Zone’in Workshops

Watching children, family and friends connect and interact with each other has become an intriguing pastime of mine. I like to play a game, where I count the seconds of eye contact and conversation between family members, and then give them a score based on the amount of time they spend ‘connecting’ to each other. The results are discouraging, to say the least. It seems that as people connect more and more to technology (iPods, cell phones, computers, TV’s, videogames), they are disconnecting from each other at a rapid pace. This trend to ‘disconnect’ from all that is human is following in the footsteps of another alarming trend, increased diagnosis and medication of child behavior. Are we confusing human disconnection caused by TV and videogame addictions, with mental illness? Are these children who are being diagnosed with mental illnesses actually just lonely, suffering from ‘techno parent’ neglect? As more and more time is spent connecting to technology, do people begin to avoid and fear connection to each other?

While the answers to these questions are largely speculative, they do bring forward some very interesting observations of our 21st century harried and busy lives. For better or worse, technology is here to stay. The lure of ‘better and faster’ will keep everyone on their toes, running to the store to get the latest new gadget. The largely ignored question of “How much technology is too much?” doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention these days, as we simply just don’t have time to think about it! For parents, being busy and plugged in 24/7, is now the norm. Plugging children in 24/7 has recently caught the eye of the technology giants, with creation of kiddie iPods, videogames and infant and toddler TV. Gone are the days of families relaxing making meals, reading books, and playing card and board games. Now families have a TV in every room and in every car! What is most disturbing is not that people seem unaware of the detrimental effects of technology on child development, but that they don’t seem to care. We are just all so busy, we’ve forgotten what children need to be physically and mentally well.

Balance between use of technology and healthy lifestyle isn’t hard to achieve. The critical factors for child development are to move, touch and be touched, and connect with other human beings. Unfortunately, all three critical factors are sorely lacking in today’s techno world. Technology acts as a ‘restraint’ when it comes to children. Infants and toddlers are strapped into plastic bucket seats and strollers and plugged into TV’s in bedrooms, cars, and dining rooms, vastly limiting movement, touch and connection. Children now spend 6.5 hours per day on TV and videogames alone, and 65% have TV’s in their bedrooms. The results have been nothing short of catastrophic. TV and videogame addictions have reached epidemic proportions in both the child and adult populations, further limiting achieving critical elements for development. As parents get busier, children become more isolated and neglected. Technology has almost become a solace, a haven away from ‘stressful’ human interactions, when really it’s the technology that is the primary stressor. Think back before the invention of emails, cell phones, and 200 satellite channels. Less choice, but also less stress. A slower pace is actually really good for the body! As human beings become more isolated with technology and turn inward, less time is spent in outward healthy pursuit of meaningful relationships with others and nature. Let’s see – spend a day outside or in front of the TV – which would make YOU feel better?

New 21st century adult diagnoses are chronic fatigue, adrenal fatigue, and generalized anxiety disorder, with depression, bipolar disorder and obesity reaching all time highs. New child diagnoses that are sky rocketing are ADHD, Autism, Aspergers, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, coordination disorder, sensory processing disorder, obesity, diabetes, eating disorders, and sleep disorders. We’re not just diagnosing, but also medicating these children, often with medication that has never been tested in long term studies. Psychotropic (mind altering) medication in 2-4 year olds has tripled, and in elementary aged children has quadrupled, in the past 5 years. What will these children be like in another ten years? How will their brain chemistry be changed, what will their behavior be like? We don’t know, and that’s a scary thought.

Let’s go back and revisit those critical factors for child development of movement, touch and connection, and think about how we can build those factors into our daily family lives. Let’s also look at the disconnection technology has caused, from ourselves, others and even nature, and explore ways to reconnect. Being comfortable with one’s self, and having easy conversations with others, is based largely on an individual’s day to day experiences, and human experience has become largely technology. Statistics Canada found in 2004 that the average Canadian family spends 3.5 minutes per week in meaningful conversation, contrasted to 6.5 hours per day using TV and videogames; this needs to reverse. Childhood ‘fear’ of interactions with others and nature is now increasing, and experiences that were once familiar, have now have become alien. Parents perceive it is safer for children to be indoors rather than outdoors, inadvertently increasing the amount of TV a child watches. So when a child gets home from school, rather than going outside to play with friends, they use TV/VG for entertainment; this needs to stop. Creativity and imagination are suffocated, physical activity is blocked, touch and connection with other humans impossible. Why are we then so surprised to see TV and videogame addictions accompanied by problem behaviors?

So how do we turn this around? A simple rule to conceptualize, but harder to implement, would be that for every one hour of technology use, a child spend an equivalent hour in movement, touch and connection with others. Another guideline to follow would be to do an unplug trial prior to drugging child behaviors, to ensure the behavior isn’t caused by TV and videogame addiction. It will take the formation of a team of well meaning parents, teachers, physicians, researchers and governments to address this growing addiction to technology. As a pediatric occupational therapist, I’ve seen first hand the damage of technology on children, having worked for the past decade in both home and school settings. I have witnessed children’s behavior, as well as their physical and mental statuses deteriorate with increasing TV/VG use. A few years back, I created Zone’in Programs Inc. and the Zone’in and Move’in Programs to address sensory and motor delays in children, the Zone’in Workshops to educate parents, teachers and therapists about developmental delays, and Zone’in Training to certify therapist instructors. I’ve written the TV/VG Help Module for parents and teachers, and the Unplug – Don’t Drug policy initiative for government, and am currently creating the Unplug’in Game to help kids unplug from technology. Through my work, I’ve met many caring and concerned people who want to help reverse the damage caused by technology on children, and I’ve therefore created the following list of initiatives to use as a guide. Having a big plan can make small things start to happen.

Suggested Unplug’in Initiatives

Parents – would benefit from family meetings, to teach family members about the detrimental effects of TV/VG (TV and videogames), and then design a reduction plan (can use the TV/VG Help Module free download ). Families can discuss reasons why each family member uses TV/VG, and how they each intend to reduce usage times. Discussion regarding problems they anticipate when reducing are great places to start. Put a blanket over the TV, get a dog that needs walking, join the community centre, rotate chefs for dinner, family wrestling night, dance competitions, dust off the card and board games, talk – best/worst thing that happened today are all great places to start the ball rolling.

Schools – education professionals would benefit from being informed regarding behaviors associated with TV and videogame addictions, and address reduction as a school initiative. Schools could look at redesign programs and school environments to accommodate, not diagnosis and drug, child behaviors. Teachers would benefit from being informed regarding movement, touch and connection alternatives to medicating child behavior.

Physicians, pediatricians, child psychiatrists – prior to diagnosis and prescription of any psychotropic medication to children, physicians might consider recommending whole families undergo a three month technology unplug trial. Children already on psychotropic medication could also undergo a technology unplug trial with subsequent attempts toward medication reduction.

Health Government - health professionals would benefit from education regarding TV and videogame addiction identification and treatment, and pass this information onto parents. All parents should be educated regarding prevention of TV/VG addictions in children, and treatment for adult addictions, as well as the negative outcomes of drugging children. All advertising of medications in lay public magazines by pharmaceutical companies should be prohibited by government.

Education Government – teachers and schools would benefit from understanding that only medical professionals are authorized to diagnose ADHD and recommend medication, and teachers and school administrations have no authority to tell parents that their child should be on medication. Exploring alternatives to designated funding for diagnosing and categorizing children, might serve to discourage monetary incentives.

University researchers – government could explore sponsoring research grants to investigate environmental parameters regarding TV and videogame addictions and subsequent diagnosis and medication. Funding of studies that focus on parenting styles, level of attachment between parent and child, amount of time parent spends with child, TV and videogame usage (frequency, duration, intensity of violence), and TV and videogame correlation with diagnosis and medication would be a few suggestions. Following are some specific research parameters put forward to researchers that attended the 2008 Brain Development and Learning Conference to possibly include in future research.

1. Record TV and videogame usage (frequency, duration, intensity) of children with diagnosed ADHD, Autism, Aspergers, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorders. Compare to control group who is undiagnosed.
2. Use current ADHD, Autism, Aspergers, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder scales on children with low and high TV and videogame usage. Compare differences between low vs. high usage for different diagnostic categories.
3. Analyze the TV and videogame usage of parents of children with diagnosed ADHD, Autism, Aspergers, PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders. Compare to parent control group of undiagnosed children.
4. Analyze physical stress indicators in TV and videogame addicted children and adults. Compare to physical stress indicators in children with ADHD, Autism, Aspergers, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorders.
5. ADHD medications have not been tested on children younger than 13 years of age, and depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder medications have only been tested on adults. Prescription of these medications by physicians and pediatricians therefore need identifiable parameters that have been determined by academic researchers not affiliated with pharmaceutical companies.
6. Trial of psychotropic medications with one group, and trial of TV and videogame unplugging with the other.
7. Do all of above, but consider parental abuse and neglect (instead of TV and videogame addictions) as determinants in behavioral diagnosis.
8. Determine role of right orbital frontal cortex in TV and videogame addictions.