By Sydney Gagnon | UConn Journalism
December 5, 2023
Marianne Juber enjoys driving her grandson to school. Her grandson, 5, has a love for knowledge and reads at a fourth-grade level. When an advanced math interventionist taught him how to play Yahtzee at school, his father bought him the game for home. Her grandson would play the game all day, but begged for his iPad once playtime was over.
His father offered the iPad to his son, but only if Yahtzee was returned to the store. The grandson, who instantly agreed to the bargain, cried afterward and regretted his decision. Noticing the power the iPad had on his son, which was given to him during the pandemic so he could use the early education program ABCmouse, Juber’s son regrets ever introducing the device into his home.
Juber, an eastern Connecticut teacher of 38 years, not only noticed how much screen time has changed the way her grandson spends his time, but the way children are growing up in general.
“I see such negative effects throughout because of it,” Juber said.
As technology continues to become integrated into the lives of families, children are spending more recreational time on electronic devices. With streaming services and games accessible with the touch of a button, children are choosing screen time over other forms of play. Screen time is replacing time that, before the digital age, would be used for more unstructured and imaginative play.
Because children are spending more time indoors on their devices, children are spending less time outdoors, for example, where the imagination can literally run wild. Dr. Kristen Kling, a psychology professor at the University of Connecticut, believes outdoor play is important for children because it allows more time for creativity in an unsupervised environment. Outdoor play requires children to be responsible for their own structure and gives children physical freedom, according to Kling.
Ken Finch, former director of the New Canaan Nature Center and retired environmental educator, said outdoor play allows children to escape from adult-designed activities. Finch said there is a huge difference between programs such as Little League, in which rules are created and enforced by adults, and playing in the woods, where children can use their imagination.
“That kind of free play just pushes a child’s mind to explore,” said Finch.
Screen Time Action Network Project Manager Lauren Paer said the outdoors naturally provides children with open-ended toys, like a stick that can be used as a magic wand or a baseball bat. Many commercial toys found in stores today have a clear purpose, and do not leave room for creativity. Paer said outdoor play is especially important for children’s physical health. Playing outside helps children develop balance and get exposure to natural light, which is important for healthy eye development, according to Paer.
Not only is outdoor play important for physical health, but for mental health as well. Finch said spending time in the natural environment allows separation from daily stressors.
“For an awful lot of people, nature is therapeutic. It’s a place of respite. A place of renewal,” said Finch.
Children who stay inside to use electronic devices miss out on opportunities for outdoor play crucial to human development and well-being. Author and cofounder of Children & Nature Network Richard Louv describes this disconnect between a child and his or her natural environment as “nature-deficit disorder,” according to his book, “Last Child in the Woods.” The term is defined as the psychological, physical, spiritual, and societal cost of the human disconnection from the natural world.
Concerned adults like Juber notice that children are not only missing out on time outdoors, but are forming what seems to be addictions to screen time. Kling said taking away a screen-dependent child’s device causes the same pain as physical pain does in the brain.
“It works in the same circuitry of the brain as drugs would,” said Kling.
Although allowing less screen time seems like an easy solution, this is not a straightforward task. Kling said that children are often consuming content controlled by companies that want children to keep using their devices.
“There are people on the other side of the phone competing for your attention. They’re doing everything they can to make sure you are addicted,” Kling said.
Paer said corporate profit drives the design and content that children consume. Companies invest a lot of money in psychological research to maximize time a child spends on their digital platform. “Corporate profit is a huge problem that is a detriment to child development,” said Paer.
Paer, who works to prevent corporations from using manipulative advertising algorithms, said that children are more vulnerable to advertisements because they have underdeveloped critical thinking skills. As a result, children are unable to distinguish between an advertisement and other kinds of content. Paer said that companies want to teach children that happiness can be achieved by buying things.
“They want to train young children to become young consumers,” Paer said.
Though it may seem that parents should push children to go outside more, many families do not feel safe sending their children outside. Mary Pollard, a mother from Norwich, Connecticut, shared in a phone conversation that her children use electronics in excess of four hours per day because of their neighborhood’s crime rate.
“Electronics are a safer bet than letting them walk down the street,” said Pollard. Pollard said that for her children, it is more beneficial to play with an iPad than to walk to the park where the possibility of a shooting is greater than zero. Not only is the lack of access to outdoor space an issue in neighborhoods with higher crime rates, but has been an issue for children in urban areas.
After college, Finch worked at a nature camp in Maryland, which housed Washington D.C. public school students for several nights. On a long boardwalk through a marsh, Finch made a joke about seeing lions, tigers, and bears to the students. He quickly realized that they did not know he was joking. Finch guesses that over half of those students had never been out of the D.C. metro area in their lives. According to Finch, there are initiatives within the parks and recreation field that are pushing for a natural park within six blocks for every child in big cities.
Paer said parents should delay the introduction of screens to their children as much as possible. According to Paer, there are bound to be power struggles between the parent and child once devices are introduced because of the compelling nature of digital devices. Once introduced, Paer suggests co-viewing electronic content with children, asking them how they feel afterwards, and having them reflect on the experience. Having these conversations once a week allows for them to become proactive conversations instead of reactive solutions when someone is in trouble, according to Paer.
Using TV and DVD players instead of handheld, internet-connected devices reduces the attachment the child has to the device itself, Paer said.
“When holding your tablet, it feels like an appendage. When you’re watching the TV, it stays there and it doesn’t feel like it’s a piece of you,” said Paer. Paer also suggests that parents should reduce the amount of time spent on their own devices in front of their children. When children see that their parents’ attention is on something else, Paer said they can become jealous and angry toward electronic devices as a whole. Paer also suggests reducing the amount of time electronic devices are used as a babysitter. Paer says children will become dependent on the screen for entertainment and will eventually lose the muscle for entertaining themselves.
Instead of giving her grandson a tablet in the car every morning, Juber has him look out the car window on the way to school. In the spring, he looks for flowers in bloom. In the fall, he looks at the colorful leaves and Halloween decorations. Juber gives him 10 points for each scarecrow he finds, and 15 points for each witch. Then, her grandson adds his points together. Juber takes the side streets on her drive so her grandson looks at as many things as possible.
“I want him to observe and learn from his surroundings,” Juber said.