Screen time how much is too much? If we stop and look around whenever were out in a public space, we see more than one person looking at their phone. We see families in restaurants with children occupying themselves with tablets. At childrens sporting events, lots of eyes are cast downward as parents text message and distract themselves from the game. Small children are given devices to look at instead of being allowed to run around and play.
The average adult spends 11 hours a day looking at a screen of some kind. The average child spends seven.
What price are we paying for this? For adults, its chronic neck and back pain, dry eyes, blurred vision, and headaches. Theres also loss of restorative sleep as the blue screen of the smartphone or computer suppresses the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin. As little as two hours of television a day increases the risk of weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease. It can also cause impaired decision making.
If that isnt enough, too much screen time can lead to an early death. No matter what device it is, overusing it lowers cardiovascular health and increases early mortality rates.
For children, believe it or not, its even worse. Their brains are changed by staring at screens. There is actual imaging of the brains of children who get the average amount of screen time. They have something called Gray Matter Atrophy. The frontal lobe, which is in charge of organization, planning, prioritizing and impulse control, is affected. Why is Johnnys homework never done, and why does he kick the chair when you remind him? Theres a possible answer.
Other changes in the brain affect reward pathways and suppression of socially unacceptable impulses. Most frightening is that the part of the brain that gives a human the ability to learn empathy and compassion is damaged, as is the ability to put physical signs and emotions together. Children are losing their ability to relate to other human beings and to care about them.
To me, this is frightening. Because we care about our friends and neighbors, Humanity House, Farm City Days-Iola, and the Iola Register have created the Family Final Four Unplugged challenge. We are challenging individuals and families to put down all devices: computers, phones, tablets, gaming systems, for the final four days of spring break.
Parents can have access to computers or phones during work hours for work-related reasons but agree to turn them off after work is over and turn their attention fully to their families. Parents are asked to put away the tablets and gaming systems and take the phones from children for the four days. If the parent is able to set their phone to receive calls from parents only so kids can communicate in case of an emergency, that is not a problem.
We are planning some activities on Saturday and Sunday that will be a lot of fun.
On Saturday, we will spend the day at the Lehigh/Portland trail and Elks Lake. There will be hiking, fishing, photography with real cameras, and a cookout and potluck meal. On Sunday, there will be a family fun day at the park in LaHarpe with family teams competing against each other in giant games of kickball, hide and seek, red rover, four square, tag, flag football, and more. There will also be an opportunity to help with building the pump track in LaHarpe if the family wants to jump in on it.
We will be asking families to write about their experiences with unplugging from electronics for four days. We hope they share what they discovered about themselves and what they liked and hated about it.
If you are an individual, or you would like to take your family on this social experiment, please come to the Humanity House office located at 110 East St., on Tuesday, March 19, sometime between 5 and 6 p.m. and get more information on how this will work for you. We will answer any questions that you have.
I cannot think of a more important and fun way to spend spring break than giving your full, uninterrupted attention to the people that you love the most in the world. Who knows, we may all go back to the days when the phone hung on the wall and we all knew our neighbors. Anything can happen. Kindness matters!
