Unplug – Don’t Drug Policy: Are We Drugging TV and Videogame Addictions?

The past decade has seen an epic explosion in technology, with childhood TV and videogame addictions now reaching epidemic proportions. Diagnosis of physical, mental and social disorders in children continue to rise at alarming rates, often accompanied by prescription of psychotropic (mind altering) medications. While research into correlations between these two trends is inconclusive and requires further investigation, health and education professionals should develop policies that ensure TV and videogame addictions in children are addressed, prior to diagnosis and medication.

Children have now reached ‘addiction’ level usage of TV and videogames (1,2). Canadian elementary children watch an average 6.5 hours per day TV and videogames, with the Active Healthy Kids Canada 2008 report giving Canadian children a grade “D” for physical activity (3-5). Current research reports exponentially growing incidence of childhood disorders including ADHD, ADD, Autism, anxiety, attachment disorder, bi-polar disorder, depression, developmental coordination disorder, eating disorder, obesity, obsessive compulsive disorder, oppositional conduct disorder, severe behavioral disorder, sensory processing disorder, and sleep disorder to name a few (6-19). Subsequently, prescription of psychotropic medication has soared to record levels, even to children as young as two years of age (20,21). In the 1970′s childhood psychiatric diagnoses were virtually unheard of, while now 15% of elementary children in Canada are taking some form of psychotropic medication e.g. Ritalin, anti-anxiety, anti-depressants, sedatives, Lithium (22). Procedures for assessing and diagnosing these children are exhaustive and are overwhelming the education and health care systems, often resulting in medication as a first line ‘quick fix’ (22).

The following Unplug – Don’t Drug policy has been proposed by Cris Rowan, pediatric occupational therapist in a research literary review commentary format to the Canadian College of Physicians and Surgeons for inclusion in The Canadian Family Physician Journal, presently under draft review. The proposed Unplug – Don’t Drug policy requires that prior to diagnosing and medicating child behavior, both child and family should unplug from all forms of technology for a three month period. Technology includes TV, videogames, iPods, computer and cell phone (other than what is required for school and work purposes).

As TV and videogame addictions are largely undetected by health and education professionals at the present time, this proposed Unplug – Don’t Drug policy will be a first line initiative to uncover a pervasive and costly epidemic in 21st century children. Raising awareness among health and education professionals regarding the many and diverse incentives for diagnosing and medicating young children, is a great place to start. Incentives by parents, teachers, physicians, pediatricians, pharmaceutical companies, university researchers, and media to misdiagnosis and drug young children, need to be recognized and addressed in order to create ethical and informed choices. Everyone needs to see the role they play in the present diagnosis and medication mania, and move forward toward creation of healthy and sustaining alternatives.

Busy parents neglect children (23). We live in a ‘me generation’ where children get what they want when they want it, and parents have forgotten what it means to be a parent (24,25). Connection to TV and videogames has caused a ‘disconnect’ from self, others and nature. Children don’t know who they are anymore, as they identify more and more with characters on the screen. Many adults have defaulted to being virtual parents, as life gets busier and parent connection with children and partners gets put on the back burner. Parent’s perceptions of safety have eliminated outdoor play, and child connection to nature is rare, and even feared (26). As children’s physical, mental and social health continue to decline, parents respond with replacing the dining room table with the big screen, and installing TV’s in cars, kitchens and bedrooms.

Teachers also have a large role to play in the diagnosis and medication of young children. Many parents report they have been told by their child’s school system that either the parents seek medical help, or they will put their child in a special education class, (not desirable by any parent). Teachers who have children on medication in their class will be the first to say these drugged children become more ‘manageable’, a further incentive to medicate more students. The Canadian education system supports physical and mental diagnoses with increased funding, attractive to any school administration (27,28). Child achievement is also a factor in the prescription of some psychotropic medication, due to the perception that some drugs enhance performance or give children that ‘edge’ they apparently need to succeed (22).

Physicians and pediatricians have become the gatekeepers for diagnosing behavior, a necessary first step for school categorization to qualify for additional Canadian Ministry of Education funding (29). 80% of Ritalin prescriptions come from family physicians and pediatricians, who are given enormous incentives by pharmaceutical companies to prescribe psychotropic medication to the general public, including children (22). Free drug samples, carnival-type gala dinners, subsidized holidays, and monetary payments to university researchers, are but a few of the unethical ways drug companies get into the homes of unsuspecting parents, and lunch boxes of children. Parents and teachers might be shocked to learn that they are giving their children adult medications, for which there are no child dosage guidelines, nor long term studies (30-36). Contrary to popular belief, teachers may be surprised to know that Ritalin does not improve long term academic performance, results in lower grades over time, higher drop out rates, and lower university entrance (39).

Pharmaceutical company advertising for psychotropic drugs for children is now common place in parent, gardening and home magazines, showing well behaved children happily doing their homework. Who wouldn’t want to have a child like that? The US pharmaceutical industry is a multimillion dollar annual business, and pretty much has their way in how they advertise prescription medication to not only the health and education professionals, but now to parents (37-38).

University researchers are also to blame in this diagnosis and drugging trend of young children. After all, we look to research for the answers, the truth. Yet with advances in medical imaging technology, all the research initiatives are about finding the genetic, anatomical or neurochemical cause for behavior, rather than looking at a child’s environment (22). Different parenting styles and TV and videogame usage should be required research parameters in far more studies. Nurture does change nature, and an abnormal CAT scan can be just as much due to poor parenting as genetics.

Media has also participated in the medicalization of child behavior. Media publishes tragic stories about increasing incidence in child violence, obesity rates, mental disorders, sleep problems, decline in academics, attention difficulties, yet media fails in their reporting of the extensive research showing TV and videogame usage as the primary cause. Media appears to have assumed that the general public has the same short attention span as children, and doesn’t really want to know why children have all these problems.

What can YOU do? If you’re a parent, unplug your kids before it’s too late, and resist the urge to drug behavior. Teachers and school administrations can quit being school yard drug pushers, and focus on education rather than increased funding. Medical professionals should require families do the three month Unplug – Don’t Drug trial prior to diagnosis and medication of any children. Pharmaceutical companies should stop advertising all drugs in lay public magazines. Media should review causal research and report causal links in their stories. University researchers should focus more on environmental parameters (parenting styles and unplugging), rather than biology. Government can help with all these initiatives through legislation.

Children are our future. There will be no future for our children if we continue to escalate misdiagnosis and medication of TV and videogames addictions.

NOTE – if your child has received a diagnosis and is currently on medication, please consult with your physician prior to doing a possible unplug trial.

Reference Literature

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