Our middle son is very much into Wii, Ipod, laptop, etc. but in our home it is controlled access not by us but by his own sense of responsibility and priority towards his schoolwork, etc. Even then, I have little talks to remind him from time to time. Parents everywhere are constantly battling against excessive screenplay by their children. While controlled access can even have positive effect on brain development, excess can be sedentary and isolating from real-world human interactions. As a result, the development of social nuances essential for human maturation is lacking.
When a child plays with blocks, they are inventing stories, negotiating, talkative, etc. When this is replaced by a television, the story line is set and the child is just inactively along for the mute ride.
".....excessive use of screen-based entertainments ...... neglect a deep human need to interact with the material world: to feel the tug of gravity, to physically move through the dimensions of time and space, to feel the physical resistance of solid objects." Stuart Brown, M.D. Play
We interact with the world through our hands. The hand is the primary tool we use to manipulate the world around us. The hand and the brain need each other. The hand provides the means and the brain the method. The use of hands to manipulate 3 dimensional objects is an essential part of brain development. In one study, using fMRI, large areas of the brain's visual and associational circuits were activated when a real hand holding a ball was presented in the window. When a picture of the same was shown, the visual cortex demonstrated arousal but the associational areas were virtually silent.
Lastly, there's always the potential for addiction with screen play.
Our family has derived much of our decisions for our children from these simple but important foundational truths.
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