School Kids, Mobile Phones & Brain Health (Part 2 of 2)

(Part 2 in A Two-Part Series by Guest Author, Lyn McLean, Founder & CEO of EMR Australia)

Did you know that the digital technology that’s so commonly used in education – at home and school, not to mention everywhere else – is having impacts on our children's neurological processes and interfering with their actual ability to learn?

These are the conclusions of Professor Tom Butler, from the University College in Cork, who conducted an extensive review of the latest research in neuroscience, cognitive psychology and education.

Part One of this series looked at the effects of device use on students’ sleep, vision and attention.

In Part Two, we take a look at what Professor Butler has to say about the effects of digital technology on the brain and actual learning outcomes – and see his suggestions about what can be done to mitigate the risks.

Effects On the Brain

Alarmingly, Butler says that using digital devices can negatively affect brain function.

As we’ve seen in Part One of this two-Part series, it can impair both memory and cognition. However, it can also affect brain chemistry itself, contributing to psychological problems and negatively affecting general well-being.

Multi-tasking on digital devices increases the production of cortisol (a stress hormone) and adrenaline (a fight-or-flight hormone).

"This is a potent chemical cocktail that can overstimulate a student’s brain, reduce clarity of thought, and produce muddled thinking," Butler says.

The distracting nature of technology appeals to the prefrontal cortex of the brain that is attracted to novelty and reward.

“We answer the phone, look up something on the internet, check our email, send an SMS . . . and each of these things tweaks the novelty-seeking, reward-seeking centres of the brain, causing a burst of endogenous opioids (no wonder it feels so good!), all to the detriment of our staying on task.”

Brain plasticity (adaptability) means that negative behaviours like these can physically rewire the brain’s circuitry, thus entrenching the behaviours and causing addiction.

Fifty Percent of Students Affected by 'Internet Addiction'

Internet addiction is a huge problem, with studies showing that up to fifty percent of students are affected.

Butler cites evidence showing that "pathological internet use" is linked with depression and ADHD.

Further, he says that "high levels of ST (Screen Time) is now considered an independent risk factor in heart disease, poor development outcomes among children, adult disease, and untimely death."

Learning Outcomes: 'The Benefits of Digital Technologies Are Minimal'

Digital technologies have been widely used in classrooms for many years. But where are the benefits?

Butler believes they are minimal: "Digital technology applications may develop very narrow, non-transferable, cognitive and/or motor skills in children at the expense of more important reading, mathematical skills, interpersonal and problem-solving skills."

He reveals that many Big Tech executives (e.g. those from Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Intel) send their children to Waldorf Schools, where children are discouraged from using digital technology at home or school before the age of 12.

Professor Butler says that this alone should give educators pause for thought.

Akin to Giving Children 'A Cannabis Plant & A Bag of Fertiliser'

Even though educators often cite studies showing the advantages of digital technology for education, Butler says that many of those are deeply flawed or have not been peer-reviewed.

He holds the view that children under 12 should not be using screen-based technologies at school.

"Given what neuroscientists have discovered about the dysfunctional and addictive effects of screen-based applications on the human brain, providing children and adolescents with smartphones or tablets is akin to giving them a cannabis plant and a bag of fertiliser."

So What Should We Do?

He makes the following recommendations for parents and educators:

Avoid the use of tablets and laptops both at home and at school.
Use screen-based devices for no more than an hour each evening.
Avoid the use of e-books.
Where e-books must be used, use them with reflected (rather than LED) lighting.
Use pen-and-paper in class.
Educate students about the problems of digital technology.

In conclusion, parents and educators should think long and hard about the multiple ways in which digital technology, and its unnecessary, excessive and inappropriate use, are impairing the learning and well-being of our children and potentially compromising their futures.

Reference: Butler, T. (2024, March 29). A Critical Review of Digital Technology in Education: A Pause for Thought in 2024. SocArXivhttps://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/5q8vg

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