![]() White matter is made up of fibers, typically distributed into bundles called tracts, which form connections between brain cells and the rest of the nervous system. It’s the gray matter which contains the majority of the brain cells telling the body what to do. Stop letting your kids stare at iPads in restaurants, science says ![]() The new study used a special type of MRI, called diffusion tensor imaging, to examine the brains of 47 brain healthy children (27 girls and 20 boys) who had not yet started kindergarten.Ī diffusion tensor MRI allows a good look at the white matter of the brain, responsible for organizing communication between the various parts of the brain’s gray matter. “We’ve done some studies where kids are using them by 2 months old to 3 months old.” “About 90% are using screens by age one,” said Hutton, who published a number of studies that used MRIs to research the impact of reading versus screen use by kids. “They can take screens to bed, they can take them to meals, they can take them to the car, to the playground.”Įven more concerning, say experts, are the young ages at which children are being exposed. In addition, the portability of today’s screens allow them to “follow kids everywhere.” Hutton said. More screen time for toddlers is tied to poorer development a few years later, study says Put that together and there’s almost no time for them to interact with each other.” “Kids who report five hours of screen time could have parents who use 10 hours of screen time. “It’s known that kids that use more screen time tend to grow up in families that use more screen time,” Hutton said. Associations have also been shown between excessive screen time and language delay, poor sleep, impaired executive function, and a decrease in parent-child engagement. Studies have shown excessive TV viewing is linked to the inability of children to pay attention and think clearly, while increasing poor eating habits and behavioral problems. “That’s when brains are very plastic and soaking up everything, forming these strong connections that last for life.” ![]() “This is important because the brain is developing the most rapidly in the first five years,” Hutton said. The study was published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. John Hutton, a pediatrician and clinical researcher at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. “This is the first study to document associations between higher screen use and lower measures of brain structure and skills in preschool-aged kids,” said lead author Dr. Higher screen use was associated with less well-developed white matter tracts (shown in blue in the image) throughout the brain. ![]()
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