Durable Human (2 book series)

Tag Archives: children

Turns out, Parents of Babies and Toddlers are Irreplaceable

For little ones, nothing can match their parents’ human touch. So says an unprecedented 37-nation alliance of clinicians, researchers, educators, and advocates.  

The group cites a cascade of new research supporting an age-old notion: parents and caregivers provide the back-and-forth responsive attention and play that children need in their first years of life—and screen time can’t compare.

Babyhood: A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity

Babyhood is the only time in life the human brain is growing so quickly.

“The first years of life are a critical time for brain development, when the baby’s back and forth social experiences with loved ones build the brain connections for processing language and social information,” says Karen Heffler, M.D., a developmental researcher from Drexel University School of Medicine in the U.S.

“Screen time disrupts and displaces these essential experiences,” she underscores.

Heffler is also part of the Global Alliance for Inspiring Non-tech Infant Nurturing and Growth, or GAINING.

To inform governments, healthcare providers and parents worldwide about new research on the developmental needs of children from birth to age 3, GAINING is distributing “awareness alerts” worldwide.

A “News to Know” alert for parents explains “how the brain develops in the first years sets the foundation for your child’s overall health and well-being” and that screen time can interfere.

Parents Stretched Thin

Though parents have the best of intentions, giving their all can be tough when attention-grabbing screens are everywhere and stress is a daily reality.

“To support parents and acknowledge how difficult life can be, we strived to be understanding in what we wrote,” María de los Angeles Paúl, pediatrician from Chile and GAINING member told the journal Perspectives in Infant Mental Health.

Tech has Unfair Advantage

GAINING also cites research that the “educational” label on apps and shows made for the youngest children can be misleading.

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Preventing the Phone-Based Childhood: Attention Preschool Parents

Preschool aged child using tablet. Photo by Merrily Pierce

Though it seems little kids everywhere are on hand-held screens, scientists are just catching up with effects that digital devices have on growing minds.

A new study adds to increasing concerns for preschool parents.

Turns out that mobile device use can interfere with how preschool-aged children learn to manage their emotions. The more time on screens, the more a child tends to struggle with anger and frustration.    

“What we seem to be observing is the emergence possibly of a vicious cycle over time.”

That’s the word from Caroline Fitzpatrick, Canada’s research chair on the impact of digital media on children. The work of her team at Quebec’s University of Sherbrooke is in JAMA Pediatrics.

The Canadian Tablet Study

Sherbrooke followed more than 200 preschoolers—checking in on each one at ages 3, 4 and 5.

The more time 3-year-olds spent on mobile devices, the more they were prone to anger and frustration one year later.  

4-year-old device users with anger management issues used screens more as they got older.

“We found that by the age of 5, children with worse emotion regulation skills were spending more time using tablets,” reports Fitzpatrick.

3-year-old device users were most vulnerable to emotional upheaval.   

How Digital Pacifiers Backfire  

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Be an Ed-tech Skeptic: 10 Ways Teachers Can Heal the Broken Classroom

2 students at desks with paper books open in classroom with teacher hand on one of their shoulders photo by Katerina Holmes on Pexels

“Technology is just not adding value in the classroom.”

Heads nodded among the teachers who filled our audience at SXSW EDU 2024.

At the Austin, Texas conference, where sessions seemed All About A.I., our talk—“Log-off and Learn: Healing the Broken Classroom”—stood apart.

My co-presenter, award-winning child advocate Lisa Cline, quoted the 2023 UNESCO report, Technology in Education: a Tool on Whose Terms: “There is little robust evidence on digital technology’s added value in education.”

And this: “A lot of the evidence comes from those trying to sell it.”

Despite the billions in federal money that flowed to U.S. schools to support remote learning during COVID, Lisa had the sad reality check: “Math and reading skills are at their lowest in decades.”

Even before the pandemic, as smartphones proliferated among children, their academic, mental, and physical health began a decline—dragging down their ability to be happy and content.

That is why, Lisa and I believe, students have become less available for learning.

The Real Ed-tech Story

Lisa defines ed-tech as “The Chromebooks, the iPads. It’s the hardware and it’s the software. It’s Naviance, Pear Deck, Flipgrid, of course Google. And these are all very much for-profit companies.”

Collectively, Lisa continues, “they make $340 billion a year here in the U.S.”

She ticks off reasons why wholesale adoption of ed-tech can be a losing proposition.

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Why You Need to Know about 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

logo of 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

You know about 911, but the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline may still be a mystery.

Just as you call 911 for emergencies that threaten your body, calling 988 safeguards your mind. The free, confidential service is available to anyone in the U.S. who is in emotional distress or having a mental health or substance abuse crisis.

After one year of operation, the Lifeline is working.  

“80- to 90%-plus of people who contact 988 are going to be de-escalated over the phone and ideally connected to local resources,” said National Alliance for Mental Illness Chief Advocacy Officer Hannah Wesolowski at a 988 anniversary event hosted by Hill.

4 million people contacted 988 in the first year. One hundred thousand new people reach out every week.

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is Like 911, but Different

Here are 5 essential facts about the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline:

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