ASK A RESEARCHER: If mobile phones, TV, and computers hinder brain development in children, what activities truly help it thrive?
Everything we experience influences how our brain develops. Researchers are concerned about what kids and adolescents miss out on if they spend a lot of time in front of screens – during a time when their brains are developing the most.(Photo: Berit Roald / NTB)
According to the Norwegian government's Screen Use Committee, screens can be harmful to children and adolescents.
Excessive screen time can lead to poorer sleep, affect concentration and learning, and social media can lead to poorer mental health, the committee writes.
That can feel like a heavy responsibility for parents. After all, they are the ones tasked with creating the right kinds of experiences to help shape their children’s developing brains.
But nature has ensured that the brain develops well when children receive proper food, sleep, and experiences – or what researchers call stimulation.
"The brain needs to be actively engaged in the real world rather than passively entertained by a screen," says Audrey van der Meer.
She is a professor at NTNU's Department of Psychology.
"Many people believe we are our brains, and that we use them to think and feel. I prefer to say that we are our bodies, and that movement is the brain's language," she says.
Move, explore, engage
The human brain evolved over millions of years to help us control our bodies and survive.
That evolution was built around activities like running, climbing, hunting, digging, and exploring.
"When we sit passively in front of a screen, the brain doesn't get the same kind of stimulation it does when we're actively using our bodies and senses in the real world," says van der Meer.
She believes screens promote passivity and provide only a flat, two-dimensional version of the rich environments we live in, lacking taste, smell, touch, and body language.
Rapid brain development in babies
Annonse
Did you know that a baby’s brain doubles in both size and weight during the first year of life?
Using pen and paper helps the brain create more hooks for memory, according to Audrey van der Meer, professor of neuropsychology at NTNU.(Photo: Elin Iversen / NTNU)
Up to 1,000 new connections between brain cells are formed every second.
Van der Meer puts it this way:
"In the beginning, the connections in a baby’s brain are like tangled, unclear forest paths. Over time, those trails are transformed into smooth and direct highways – able to carry huge amounts of information quickly and efficiently. And it's the input from the world around them that makes this change happen."
Speaking multiple languages
Learning to speak multiple languages is great for brain development, according to van der Meer.
Children begin to understand language long before they start speaking.
Even in the womb, foetuses start tuning in to the melody and rhythm of their native language, the researcher explains.
"To learn a language, you need to be actively exposed to it. You can't just pick it up through the radio or TV," she says.
Many parents today use baby sign language, according to van der Meer. This is a form of communication where parents and babies use simple gestures to 'talk' to each other. This is also good for brain development.
"And it even lets babies, from as early as eight months, tell you they want milk instead of water," says van der Meer.
Colouring and finger knitting
For preschoolers, activities that build hand-eye coordination are essential for developing fine motor skills.
This can include things like colouring, perler beading, and finger knitting.
Even simple nursery rhymes like Itsy Bitsy Spider are helpful – coordinating the right fingers to match the actions takes more skills than it seems.
Writing with a pencil
Writing by hand is also good for the brain.
"Many first-grade teachers in Norway complain that today's six-year-olds barely know how to hold a pencil. We know from brain research that drawing or writing by hand provides excellent brain stimulation," says van der Meer.
"Talk to your child about what they’re doing – language development starts right from the start. The brain is shaped in completely different ways when children spend time with family and friends, learning about relationships through real, face-to-face interaction," she says.
Minimal screen time for young children
Children between the ages of 0 and 5 should have as little screen time as possible, according to van der Meer.
This view is shared by the Norwegian Screen Use Committee.
And it’s not just about what young kids are doing while in front of a screen – whether it’s a game or a cartoon – it’s about everything they’re not doing instead.
"Young children have so much to learn in such a short amount of time. They simply can't afford to spend their valuable time passively watching a screen," says van der Meer.
Can gaming be good for the brain?
Is screen time always a waste for a child’s developing brain?
"Research points in many directions," Lars Wichstrøm, professor of psychology, tells sciencenorway.no.
This is especially true when it comes to video games.
Lars Wichstrøm is a professor of psychology at NTNU.(Photo: NTNU)
While some studies suggest that gaming can hinder healthy cognitive development, other studies show the opposite – that it can actually make you smarter.
Research from the University of Oslo, for example, has shown that the brain changes as a result of playing video games (link in Norwegian). And a recent study from Germany found that participants learned social skills by adapting to situations in the game.
There is a lot of ongoing research into screen use and how it affects both children and adults, and there is still much we do not know.
"That's why the best approach is to offer a variety of activities – play, physical activity, and social interactions with others," says Wichstrøm.
