Is ‘Digital Addiction’ a Real Threat to Kids?

Several experts say we should teach kids to think of screens as something to handle in moderation, like food, rather than something without any healthy place in our lives.

Description
As we worriedly watch our children navigate the ever-changing digital landscape, there’s a great deal of talk these days about “digital addiction.” But several experts say we should teach kids to think of screens as something to handle in moderation, like food, rather than something without any healthy place in our lives, like meth or heroin.

Children’s use of devices ranges along a continuum from healthy to compulsive to addictive, said Dr. Dimitri A. Christakis, the director of the Center for Child Health at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and professor of paediatrics at the University of Washington.

Dr. Jenny Radesky, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan and an expert on technology use by children, compared technology to “an environment,” as the place where all kinds of activities take place, from work to entertainment to social life. But it is a deliberately designed and engineered environment, she said and designed with a goal of making money.

Relevance
Screens and digital realms are often designed to intensify the length of the experience. Although it threatens directly younger kids health, affecting the future development of the generation, it also creates an opportunity for a dialogue with parents and raising awareness around healthy digital literacy.
How to challenge the paradigm of tech addiction and rather create a space for healthy tech use? Could future products reinforce a healthy lifestyle? How would that affect manufacturing practices? Or could manufacturers be driving the change?