Are screens affecting our children’s brains?

Each day, Monday to Friday, I receive an e-mail from Dr Jim Denison, a trusted author and subject matter expert in areas where faith and current events intersect. His Daily Article provides leading insight for discerning today’s news from a biblical perspective.  Today's article deserves as wide an audience as possible, and only takes about four minutes to read. It is published here with permission.

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"The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been studying the effect of screen time for children. The preliminary results are in and they’re not good.

The NIH report shows that nine- and ten-year-old children who spend more than two hours in front of a screen each day score lower on thinking and language tests. This is troubling since the average “tweenager” spends up to six hours a day on their tablet or phone.

In addition, scientists have found that children with daily screen usage of more than seven hours show premature thinning of the brain cortex. This is the outermost layer that processes information from the physical world. While it’s too soon to know with certainty that screen time usage caused the changes to the children’s brains, scientists will be monitoring this relationship carefully.

Are your children addicted to technology?

The NIH report is just one example of the growing effect of technology on our children. Another study related smartphone use by children to sleep deprivation and other problems associated with poor attention spans. This is alarming since two-thirds of children take their smartphones to bed with them.

One group of scientists found that the more time four-year-olds spent interacting with media, the shorter their sleep was at ages four and six. A study published by Harvard Medical School has shown that blue-tinged light emitted by devices such as smartphones and tablets suppresses the production of melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone vital to good sleep.

Counselors warn that digital addiction is a growing problem. The compulsion to continue playing video games or using technology is escalating. China has identified internet addiction as one of its main public health risks. In some parts of Asia, digital addiction rates may be as high as 26 percent.

Among American children between the ages of eight and eighteen, around 8 percent could already be classified as addicted. A 2010 study found that children in this age group spend more than seven hours a day consuming media.

Experts warn that victims of digital addiction can experience “destructive dependence, extreme change of personality, isolation, and physical signs during withdrawal.” It’s not surprising that researchers encourage parents to limit and monitor their children’s screen time.

Practical ways to manage technology

In The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place, Andy Crouch offers practical commitments parents can make to help their children and family manage technology. Among them:

• Turn off technology one hour a day, one day a week, and one week a year.
• Use screens for a purpose and together rather than aimlessly and alone.
• Dedicate car time to conversation with no technology.
• Be sure spouses have each other’s passwords and parents have complete access to their children’s devices.

I would add this: community is vital to our souls. We were made to do life together. Every image of the church in the New Testament is collective–a vine with many branches, a body with many parts.

By contrast, technology isolates us. For every family that plays a video game together, there are multitudes of children (and parents) who play them alone. A computer or handheld device is intentionally isolating. It’s hard for two people to use one keyboard or focus on the same screen.

Such isolation can be devastating.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that loneliness undermines health and is linked to early mortality. It is worse for longevity than being obese or physically inactive.

While technology can foster a sense of community through social media, it’s no substitute for in-depth personal relationships. Nothing replaces spending time with those we love. A screen is not a parent.

“We are familiar with his evil schemes”

Here’s the bottom line: God intends parents to be the pastors of their families. We cannot delegate their souls to their teachers at school, ministers at church, or friends online.

Fathers are told to “bring [children] up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). We are to value our children as “a heritage from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3).

One of the many reasons I admire the Jewish culture is its commitment to the home and family. The father is responsible for teaching the Torah to his children. The parents are responsible for modeling Jewish faith and culture. The survival and prosperity of the Jewish people across forty centuries are largely due to this passionate commitment of each generation to the next.

The family is God’s invention and design for us (Genesis 1:28). But the devil hates all that God loves. If he can use technology to isolate children from their parents and infect them with pornography, violence, and digital addiction, he will.

Paul said of Satan, “We are familiar with his evil schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11 NLT). Can you say the same?"

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Change!

The following words "jumped out" at me as I read the regular bulletin from Dr Jim Denison that arrived in my Inbox today.

"The best way to deal with a changing world is to depend completely on an unchanging God."

We live in a world that, certainly for those of us who dwell in the so-called "western world", experiences change exponentially!   I am of a generation that can recall 78 rpm records.  Then there were 45 rpm, and 33 rpm (long play - maybe six tracks on each side!).  Before I knew it, recording was being done on tapes - that came in reels from about 3" in diameter to about 6"+ in diameter.  I had barely become accustomed to that medium, before cassette tapes became all the range.  Then it was Compact Discs (I still recall the "Tomorrow's World" programme that 'introduced' them!), and Mini-discs.  My "studio" was filling up - with equipment and recording/playback media that was still perfectly functional, but was already "historical"!  

Now, of course, everything is done with MP3 files, and I can store hundreds of tracks on a mere 1Gb memory stick that is smaller than my thumb!  And all of that has only to do with recording and playing back of sound!

If we look at the world of transport; of communication; of politics; of almost anything one cares to name; then, as the hymnwriter so succinctly put it: "Change and decay in all around I see"!

So Jim Denison's words are a timely reminder.  "For I the Lord do not change;" (Mal 3:6), is the word of Almighty God to His chosen people - the Children of Israel.  When we turn to the writings of the New Testament, we read that: "Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with Whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." (James 1:17); and, of course, the well-known words from the unnamed (human!) author of the letter to Hebrew disciples of Jesus: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever." (Heb 13:8).

It is a simple fact of life that the vast majority of us like to have at least a large element of stability in our lives.  We may sometimes (often?!) complain about the humdrum existence we think that we are living - but we don't really want upheaval - in our homes; in our families, in the workplace; in the church.  

Yet, even within the visible church, is there not a hankering after novelty?  We want to hear the latest "great speaker".  The "new song" must be sung this Sunday.  I have to have the most up-to-date Biblical app on my smartphone (actually I don't even possess one of these gadgets!).  We are constantly veering round in our faith and life, following the latest "new belief," accepting every modern idea, or doubting some established Christian teaching - like children, "... tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles." (Eph 4:14).

Could it possibly be that many of us, in our Christian lives, are not seeking the stability that we are offered?  One of my favourite verses from the Book of Psalms reads: "He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure." (Ps 40:2).  "He ... set my feet upon a rock" - that's stability!  The psalmist-king, David, continues: "He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear, and put their trust in YHWH. Blessed is the man who makes YHWH his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods!" (vs.3-4).  It is as I am standing, solidly upon the Rock (Who is Christ Jesus) that I can be stable - and may attract others to Him.

We have a stable, unchanging, dependable God.  Let us be more stable as we follow Him.

Prayer - in time, and eternity!

This afternoon, I took the back off a clock that no longer kept good time.  However, it also had two dials in addition to the main clock-face - a thermometer, and a hygrometer.  The body of the clock I consider to be quite attractive so, rather than throw out the whole piece, I removed the back; disconnected the hands; took out the clock mechanism; and was left with a hole in the middle of the dial!  That didn't look too good.  What should I do?  In a flash of inspiration, I went to where I knew I had some "Praying Hands" stickers - black on a gold background - and stuck one of them across the centre.

I do hope that some folk, when visiting me in my (still to be organised!) study, will look at the object on the wall, and ask why there are no hands for the clock, but Praying Hands in the centre!  The answer, of course, will be that it is always time to pray!

Prayer is of great importance to the disciple of Jesus.  When I was invited, earlier in the year, to bring the message to L'Église Évangélique Libre de Bergerac (The Bergerac Free Evangelical Church), I did not know if I would be invited again, this year.  The message that I brought was on "The Cost of Prayer".  Shortly afterwards, I was asked to bring the message again.  This time, I spoke on "The Importance of Prayer".  I am due to speak on Sept.13th.  The message will be based on "The Prayer of Jabez".  So, without any prior planning, I will have brought a brief series on Prayer!  [By the way, if anyone wishes to listen to any/all of those messages, recordings may be found at http://www.eel-bergerac.fr/apercu.htm].

Then, in yesterday's regular 'Cultural Commentary' from Dr Jim Denison (which I only got around to opening today!) he states, having referred to two passage in the Book of the Revelation given to John: "Think about it: God turns your momentary prayers into eternal incense that rises before him in heaven. That means your prayers today can affect events yesterday, since God knew yesterday you would pray today."   

Dr Denison continues by quoting from C.S.Lewis: "We can at noon become part causes of an event occurring at ten a.m. . . . My free act [of praying] contributes to the cosmic shape. That contribution is made in eternity or 'before all worlds'; but my consciousness of contributing reaches me at a particular point in the time-series."

He (Lewis) explained: "We must not picture destiny as a film unrolling for the most part on its own, but in which our prayers are sometimes allowed to insert additional items. On the contrary, what the film displays to us as it unrolls already contains the results of our prayers and of all our other acts.

"There is no question whether an event has happened because of your prayer. When the event you prayed for occurs your prayer has always contributed to it. When the opposite event occurs your prayer has never been ignored; it has been considered and refused, for your ultimate good and the good of the whole universe."  [You may see the full article at https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/14f8dbd09dba1113] 

So prayer is not only important, and effective, within the time/space continuum in which we live and move and have our being.  It may also be seen as being important from an eternal perspective!  I wonder if that is behind the old 'jingle' - "Satan flees, when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees"!

Do you pray?  How much of your time do you invest in prayer?  Is prayer merely an "Emergency" button; or is it regular, intimate, communion with the Sovereign Lord of all that is?

"Let us pray" may be a useful way in which to introduce corporate prayer at a church worship service.  However, for the individual disciple of Jesus, prayer should be as normal as breathing - and it is, in fact, more important!