98% of American homes with children now have an electronic mobile device and on average kids eight and under spend more than two hours a day looking at a screen is that too much or could there actually be developmental benefits to screen time this is your brain on where we explore how the world affects our brains and ourselves young brains need a lot of external stimuli to develop particularly from birth to age three what's known as the critical period it's during this time that childrens neurons are making connections for fundamental skills such as vision hearing and
language but these needs are based on centuries of human evolution which used to have nothing to do with screens consider a child watching a video instead of listening to parents read a book it's a far different experience for the brain rather than kids learning to focus and imagine the story the device presents everything to them so certain cognitive systems become underdeveloped and when children spend too much time in front of a screen rather than interacting with people they can have stunted development of the frontal lobe part of the brain that decodes social interactions it can
become more difficult to develop empathy or learn social cues like facial expressions what's more the stimuli from a screen can be a live colors sounds stories all at a super fast pace that can be sensory overload releasing stress hormones such as cortisol it can also over activate the brain's reward systems like the addictive hormone dopamine getting kids used to immediate gratification they wouldn't get in the real world so most scientists and doctors agree that screen time can alter young still forming brains but in some ways that change can be positive take the results of one
recent study that exposed young mice six hours daily to audio visual stimuli similar to those found in a video game after 10 days the mice showed signs of hyperactivity impaired learning and risk-taking but the mice also stayed calm in an environment that usually would have stressed them out some scientists now argue screen time can help prepare a child's brain for our increasingly fast-paced high stimulus world so screen time isn't always bad and it isn't all created equal either an educational letter matching game isn't the same as a violent movie as with many things the key
is moderation daily screen time and making sure the child can function in all of modern life not only with screens but in the real world - hey NBC News viewers thanks for checking out our YouTube channel subscribe by clicking on that button down here and click on any of the videos over here to watch the latest interviews show highlights and digital exclusives thanks for watching
