Effects of “screen time” on children. A few years ago I was visiting my friend Eric who had a 2 year old and a 5 year old at the time. As in my family and other families in my own childhood, their TV was on most of the time that the family was awake. One night I was there his 5 year old daughter was put to bed at around 10. Later Erics wife went upstairs because she had not gone to bed and it was 2 in the morning, and she was laughing and yelling. Apparently they had given her a tablet to play games on before she went to bed. She had gotten back on it and stayed up for hours playing it. I could hear her mother taking it away from her as she pleaded and screamed to have it back. I personally couldn’t image what the kind of stimulation a tablet produces, could have on the mind of a 5 year old. I looked into some studies done on this topic and(no surprise here) the results are not promising. Children as a whole have been estimated to sleep one hour less than children of the early 20th century. Sleep issues in adolescence is linked to externalizing, internalizing, and peer issues within their lives. I am wondering if society will merely adjust to the effects. In other words, this technology is something irrevocably linked to us. We are going to have to grow biologically and culturally around its place. As long as humans have time to do so perhaps it will turn out ok eventually. https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/10913927726988/Adverse%20physiological%20and%20psychological%20effects%20of%20screen%20time%20on%20children%20and%20adolescents:%20Literature%20review%20and%20case%20study.pdf