I have been working as a paediatric occupational therapist for almost 35 years in home, clinic and school-based settings. Around 2004 I began to see a significant change in the children I was treating. While I was used to seeing children with physical disabilities, quite suddenly referrals escalated to unmanageable levels for children with developmental delay, attention deficit, poor self-regulation, autism and aggression. I began to see a correlation between these new referrals and high levels of screen overuse which then included primarily video games and TV.
By 2010 there was sufficient research showing a direct link between screen overuse and childhood developmental disorders across five domains: physical, mental, emotional, social and cognitive. I stepped away from schools to collate research on the negative impact of screens on children resulting in my book “Virtual Child”, my Fact Sheet which contains over 600 research articles and my blog for teachers, clinicians and government Moving to Learn. This research formed the foundation for over 450 workshops provided to parents, clinicians and teachers on the negative impact of screens on children, which during Covid were converted to webinars.
I’ve always said that I have tried everything that hasn’t worked regarding interventions for screen reduction, a process which has led me to the one thing that has worked. The Screenbuster Program is a peer lead certification training for teens which qualifies them to provide “Tech Talks” to fellow students in school-based settings. The Tech Talks consist of certified Screenbusters providing stats and expert guidelines regarding screen overuse, ‘mindful’ vs. ‘mindless’ media content, and 5 impacts of screen overuse as depicted in the Zombie Kid graphic provided to students to color during Tech Talk session. Screenbuster teens profile the 4 critical factors for child/teen growth and success: movement, touch, human connection and nature (see Building Foundations graphic).
The “Tech Talk” salient goal is to invite student participation in the “Unplug Challenge” where the student’s mission, should they choose to accept it, is to go 24 hours without screens. The objectives for the first “Tech Talk” session are for each student to identify 5 non-screen activities they can engage in immediately upon returning home. For many students this is a very difficult task, but well worth the effort as they start to recognize what they have given up in pursuit of screens. The second Tech Talk session objectives are to discuss pros/cons of the Unplug Challenge and determine classroom ‘next steps’ e.g. possibly perform the Unplug Challenge once per week.
The Screenbuster training is comprised of a 5-hour free online webinar. The Screenbuster Program is supervised by a teacher, school counsellor, principal or occupational therapist who has previously completed the three-day instructor certification training in Balanced Technology Management. The 3-day teacher (or clinician) instructor training certification is research-referenced and strategy focused and includes the Tech Tool Kit (75 pages of reproducible handouts for students, teachers and parents). Committed to spreading the word, certified instructors will also receive a power point slide deck for a 2-hour student, teacher or parent workshop.
The ways in which we are raising and educating children with screens are not sustainable (see Virtual Futures graphic). Screen use is sedentary, isolating, overstimulating and constitutes neglect. The result of screen overuse in schools and homes are that 1 in 3 children enter school developmentally delayed, 1 in 4 are obese, 1 in 5 have a diagnosed mental illness, over half are sleep deprived and 1 in 11 are screen addicted (see Fact Sheet for research references). These children will grow into teens who have difficulty socially, are physically and mentally unhealthy, and who will fail to achieve basic literacy. Early death from stroke, heart attack and cancer, failure in intimacy and relationships, and lack of job skills and competence are the unfortunate yet inevitable futures for our new millennium children. We are losing a whole generation of children to screens. We need to start to care…now.
