Even though electronic display devices look harmless and act like pacifiers babies suck on, they have, now more than ever, become a source of concern for many Nigerian parents bringing up their children.
Parents are to blame for introducing their children to electronic devices, such as iPads, smartphones, television sets, computer monitors, and the like, and even more disturbingly, many more parents are yet to come to grips with the negative effects of such electronic visual displays, often called screens, on their children.
Questions have therefore often been raised about how much screen time is too much for young children. But in the midst of the questions being asked, educationists have reminded Nigerians that while screens may be harmful to the development of their children, it is often not always ideal to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Educationists are of the view that electronic display devices should not be ruled out as tools used for educating young children.
According to them, electronic display devices, which can also function as visual aids, enhance learning and make it so much fun for children and this is as such visual aids are designed to supplement written or spoken information.
“An electronic display device used as a visual aid is also good,” started Sunday Afolabi who is the proprietor of High Gate school in the Egbeda area of Lagos.
“It brightens up and makes learning fun for children. But like everything in life, too much of it can be bad when it is abused.
“This is why I always insist that visual aids, especially electronic ones that are connected to the internet, must be used under the supervision of a teacher,” Afolabi added.
While Afolabi might not have specifically mentioned smartphones, it is one of the most accessible electronic display devices available to young children, and a parent, Peace Njoku narrated her experience with her daughter who is addicted to phones.
“I have a young girl. She is going to be four in November.
“When she goes to YouTube or opens one of the cartoon apps I downloaded for her, she will not want to release my phone again. And if I forcefully attempted to take it from her, she would cry and become inconsolable and so, out of pity, I would hand the device back to her.
“Whenever she takes my phone, it is always a tug of war of who should keep it. And I know that many parents who have children are guilty, like me, of giving in to their babies’ cries.
“But I am now working on myself. I no longer want a situation where her wailing will make me yield to her infantile requests,” Njoku said.
In their wisdom, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that children younger than 18 to 24 months totally avoid screens, while children over two years old should be satisfied with 1 to 2 hours of screen time per day.
The Academy says that children, especially those younger than 18 to 24 months, can have impaired development if their parents do not “control” their screen time.
Sharing her own experience with The Point, a skin care expert, Paula Francis, said that her inability to check the “television excesses” of her son led to a drastic fall in his schoolwork and grades.
She also said that apart from the decline in his academic performance, too much television time affected his speech and nearly turned him into a recluse.
“I had my son 27 years ago. He is everything to me. But the mistake I made when he was still a toddler was that I pampered him to the high heavens.
“My son started to enjoy watching television when he was as young as one. I remember that whenever he sat down to watch his favourite cartoon programmes, no one dared change the station.
“If anyone did, he would cry and scream like his very life was about to be snuffed out. He watched those cartoon programmes from 7am to 10pm every day, except for the days he went to school.
“Apart from children, adults too are affected by too much screen time. Individuals who stay glued to their computer monitors, smartphones, according to experts, are prone to suffer obesity, depression, neck and back pain or have sleep problems, among others”
“And instead of me disciplining him or doing something drastic that would limit his television excesses, I would simply be telling any adult who changed the station to turn it back to his cartoon programme.
“This continued to happen for many years and when he started talking, I noticed that his voice and speech did not sound like those of normal children.
“My son sounded like the cartoon characters he was watching. At first, I thought it was a unique accent he had acquired but it was when he started to perform woefully in class that I realised that something was wrong.
“Before long, he began to avoid people. He nearly became a recluse and at a point I withdrew him from school. And when I took him to the hospital, there was little the doctors could do.”
Apart from children, adults too are affected by too much screen time. Individuals who stay glued to their computer monitors, smartphones, according to experts, are prone to suffer obesity, depression, neck and back pain or have sleep problems, among others.
An IT specialist, Charles Nwomoko, who spoke to The Point about the challenges he faces on the job said, “It is really difficult for me to limit the amount of screen time I have. My work makes it hard for me to do so as I have to stay long hours on my phone and laptop.
“So, screen time is part of my everyday life but I try as much as possible to suspend all work when I am at home. But sometimes there are targets to meet and one would have no choice but to work.
“Before now, I didn’t take seriously the fact that too much exposure to blue light from phones and computer monitors can affect the eyes.
“This is because after some time, my eyes would be itchy and I developed eye strain. Sometimes, my eyes would feel very dry, too.
“Eventually, I went to the optician and ran some tests. The doctor then prescribed an anti-blue light eyeglass for me and I stopped feeling and noticing all the symptoms.
“I now advise my friends who work with phones and computers to always do so in a space or room where there is ample light. Also, making out time to pay the doctor a visit can help to prevent some eye problems.”
A medical doctor, Hart Ikechukwu, said that enough awareness of the dangers associated with extended screen time on children has not been created.
In his assessment, screen time is the silent disruptor of a young child’s development.
“For many in this part of the world, the negative effects of too much screen time on children have been under-reported and underemphasized.
“So, unfortunately, enough awareness of the dangers has not been created.
“I have seen a lot of parents who complain that the schools their children attend are not teaching them very well.
“Such parents even threaten to take their children out of the schools. But it could be possible that the parents are the ones who have been neglecting their duties by allowing their children to spend long hours watching TV or operating their phones.
“The problem with this is that for children still growing up, their development could be hampered. Too much screen time is a silent disruptor to this development.
“There is a study I read that children who spend more than two hours a day on phones, iPads and television score lower on thinking and language tests.
“The report says that such children will continue to perform poorly in class unless this habit is corrected.
And if care is not taken, the condition might even cause irreversible damage to the child’s development.
“And then children who have more than seven or eight hours of screen time a day will likely suffer thinning of the cerebral cortex, which is associated with ageing. The cerebral cortex helps an individual to think and reason critically.
“So, the situation boils down to the fact that awareness is vital because the dangers are real.”
