SCREEN TIME!

 

SCREEN TIME!
By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, February 8, 2026 

You must have seen the various segments on television news regarding how “screen time” adversely affects a child’s development. The reports are endless. For the record, I asked ChatGPT about the subject of screen time and this is what it provided as an answer:

1. Brain Development & Cognitive Effects

Accelerated but inefficient brain maturation: New longitudinal research suggests that extremely high screen exposure before age 2 is linked with altered brain networks, faster but less efficient development of visual and control systems, slower later decision-making, and higher anxiety by adolescence.

Academic achievement impacts: A study of young children found that greater early screen time was associated with lower scores on later academic achievement tests.

Early cognitive and social learning displacement: Excessive screen use often displaces active play, face-to-face interaction, and reading — key experiences for language, executive function, and social cognition (supported by multiple developmental studies).

2. Mental Health & Emotional Well-Being

Anxiety, depression, and behavior problems: Large recent research finds children with 4 hours of daily screen use were significantly more likely to have anxiety, depression, conduct problems, and signs of ADHD, with reduced physical activity and poor sleep explaining these links.

Socioemotional difficulties and vicious cycles: Psychological studies show that children with higher screen engagement are more likely to develop emotional and social problems — which can further increase screen use in a feedback loop.

Aggression, anxiety, low self-esteem: International data link heavier screen use to increased aggression, anxiety, and low self-esteem in children and teens.

3. Sleep & Physical Health

Sleep disruption: Excessive screen time correlates with later bedtimes, shorter sleep duration, and reduced sleep quality — partly due to light exposure and overstimulation before bed.

Future heart and metabolic risks: Kids and teens with high screen exposure who get less sleep show early signs of higher heart and metabolic risk (e.g., blood pressure, cholesterol, body fat measures) in follow-up studies.

Lower physical activity: Higher screen time is strongly associated with more sedentary behavior and less exercise — which itself contributes to health risks.

4. Behavioral & Social Skills

Reduced social engagement: Excessive use can replace in-person interaction, which is foundational for social skills, empathy, and emotional regulation in early childhood.

Screen design factors: Research on digital media highlights that engagement-maximizing app designs (ads, autoplay, notifications) can make it harder for kids to self-regulate and disengage.

5. Age-Specific Notes — Early Childhood

Early exposure matters most: Studies increasingly show that screen use under age 2 — particularly unsupervised passive viewing — is more strongly associated with negative developmental outcomes, compared with older children.

Language & executive function concerns: Data from preschool-aged children indicate screen time may is linked to less robust executive functioning and social regulation skills.

6. What Experts Say Now

Rather than just setting arbitrary time limits, pediatric and developmental specialists now emphasize:

Quality and context matter

• Content type (educational vs passive),
• Active engagement with caregivers,
• and balanced lifestyle factors (play, sleep, physical activity) are crucial mediators.

Screen time alone is not the whole story.

Organizations like UNICEF note that screen time itself is not always directly harmful, but risks increase with harmful content, online abuse, sleep disruption, and displacement of play/interaction — and that protecting kids requires broader strategies than time caps alone.

_______________________________________________________

SUCH REPORTS ON TELEVISION HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DIRECTED AT “THE CHILDREN!”   The reports have completely ignored the problem also exists with ADULTS!

This morning, my wife and I went out for a Sunday Breakfast. It was impossible NOT to notice a family of three sitting at the table immediately adjacent to our table. Two adults who were in their late twenties or early thirties and a small daughter who was three to four years old (hard to tell).

The male at the table came into the restaurant on his cell phone and was on his phone the entire time we are waiting for our breakfast, ate our breakfast, and eventually left and he was still on his phone. He was not talking on his phone, he was either scrolling, checking messages or sending messages. At one point, I noticed that the little girl tried to get his attention to no avail. She got up from the table, walked around the table, and punched him in his arm. He did not even look up from his phone! EVER!

Then at another table sat six adults. The man at the end of the table went way beyond using his cell phone, he pulled out a tablet and began working/playing on the table while everyone enjoyed their breakfast. Across from these folks sat a group of three more elderly adults. The man at the table was on his phone and of course he had to show everyone else at the table whatever it was that he was looking at or playing with. Then as we were ready to leave the restaurant, he received a call. Even worse, he took the call while sitting at the table in a full restaurant. Then like most people, certainly not you, he talked on the phone but not in normal voice, people do not talk on their cell phones in a normal voice. They are ALL talking to the guy who made cell phones famous when he said, “can you hear me now?” as if everyone was hard of hearing.

These were not the only people in the restaurant who were on their phone. A quick glance around the restaurant revealed that at least fifty percent of patrons were on their cell phones. What could be so important that they could not take thirty minutes out of their day to sit in a restaurant with friends and/or family and NOT be distracted by their pocket moron creators?

This is not an isolated case. As we were attempting to leave the parking area, there was a man waiting outside to be called inside when a vacant table was available and he too was on his cell phone and he stood directly behind my car.  We got into our car; I started the engine and he did not try to move out of our way; he was standing in the middle of a parking lot on his phone. I began to back up, stopped, started again and then he finally got out of the way.

Keep in mind, this all happened on one Sunday morning over the course of just one hour!

Truly little disturbs me more than seeing the driver of an erratically driven car driving while speaking or playing with their cell phones. Do your own quick study. The next time you notice someone driving erratically or driving slower than most traffic on an interstate highway, take a quick look and the odds are in your favor if you bet that the driver is on a cell phone!

Most people, certainly not you, by their own nature are just stupid when they are not paying full attention to what they are doing! Do your own quick analysis and start paying attention to the stupid things you see people doing and then observe if they are on their cell phones or not. As a perfect example, a lady who was pushing a shopping cart in a Sam's Club ran her cart up against my ankles almost knocking me down in the process. When I looked around to see what just happened, the only thing she could muster was “Oh, I’m sorry!”  I could not help but wonder how often she must utter those words given how stupid she behaved on this day in her life?

Before you buy into the various study results that demonstrate the mental restrictions that appear in our children are because of excessive screen time, you might want to do a study of your own to see how often you spend on YOUR cell phone or tablet. More importantly, take note of the stupid things you find yourself doing while you ARE on your cell phone! That ought to be a word to the wise assuming you are a wise person.

We humans have lived on this planet for thousands of years WITHOUT cell phones. We could all do better if we set aside the right time and place to use them now. Otherwise, when archaeologists dig up our bones hundreds of years from now, they will all wonder how so many of us have exceptionally large thumbs with no explanation of how that could have happened and when it could have become the norm.

THINK TWICE BEFORE USING YOUR CELL PHONE IN PUBLIC SPACES AND/OR WHILE YOU ARE DRIVING YOUR CAR!