EP. 28 | Screen Time and ADHD in Children: Balancing Technology and Health.

Are screens turning our kids’ lives upside down? Join me for an eye-opening conversation that explores the hard-hitting realities of screen time and its impact on ADHD symptoms in children. You'll discover why instant digital rewards can worsen hyperactivity and attention issues, as well as practical steps for setting boundaries around screen use. I also delve into the American Academy of Pediatrics' guidelines and share strategies for balancing screen time in a world where digital learning is on the rise.

This episode is packed with actionable advice for parents striving to create healthier routines for their children. From establishing family rules and finding engaging, non-digital activities to the crucial role of parental monitoring, you'll be provided with a comprehensive toolkit for mitigating the negative effects of excessive screen time. Tune in to learn how to protect your child from cyberbullying and inappropriate content while encouraging activities that foster social skills and personal growth. Don’t miss this invaluable guide to navigating screen time challenges in today's digital age.

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Transcript

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 0:25

Hello, it's Dr Hokehe Eko, your happy brain pediatrician. I wanted to talk about screen time and symptoms of ADHD. Multiple studies have shown the link between screen time and increased and worsening symptoms of ADHD, like hyperactivity, inability to focus on, inability to complete multiple directions, and those are just a few. Right, and I'm not saying that screens cause ADHD symptoms, but they definitely worsen them, and so that seems to be with all the studies. That seems to be the message is that increasing screen time will definitely worsen your child's ADHD symptoms, and I see that a lot, especially because when children spend a lot of time on the screen, right, they're getting instant stimulation, they're getting instant rewards, and that's not how real life works. Right, you have to put in effort, you have to focus on a task for you to be able to see results. Like with schoolwork, you have to do the homework to get the result of a good grade. And one of the symptoms of ADHD, yes, is hyper-focus. But children will hyper-focus on what they enjoy, and often I've heard it over and over in my office as children hyper-focusing on video games and things that stimulate them in that manner and more than doing their homework or doing chores around the house. And so it's so critical that we address this now, early, while our children are growing up, so that they can grow up to be healthy, balanced adults, right and young adults and adults, and so I wanted to discuss a couple of steps and a couple of tips for parents to use to address this huge ongoing problem that we are facing. So the first one would be to set clear boundaries in the home around use of electronics.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 2:24

The American Academy of Pediatrics advocates for no more than two hours of screen time for children six years and older. Now, that being said, children now use a lot of screens in school, right, tablets, phones during the lessons. Lots of things are placed online now, and so there is that increased screen time for schoolwork, screen time for schoolwork and there were some studies that indicated that they didn't see a worsening of symptoms with schoolwork, but with the fun time which is like mostly happens after school, right? So and I hear that a lot when I ask my patients what their routine is like and it's like we come home from school, we attempt to do homework and then the rest of the evening, for at least two or three hours, we're spending on computer games. And in this sense, in this case I mean in cases like this I would advise parents as much as is possible, especially since your child has already been on screens while at school. I would suggest to not not go on screens unless absolutely needed for school during the week, so that cuts down on their exposure to screen time and their dependence on screen time to provide stimulation and a sense of happiness in their lives. So that's something that it's important to discuss as a family and have clear boundaries around how long your children are on devices, around how long your children are on devices.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 3:46

The second thing I like to talk about is to find alternative activities. So it's one thing to say don't go on your screen, so they'll know what do they do. If it's in the summertime, you want to encourage outside play, encourage running around, encourage gardening so that kids can learn where food comes from. Going to the library to get books, encouraging them to read there's always activities in the library, at the YMCA. Just finding alternative things that will still fill their mind, grow them as individuals, help them with the social skills that they need, but they're not stopped to scream right. The social skills that they need, but they're not stopped to screen right, and so that's critical to have in place when you're making changes to the screen policy in your home.

Dr. Hokehe Eko: 4:32

And the third thing I would talk about I wanted to talk about is parental monitoring of the devices. It is critical more than ever before because so many cases of children being bullied virtually or digitally, and also like being exposed to adults' information that they should not be, and it's amazing. It's like even watching common apps like YouTube Kids. I mean, I've seen ads on there. I was like shocked, my kids had no business seeing. So it's so important that you, as parents, monitor closely what your children are consuming where they are going. There's apps that will help you track and shut down websites that your children may be attempting to go on to. And I have to say this in my practice, I've seen a growing concern with pornography with young, with teenagers, and they're accessing this online. So it's so important, parents, that you monitor closely what your children are accessing, because this changes. This can make changes in the way your child's brain functions right If they're exposed to bullying, if they're exposed to pornography, if they're exposed to things that they have no business being exposed to as children. So it's so important that we are vigilant and pay attention to it. The last thing I want to talk about is modeling a healthy habit of using devices, right? We as parents. I tell parents, please put your phones down, look your kids in the eye, bond with your kids, because your kids are desperate and they're thirsty for all of you, and that cannot happen if we are looking at phones or devices ourselves. So, parents, we have to model for ourselves what is a healthy, healthy device boundary, right? We come home from work, don't be on the phone if we're eating dinner. Let there be put away the phone policy, because that had to implement that, because I found myself doing the same thing right, looking at my phone while my kids were talking to me, looking at my phone while I was eating dinner. So my phone is nowhere near the dinner table now and it's opened up a way for us to talk together as a family and we laugh and we talk about our day and the phone is not ringing or mommy's not answering text messages. So I'm using myself as an example, because I haven't arrived and I'm still on this journey of parenting along with you. I haven't even arrived and I'm still on this journey of parenting along with you, but just to encourage you, it is possible for us to make changes in the habits that we have, because our kids are looking at our actions more than the words that we speak, and so I just wanted to encourage your parents to put down your phones, create healthy areas, times that you look at your phones, please, first thing in the morning. There's research around that to indicate that it's sort of derailed your whole day when you start off staring at your phone, and that's definitely something I'm working on as well, and so if you have any questions, let us know. I look forward to answering any of your questions that you may have. If you're looking for a pediatrician to care for your child with ADHD and autism, look no further. I am she. Please reach out to us at glowpediatrics. com. We'll be happy to serve you and your family, and so please share this video with family friends anyone that needs to hear this and have an amazing day.