ISSUES
: The Internet of Things
Chapter 1: Digital issues
21
also more likely to mostly use
the Internet in their bedrooms.
Children who use the Internet
mostly alone comprise one
in seven Internet users aged
five to seven (14%), one in four
aged eight to 11 (24%) and
over half of those aged 12–15
(55%).
Children are going online via
a wider range of devices.
Internet access using a PC or
laptop is increasingly being
supplemented by access
through other devices. All age
groups are more likely in 2012
to go online using a tablet
computer, and children aged
five to seven and 12-15 are also
more likely to go online using a
mobile phone.
Addiction dangers of too
much screen time early
in life
“Early screen viewing is likely
to lead to long periods of
viewing for the rest of your
life,” says Sigman. “The way
you view screens when you
are young forms the habits you
pick up forever after it seems.”
An early taste for entertainment
screen media can lead to
changes in the brain that stay with you
for life – a life that may be shorter as
a result.
Like other addictions screen time
creates significant changes in brain
chemistry–mostnotably, intherelease
of dopamine. This neurotransmitter –
also known as the pleasure chemical
– is central to addictions from sugar
to cocaine.
“Dopamine is produced when we see
something that is interesting or new,
but it also has a second function.
Dopamine is also the neurochemical
involved in most addictions – it’s the
reward chemical.
“There are concerns among
neuroscientists that this dopamine
being produced every single day for
many years – through for example
playing computer games – may
change the reward circuitry in a child’s
brain andmake themmore dependent
on screen media,” warns Sigman.
On the perils of too much screen time,
Sigman has investigated the extent to
which time online may be displacing
face-to-face contact, and that lack of
social connection is associated with
physiological changes, increased
incidence of illness and higher
premature mortality?
Dangers of childhood
computer gaming
Think about the type of games
children are getting addicted to
playing. The narrative of a game is
an important factor, as some –
Grand
Theft Auto
being the obvious example
– clearly lead to a lack of impulse
control, and potential neurochemical
changes in the release of dopamine.
“Providing a child with a lot of
novelty may produce higher levels of
dopamine in a child’s brain, making
the child seek more and more screen
time to satisfy their need for more
dopamine,” says Sigman.
An article in the
American Journal of
Drug and Alcohol Abuse
suggested
that “computer game playing may
lead to long-term changes in the
reward circuitry that resemble the
effects of substance dependence”.
“Computer game addicts or gamblers
show reduced dopamine response to
stimuli associated with their addiction
presumably due to sensitisation.”
Games in a virtual world also lead
to a false sense of competence.
Children need to base their lives on
reality not fake, virtual worlds, says
Sigman.
Sigman is also sceptical about the
supposed benefits of computer
game play, such as better hand-
eye co-ordination. There may well
be improved eye-hand-keyboard-
mouse dexterity but many reports
of such benefits are sponsored
by interested games and tech
companies, he claims.
What happens in an Internet minute?
60
seconds
20.8 million+
WhatsApp
messages
69,444 hours
watched
on
Netflix
150 million
e-mails
sent
1,389
Uber rides
701,389
Facebook
logins
527,760
Photos shared
on Snapchat
$203,596
Amazon sales
51,000
App downloads
from Apple
120+
New
LinkedIn
accounts
347, 222
New Tweets
38, 194
Posts
to
Instagram
104 million
Vine loops
38, 052
Hours of
music on
Spotify
2.4 million
Google search
queries
927,222
Tinder swipes
2.78 million
video views
Data from Exelacom © Excelacom 2016
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