I saw this video about a doctor who performed an MRI on a 5 year old and discovered she essentially had âbrain damageâ from excessive iPad use, as the white matter in her brain couldnât form properly due to an understimulated environment.
Hmm itâs almost like thereâs supposed to be adult figures responsible for monitoring her screen time and making sure she develops properly⌠certainly this isnât the result of neglect at the hands of her parentsâŚ
âThis 5 year old is brain damaged by excessive iPad useâ
Translation: This 5 year old is developmentally impaired by neglectful parents who used an iPad as a stand-in for social and environmental stimulation / interaction for hours at a time during critical early stages of child development. The iPad is the cop-out.
âChildren donât have the strength to hold pencils anymore because they only use screens.â
Translation: Parents arenât making the conscious effort to help their children develop necessary skills and letting iPads raise them.
When are people going to realize the iPads and whatnot are the instruments through which the neglect is happening through and not the cause? How the fuck do you let your child have such a severe lack of physical strength in their hands that they canât hold a pencil properly?
People will see a study suggesting children with higher screen times have poorer or negative developmental outcomes and immediately say itâs the screens causing this, and not the more likely fact that higher screen time = less engagement time with their environment, physical exercise, parents, family, and their peers, all of which are NECESSARY for a healthy upbringing as a social species.
Itâs like saying a dog who was kept in a cage all its life and left with atrophied muscles was damaged by the cage, and not by the fact its owners were too lazy to play or walk their dog in order for its muscles to build properly. The cage is the instrument of neglect and the owners are the perpetrators, in the same way parents are the perpetrators and weaponizing screen time as an excuse and painting themselves as helpless bystanders.
