Did you know that our activities change how our brains grow? And the way our brains work determines what activities we like to do. In other words, our brain wiring changes over time, and those changes lead us to prefer some tasks over others. These days, we spend more time on our screens than we do outside or face-to-face with other people. That means our brains are wired to function best in the virtual world. Because screens are a relatively new phenomenon in the scope of human history, we don’t know what the long-term outcome of screen use will be on our brains. Child and teen brains are especially vulnerable to rewiring issues because they are already in a massive state of change. Will this information change the way you use your screens?
Brains!
Neurons & Superhighways
Our brains are made up of millions of brain cells, called neurons. Neurons communicate with each other and help us think, move, and even breathe! Neurons are necessary for us to live. The healthier our brains are, the better our lives are.
As we age, our brains are constantly remodeling. At first, our brains use many neurons to complete one task. But with practice, our neurons form superhighways for the most efficient thinking. As we age, fewer neurons can get the same task done that used to take far more neurons. The more primitive pathways that get replaced prune away while the superhighways develop.
Our brain is its biggest when we are 10 years old! Then our gray matter (the brain tissue packed with neurons) decreases from there. At certain ages, some parts of our brain remodel more than others based on the types of learning that we are doing. For example, babies and toddlers are remodeling the brain areas responsible for attaching to others and learning a language. Teen brains are remodeling the brain areas responsible for creating abstract ideas and connecting with their peers.
Brain Thinning from Excessive Screen Use
To build healthy brains, we must take good care of ourselves and get good sleep, nutrition, and exercise. We also need to do a lot of balanced learning off-screen, not just on-screen. Doing different types of learning will build a more capable, healthier brain.
Doing only one type of learning over and over for many hours a day will build a less capable brain than learning a variety of things. In fact, studies are showing that kids who use screens seven hours a day, versus kids who do not, show thinning in many parts of the brain and lower scores on thinking and language tests.[i][ii][iii][iv] The way their brains process information is also negatively affected.[v]
Is multitasking healthy for our brains?
Many of us spend much of our day multitasking, which means going back and forth between different screen tasks and in-real-life tasks. We are doing many (multiple) tasks at the same time – going back and forth between a primary task and an interrupting task. We love to be connected to our screen devices when we are doing in-real-life things like checking our social media during homework or watching a video while at a restaurant. Most of the time that’s fun and works great. But other times our screen devices can reduce the quality of our work.
Many people think that when they are multitasking, their brains can work on everything at the same time as if the brain has a huge mental pipeline where different things flow in and out at once. But the brain can’t do many things at the same time. Instead, we have a single mental pipeline that is built to do only one thing at a time.
When you are multitasking, you end up quickly going back and forth between those tasks rather than doing them at the same time. We call that toggling back and forth. Those activities must take turns using the same brain area. Competition between the same cognitive resources can decrease our energy, happiness, and learning performance.
But it’s not so simple to say that interrupting one task with another is always a problem. Sometimes there are learning benefits to using screens during real-life activities. The challenge is figuring out what screen activities help get the task done and which are distracting us and wearing us out.
Do younger people outsource to their screens better than older people?
Young people who grew up with screens tend to multitask more often and better than older people who did not grow up with screens. With early life practice, they have learned the mental flexibility of digital learning. Screen natives learn differently than screen immigrants.
For example, younger people are better than older people at multitasking.[vi] Using our screens for things like memory, increased access to information, mapping, performing calculations, and creating is called outsourcing. Outsourcing to screens means less need for memory or spatial skills and less cognitive effort.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Well, the answer is complicated. Some types of limited multitasking are healthy for learning. Other types are not so much. Furthermore, we cannot trust our judgment. Though people insist they get more done, better, and faster when multitasking, they are most often wrong.[vii] Multitaskers don’t recognize that juggling tasks cost us more time and results in worse performance, kind of like a drunk driver saying he drives better while under the influence.
The Costs of Multitasking
Performance Decline
Results are consistent across studies that multitasking results in a small but significant decrease in test scores (4-5% decrease). Larger interruptions cause even larger decreases.[xiii][xiv] Perhaps a 5% decline doesn’t seem like much, but it is half a letter grade.
If two tasks require different cognitive resources, like walking and talking, then the performance decline is smaller. If tasks require similar cognitive resources, like talking and texting, which both require language centers, then the deficits are larger.[xv]
In the long term, multitasking (with social media and instant messaging for example) can lead to lower grades and poorer cognitive performance overall, especially in the areas of working memory and attention.[xvi][xvii] Multitaskers tend to have poorer memories because they are getting less memorizing practice.
Time Cost & the Google Effect
Multitasking also costs us extra time. When people are interrupted, it takes an average of 23 minutes, 15 seconds to return to work, often getting distracted by two or more tasks after the interruption.[xi]
When we use the Internet, we are also less likely to remember something we’ve learned if we know it’s published online, a dynamic now called the Google effect.[xii] It’s as if we quit thinking or taking responsibility for learning because we expect our smartphones to have it handled. Why bother to take the effort to remember the date if a press of a button will get the job done?
Brain Drain & Anxiety
Another cost of multitasking with our screens is brain drain. Research has shown that toggling between mental tasks burns the brain’s fuel, oxygenated glucose, at a rate faster than concentrating on a single task.[xx]We think we are saving time and energy by fracturing our attention, but we are actually draining the very energy necessary to do the work and taking more time to do it!
Our screens drain us in other ways too. A 2015 study found that smartphone notifications hijack attention and distract us by launching distracting thoughts whether we’ve checked notifications or not.[viii] Furthermore, when smartphone users are unable to answer a notification, their pulse and blood pressure increase, they feel anxious, and their problem-solving skills decline.[ix] The more attached we are to our phones and the closer they are to us, the more distracted and stressed we are.[x]
Brain overload from multitasking can take a toll on mental health. Factors that make us most vulnerable to rapidly switching tasks are anxious and impulsive personality traits, stress, and too little sleep.[xxi]Without downtime, mental stress and fatigue can lead to poorer learning, irritability, and mood and anxiety disorders, especially for teens.[xxii]
Homework & Multitasking
Kids argue, and rightfully so, that it is impossible to do homework without multitasking on- and offscreen. As they get older, school tasks require the student to look up information for research, communicate with other group members, and track progress across multiple platforms.
Here are some research findings that can help you make better choices while doing schoolwork.
Watching TV or videos while doing schoolwork interferes with performance.
Watching TV and doing homework are both demanding tasks that compete for the same brain areas. Research studies have demonstrated that watching television, or even just having it on in the background, impairs reading performance, [xxiii] memory of homework facts, [xxiv] and even your memory of what you’ve watched on TV. [xxv
How about music and homework?
It was once widely believed that listening to classical music makes you smarter, known as The Mozart Effect. However, this theory has largely been proven to be untrue.
Studying in a quiet environment results in better homework performance than studying with music.[xxvi] Kids tend to think they do better while listening to the music they like and worse while listening to music they don’t like. But performance is poorer in either condition.[xxvii]
However, music does have a positive role in learning if you listen to music you like before homework or during breaks due to a bump in arousal and mood (called the Stephen King Effect).
Is using a laptop during the lecture OK?
College students who do not use any type of technology during class time tend to outperform those students who do use screen technology during the lecture.[xxviii] Researchers explained the results in terms of a bottleneck in attention. Meaning that more goes into the brain than it can handle, so it must slow down to catch up. Using a smartphone decreases a student’s ability to remember lecture information.[xxix] Moreover, laptop use during lectures not only distracts the user but also distracts the student’s neighbors.[xxx]
Supertaskers & Neuroplasticity
Pumping yourself up to learn before homework and relaxing during breaks is a good thing. But distracting yourself during homework with anything that may compete for the same brain resources is a bad thing. But there are exceptions to this rule.
Approximately 2% of the population, called supertaskers, defy statistics and demonstrate an extraordinary ability to screen out distractors when multitasking. It’s as if they have super-enhanced brain skills called synaptic plasticity.[xxxi]
Supertaskers can maintain these exceptional abilities by practicing excellent brain health habits, like good organization and time management, and refueling with emotional and cognitive control strategies that are screen-free like mindfulness, imagery, and meditation.
The Work-Home Boundary
It’s not just kids and teens that are impacted by screen time. Parents also have problems getting off their screens.
Studies have found that the boundaries between work and home have blurred. Overall, our work and school days span more hours and our jobs have become more demanding. This has led to more stress and dissatisfaction and less connection to the things that are meaningful to us.[xviii] We have trained ourselves to self-interrupt, leading to worsened task prioritization and poorer sustained attention overall.[xix]
How can we overcome the depleting effects of multitasking and screen time?
Taking YouTube breaks is not the answer.
Try these things instead:
Focus on one task at a time.
Do your work first, then enjoy fun content as your reward for a job well done.
Batch notifications (turn off notifications, then save them up and go through them all at once every few hours instead of constantly checking).
Take frequent screen-free brain breaks. Don’t go on the screen because you will lose track of time and stay distracted. Instead, let your mind wander or stare off for fifteen minutes every couple of hours.
Sprinkle in brain-healthy activities throughout your day, like yoga, group hikes, and nutritious snack times.
[ii] Kim, S., Baik, S., Park, C., Kim, S., Choi, S. & Kim, S. (2011). Reduced Striatal Dopamine D2 Receptors in People with Internet Addiction. NeuroReport 22.8: 407-11. Web.
[iii] Koepp, M., Gunn, R., Lawrence, A., Cunningham, V., Dagher, A., Jones, T., Brooks, D., Bench, C., & Grasby, P. (1998). Evidence for striatal dopamine release during a video game. Nature 393: 266-268.
[iv] Kühn, S., Romanowski, A., Schilling, C., Lorenz, R., Mörsen, C., Seiferth, N., & Banaschewski, T. (2011). The Neural Basis of Video Gaming. Translational Psychiatry 1: e53.
[v] Dong, G. Hu, Y., & Lin, X. (2013). Reward/punishment sensitivities among internet addicts: Implications for their addictive behaviors. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry, 46, 139–145.
[vi] Ie, A., Haller, C., Langer, E., & Courvoisier, D. (2012). “Mindful Multitasking: The Relationship between Mindful Flexibility and Media Multitasking.” Computers in Human Behavior 28.4: 1526-532. Web.
[vii] Finley, J., Benjamin, A., & McCarley, J., (2014). “Metacognition of Multitasking: How Well Do We Predict the Costs of Divided Attention?” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 20.2: 158-65. Web.
[viii] Ward, A., Duke, K., Gneezy, A., & Bos, M. (2017). “Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of Oneâs Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity.” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 2.2: 140-54. Web.
[ix] Clayton, R. (2015). “The Extended ISelf: The Impact of IPhone Separation on Cognition, Emotion, & Physiology.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 20(2), pp. 119–135., doi:10.1111/jcc4.12109.
[x] Ward, A., Duke, K., Gneezy, A., & Bos, M. (2017). “Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of Oneâs Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity.” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 2.2: 140-54. Web.
[xi] Sano, A. (20160. “Neurotics Can’t Focus: An in Situ Study of Online Multitasking in the Workplace – MIT Media Lab.” MIT Media Lab, www.media.mit.edu/publications/neurotics-cant-focus-an-in-situ-study-of-online-multitasking-in-the-workplace/.
[xii] Sparrow, B., et al. (2011). “Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips.” Science, vol. 333, no. 6043, pp. 776–778., doi:10.1126/science.1207745.
[xiii] Conard, M., & Marsh, R., (2013). “Interest Level Improves Learning but Does Not Moderate the Effects of Interruptions: An Experiment Using Simultaneous Multitasking.” Learning and Individual Differences: n. pag. Web.
[xiv] Wood, E., Zivcakova, L., Gentile, P., Archer, K., De Pasquale, D., & Nosko, A. (2012). “Examining the Impact of Off-task Multi-tasking with Technology on Real-time Classroom Learning.” Computers & Education 58.1: 365-74. Web.
[xv] Conard, M., & Marsh, R., (2013). “Interest Level Improves Learning but Does Not Moderate the Effects of Interruptions: An Experiment Using Simultaneous Multitasking.” Learning and Individual Differences: n. pag. Web.
[xvi] Fein, S., Jones, S., & Gerow, J. (2013). “When It Comes to Facebook There May Be More to Bad Memory than Just Multitasking.” Computers in Human Behavior 29.6: 2179-182. Web.
[xvii] Fox, A., Rosen, J., & Crawford, M. (2009). “Distractions, Distractions: Does Instant Messaging Affect College Students’ Performance on a Concurrent Reading Comprehension Task?” CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12(1): 51-53.https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2008.0107
[xviii] Gregoire, C. (2016). “The American Workplace Is Broken. Here’s How We Can Start Fixing It.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 Nov. 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/american-workplace-broken-stress_us_566b3152e4b011b83a6b42bd.
[xix] Sano, A. (2016). “Email Duration Batching and Self-Interruption: Patterns of Email Use on Productivity and Stress – MIT Media Lab.” MIT Media Lab, 17 May 2016, www.media.mit.edu/publications/email-duration-batching-and-self-interruption-patterns-of-email-use-on-productivity-and-stress/.
[xx] Sridharan, D., et al. (2008). “A Critical Role for the Right Fronto-Insular Cortex in Switching between Central-Executive and Default-Mode Networks.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 105, no. 34, pp. 12569–12574., doi:10.1073/pnas.0800005105.
[xxii] Becker, M., Alzahabi, R., & Hopwood, C., (2013). “Media Multitasking Is Associated with Symptoms of Depression and Social Anxiety.” Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 16.2: 132-35. Web.
[xxiii] Lin, L., Robertson, T., & Lee, J. (2009). “Reading Performances Between Novices and Experts in Different Media Multitasking Environments.” Computers in the Schools 26.3: 169-86. Web.
[xxiv] Armstrong, G. Blake, & Chung, L. (2000). “Background Television and Reading Memory in Context: Assessing TV Interference and Facilitative Context Effects on Encoding Versus Retrieval Processes.” Communication Research 27: 327–352.
[xxv] Zhang, W., Jeong, S., & Fishbein, M. (2010). “Situational Factors Competing For Attention: The Interaction Effect of Multitasking and Sexually Explicit Content on TV Recognition.” Journal of Media Psychology 22: 2–13. Web.
[xxvi] Furnham, A., & Bradley, A. (1997). “Music While You Work: The Differential Distraction of Background Music on the Cognitive Test Performance of Introverts and Extraverts.” Applied Cognitive Psychology 11.5: 445-55. Web.
[xxvii] Perham, N., & Vizard, J. (2011), Can preference for background music mediate the irrelevant sound effect? Appl. Cognit. Psychol., 25: 625–631. doi:10.1002/acp.1731
[xxviii] Hembrooke, H., & Gay, G. (2003). “The Laptop and the Lecture: The Effects of Multitasking in Learning Environments.” Journal of Computing in Higher Education 15.1: 46-64. Web.
[xxix] Wood, E., Zivcakova, L, Gentile, P., Archer, K., De Pasquale, D., & Nosko, A. (2012). “Examining the Impact of Off-task Multi-tasking with Technology on Real-time Classroom Learning.” Computers & Education 58.1: 365-74. Web.
[xxx] Sana, F., Weston, T., & Cepeda, N. (2013). “Laptop Multitasking Hinders Classroom Learning for Both Users and Nearby Peers.” Computers & Education 62: 24-31. Web.
[xxxi] Watson, J., & Strayer, D. (2010). “Supertaskers: Profiles in Extraordinary Multitasking Ability.” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 17.4: 479-85. Web.
Screen addiction is officially a thing. As a mom and clinical psychologist for over 25 years, I recognized and identified it in 2014 when I founded GetKidsInternetSafe from treating hundreds of families in my private practice. Teaching addiction studies at CSUCI also highlighted the similarities between drugs and screen behaviors for me. Like everybody else, I too was having a hard time chasing my kids off our screens. Honestly, even I was getting lost in my research and on Facebook, losing the ability to chill and read a novel. I started to worry about my family. From there, I wrote my book Screen Time in the Mean Time, offered keynotes and presentations, consulted with tech companies, coached families, built and tested my online courses, and created a weekly blog. And, after all that, the World Health Organization finally confirmed what I’ve been screaming from the rooftops. Big tech creates screen products that are manipulatively designed to trigger the pleasure centers of our brains, and we are, in fact, clinically addicted.
Gaming Addiction
Nearly 60% of parents think their teens are addicted to their mobile devices. In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified gaming addiction (IGD)as a mental health disorder. In the last twenty years, the tech revolution has affected every aspect of our lives. Studies have shown that, for some subjects, compulsive screen use impacts the reward and pleasure areas of the brain in the same ways that alcohol, drugs, and other behavioral addictions do. Screen addiction treatment centers have been popping up in Asia for the last decade and are starting to be in the United States as well. Do you worry your child may be showing signs of screen addiction?
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“Remember, when Betty Ford first admitted she was an alcoholic, we didn’t have people believing it was actually a problem until she came around and talked about her own problems with it. This is a place for people to go for help, and that we hope will help everyone around them stop taking Internet addiction so lightly.”
Kimberly Young (founder of The Center for Internet Addiction in 1995)
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Who is to blame?
Parents
Of course, we have some accountability for what happens under our roofs. Pester power breaks us down, and we allow too much screen use even though we know better. We need a break in our overtasked, screen-saturated lives. We can’t entertain our rug rats 24-7.
Kids
They are so persistent! They CRAVE screen use and are master manipulators. Children are vulnerable to screen addiction because their brains are not fully developed, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for impulse control and decision-making. Children who suffer from trauma like bullying, divorce, and abuse, as well as from psychological vulnerabilities like ADHD, anxiety and mood disorders, and autism are particularly vulnerable.
Schools
Schools are increasingly adopting curriculums that require screen use and Internet access during classroom and homework time. Without digital literacy, our kids academically falter. If you are reading this as part of your Social Media Readiness Course, then either your parents or your school are doing an awesome job prepping you to avoid addiction issues down the line.
Big Tech
Screens are programmed to addict us. Big tech, like Google, Amazon, and Facebook, are experts in how to keep us coming back for more. Using secret computer algorithms, our online behavior is studied, collected, and aggregated. This data is used to create and deliver content in the ways our brains will effortlessly absorb it. That translates to targeted ads for clicks and money leaving our bank accounts. Big profit indeed.
The Gaming Industry
The gaming industry made 183 billion dollars last year. Multi-level, high-sensory games, like Fortnite, are intentionally programmed for addictive use. Players are rewarded for staying on and punished for getting off. This keeps kids on-screen, vulnerable to hours of autonomic overarousal. That means they burn too much brain fuel and are left fatigued and in mental brown-out.
The Government
Where is the regulation to protect kids? Are civil liberties really that strong that legislators can’t step in to help parents protect their kids against known harm like online pornography? Or is it that research and treatment organizations can’t compete with rich lobbyists who get direct access to our legislators? Did you know that the advertising budget for Budweiser alone exceeds the entire budget for research on alcoholism and all drugs of addiction?
How common is Internet Gaming Addiction?
Recent studies claim that around 1 – 5% of the US population could be classified as Internet game addicts. It is most common among single young males. Male Internet addiction most typically involves video gaming, cyber-pornography, and online gambling. Women are more likely to show addictive use patterns with social media, texting, and online shopping. IGD commonly cooccurs with depression, anxiety, AD/HD, self-harm, obsessive-compulsive disorder, oppositionality, suicidality, and personality disorders.
Other risk factors include living in the city, not living with a biological parent, low parent involvement, parent unemployment, and not having a reliable friend.
Consequences of IGD include skipping school, lower grades, family conflicts, lack of offline sociality, sleep problems, and unresolved developmental problems. These factors, along with emotional problems, often result in the addict lacking the very resources necessary to break out of the addictive cycle.
What do brain studies say?
Brain imaging studies have found brain changes like those seen in subjects with drug addictions. In other words, the more we play video games, the more our brains change and adapt.
Activation pattern changes that result in brain tissue changes are called adaptive neuroplasticity.
More specifically, subjects with video game addiction show a reduction in gray and white brain matter and reduced cortical thickness in various areas of the brain. The more the gamer plays, the more brain changes. Studies have also found evidence of dopamine release and higher activity in the brain’s pleasure center when playing video games. Heavy gamers have significantly more difficulty calming their emotions and making sound decisions than nongamers.
Thank you to CSUCI Intern, Katherine Bryan for contributing to this article. Screen addiction is real and now universally recognized. If you worry you are seeing red flags in your home, remember that screen addiction is preventable!
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
