use itself isn’t
damaging – just like sweets, it’s simply a case of
ensuring children don’t consume too much, too
often. Prof Mizuko Ito of the University of California,
meanwhile, believes that a reasonable serving ofnew media can actually be beneficial for the
development of youngsters’ brains.
“Young people who are taking advantage
of online tools like search, forums, open educational
resources and complex games are learning at a
more accelerated rate, and in specialties that they
would never have had access to in earlier eras,”
she argues.
However, she adds that, for disengaged kids in
distressed circumstances, digital mediacan be a distraction from positive learning
and social engagement.
“It’s not the availability of media that
determines this, but whether they have life
opportunities, positive peer influences and caring
adults who support and guide them to positive
media engagements.”Verdict: New media is just a place to ‘hang out’,
but, for the socially disengaged, there are risks.| THE BRAINSCIENCE| THE BRAINSCIENCE44 February 2017