FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Franklin-based pediatrician is sounding the alarm on the impacts of excessive screen time on the mental and physical health of children.
"About three years ago, I left my dream job at a major academic center here in Tennessee to focus my attention on the growing epidemic of screen time in children," explained pediatric endocrinologist, Dr. Nidhi Gupta.
She first noticed the issue as a mom herself.
"I would notice that other parents would sit their child in front of screens during mealtimes. I never did that," she said. "That was almost 10 years ago when I had no clue going forward I would have a non profit on this issue."
During her work as a pediatric endocrinologist, she noticed a correlation between children spending too much time with their eyes glued to screens and multiple health issues.
"Jose is 11. He is up late into the night watching YouTube shorts and reels, during which time he is snacking mindlessly and gaining an enormous amount of weight. A few weeks ago, I saw Alison. She's 15. I looked at her screen time, and she spends about 40 to 50 hours on her phone every week. And she shrugged her shoulder, and she's like, what's the big deal? My friend spent way more time than this, but Alison is developing signs of eating disorder, and she is in denial," explained Dr. Gupta.
The American Academy of Pediatrics Media Usage Guidelines now says that for children younger than 2: screen time should be limited to video chatting with loved ones under a parents' supervision. If parents choose to allow kids to watch videos between 18 months and 24 months, they should choose high-quality, educational programming and watch with them. Children 2 years to 5 years: limit screen time to one hour of educational, nonviolent content per day and watch with them.
"There is a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until we are in our mid 20s. It's about 50% developed by the time we are 18," said Dr. Gupta. "Prefrontal cortex helps with self control, motivation, task initiation, focused, concentration, and if we are exposing a child's developing brain to constant hits of dopamine, the development of prefrontal cortex is hampered."
She says the longer we can delay the introduction of smart devices and the content, the better chance the child has at letting their brain develop and avoiding serious consequences beyond the mental health ones like anxiety, depression, suicides and loneliness.
"In my clinic, I started seeing a lot of impact on the physical health," she said. "Number one, with excessive screen time, sedentary time increases. Number two, physical activity gets procrastinated. Number three, when we are eating while watching screens, our brain does not register fullness. It leads to mindless snacking."
Her research highlights excessive screen time can be linked to obesity, sleep disorders, diabetes, heightened cravings for unhealthy foods, poor communication skills and learning deficits.
"Smartphones have been around for only 10 to 15 years. We don't have that much research to prove the connections we're still learning," said Dr. Gupta. "Are we going to wait for another 50-75 years for that research to accumulate and convince us that, yes, this is impacting our children."
She speaks to schools, parents and anyone who'll listen through her franklin-based non-profit The Phreedom Foundation and her upcoming book.
"Our children are watching us," she said. "It's not fair for us to expect our young people to not role model the behavior that they are seeing in their parents. If we are home in the evening and we are bent on our devices and our children are watching us, the message that they are getting is that there is something in our devices that is more important than them."
She's not suggesting families get rid of their screens altogether, but to instead limit their usage based on their own dynamics because there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. She suggests turning off non-essential notifications, physically separating yourself from your smart devices for at least 30 to 90 minutes every day, delete time consuming apps and content and embrace boredom.
"The question is not how much time a child is spending on screens per day. The question is, what else could have happened during that time? What else should have happened during that time we only have a limited amount of discretionary hours in a day?" Dr. Gupta advised. "Has the child spent enough time on a screen-free hobby? Have they done their reading? Have they finished their school assignment. Are they involved with life skills in the home, chores at home? Have they had some boredom? It's okay to be bored. That's where curiosity, creativity and focus come in."