Unplug - Don't Drug: A Critical Look at the Influence of Technology on Child Behavior With an Alternative Way of Responding Other Than Evaluation and Drugging (*)
By Cris Rowan
(*) First published Journal of Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry,Vol 12, No 1, 2010.
Working as a pediatric occupational therapist in school environments has provided me with a unique opportunity to observe an increasing phenomenon. Provision of adhd diagnoses and stimulant medication to children with attention deficit incidence is now 11%. Children who overuse and/or have probable addiction to entertainment technologies - specifically video game incidence, is also at 11% (Gentile 2009). Video game use causes frontal lobe atrophy, and hence attention deficit (Dunckley 2014). Are the health and education systems misdiagnosing and medicating video game addiction as adhd? Research continues to show little evidence of improvement in either emotional functioning or academic outcomes in either the medium or the long run (Raine ADHD Study 2010), with some studies indicating harm (Currie, 2014). Sufficient research does exists which demonstrates that increased engagement in physical activity and nature, actually improve attention, learning, and behavior, such as would be found in gyms and outdoor playgrounds. Yet, the education system continues to refer these hyper, attention deficit children to the health system for mental health diagnosis and stimulant medication. Teachers, physicians, and pediatricians could alternatively work together with parents to first 'unplug' children with problematic behaviors from excessive use of TV, internet, cell phones, and video games, prior to costly and time consuming mental health diagnosis and medication.
Huffington Post has recorded over 2.6 million Facebook likes for Cris Rowan's article 10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned for Children Under the Age of 12.
Lori Frome, M.Ed. shares her research and clinical experience with changing the developmental trajectory in young kids with autism by removing digital screens.
By Catherine Steiner-Adair Winter 2015 Research tells us that, at the most basic level, children's social skills may be in decline from spending less face-to-face time and more time on screens.
Website for The Institute of Digital Media and Child Development founded in 2013 to foster a national dialogue about the impact of digital media on children and adolescents and on ways to improve children's interaction with this new media.
It's a parent's worst nightmare: finding out your child has made online contact with strangers posing as teenagers, has met those strangers in real life, and now your child has been sexually assaulted.
Facebook video Published on March 31, 2016 Filmmaker Delaney Ruston's 17-year-old son Chase, shares a solution he's come up with to help him stay focused while doing his homework.
Discussion by Andrew Doan, on the medical and clinical evidence for why pornography use and pornography addiction leads to mental health, physical problems, and sexual assault.
Devices like the Oculus Rift are promising to further strip us of the physical awareness that cognitive behavioral therapy teaches us is crucial to relaxation and calm.
Researchers from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and University of Waterloo in Canada found that a significantly high proportion of young people nowadays are gambling and in primarily unregulated avenues, raising concerns on how young they're getting into the habit.
Studies have linked the use of social media to depression, but addiction to social media, rather than use alone, may explain the connection, new research suggests.
This May, the David Suzuki Foundation is challenging you and people around the world to join the 30×30 Challenge by spending 30 minutes a day in nature for 30 days. Their goal is simple: to reconnect human beings with nature for the sake of their health and mental well-being.
By Debra W Soh March 27, 2016 in The Globe and Mail
Studies in sexology have shown that if a man likes something sexually, he really likes it, and probably always will. This behavior cannot be extinguished, just managed.
06:45 min video March 29, 2016 Wi-Fi In Classroom Liability Notice Served To New York School District | 15 March 2016 Board of Education Meeting Onteora Central School District.
By Camilla Rees March 20, 2016 Data plot of peak WiFi exposures experienced by a teacher and students at the North Kingstown, RI High School over two days, February 24, 2016 and February 26, 2016. View article as a PDF file here: http://electromagnetichealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/ri-update.pdf
By Diane Hickey March 12, 2016 National Association for Children and Safe Technology
"Over 200 scientists have stated that our exposure to wireless radiation is an emerging public health crisis, damaging our DNA, leading to premature death." "Why are you trustees moving ahead with installing wireless radiation in our children and teacher's classroom environment?"
Fay School is the defendant in a Federal lawsuit. Backed by a physician's diagnoses, parents of a 12 year old student (named G in the lawsuit) have claimed that the school's strong wifi signals cause their son physical harm.
By Jack O'Dwyer March 7, 2016 Israel's Channel 1 national TV program aired a 17-minute segment Feb. 24 examining charges that electromagnetic radiation from Wi-Fi and other sources poses a danger to citizens, especially children.
A high school student asked the Montgomery County Board Feb. 9 how it could allow virtually every classroom to have Wi-Fi connected computers at each desk "turning the school into a giant microwave" when the wired option makes this "simply unnecessary."
01:53 minutes video by Jini Patel Thompson June 14, 2010
British military expert, Barrie Trower, tells us why wireless computers, cell phones, cordless phones and other microwave radiation devices are NOT safe for children.
24:08 minute video by Dr. Magda Havas December 4, 2011 Learn how the Wi-Fi routers used in schools differ from those in homes; learn about studies that have documented the adverse effects of this radiation on rats, blood cells, the heart, cancer; learn about alternatives to wireless routers that are cost effective, energy efficient and that don't emit microwave radiation.
03:16 minutes video by David Gillotte President, Los Angeles County Firefighters' Union, Local 1014, March 31, 2016 25 Year Veteran Firefighter compares cell towers to cigarettes and calls for a halt to the cell antennas being built on fire stations. Cell towers should not be on schools either!
March 6, 2016 Guest: Dr. Martin Pall (01:58:12, Dr. Pall begins at 22:00 minutes) The biological effects of EMF and Voltage Gated Calcium Channel (VGCC) mechanism are discussed during this interview.
By Sara Ficocelli January 14, 2016 Italy - Il Tirreno Pediatricians in Italy ask to prohibit cell phones for children under 10 years old. The Italian Society for Preventive and Social Pediatrics raises the alarm: cell phones for children under 10 years old need to be prohibited. Loss of concentration, difficulty to learn and aggressiveness, according to the experts, are among the harmful effects for health that smartphone provoke in the smallest.
38:46 minutes video by Dr. George Carlo published on Safewireless.org World-renowned Epidemiologist Dr. George Carlo provided a high impact presentation that exposed the dangers of living in the wireless age in a way that everyone could understand.
By Barnes, F., Greenenbaum, B. March 16, 2016 IEEE Power Electronics Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 1, pas 60-68 (abstract only) Article addressing concerns about the direct effects of radiation on humans or other organisms.
By Kim Arlington March 18, 2016 in The Sydney Morning Herald One study found the average person looks at their smartphone 221 times per day - once every 4.3 minutes.
By Harry Fawcett March 6, 2016 Aljazeera, Science & Technology Treatment centres planned where teenagers will read, play games and interact without their smartphones and computers.
01:47 minutes video August 17, 2015 The World Privacy Forum Parents: Did you know that unless you act NOW, most schools can share detailed information such as your child's email, home address, and even their weight and date of birth? Schools can hand this so-called directory information to anyone without your consent.
03:01 minutes video July 7, 2015 Our relationship with nature is disappearing. That is what we found out when we talked to 3 generations and asked them one simple question: What did you like to do for fun as a kid?
By Louise Kuo Habakus October 22, 2014 Is anyone in your house dealing with health issues that just won't go away no matter what foods you eat, which supplements you take, or how many practitioners and therapies you run through?
The congress will provide a unique opportunity for researchers and practitioners across countries and disciplines to discuss latest findings on prevention, treatment, and risk factors of technology addiction.
Alberta Early Years Learing Series 2015/16 with Dr. Kelly Dean Schwartz, Associate Professor, School and Applied Child Psychology (SACP), University of Calgary
How to empower individuals and communities who are faced with emerging priorities in mental health and addiction? A one day conference to explore key issues facing us as citizens, researchers, practitioners and policy makers.
Zone'in Products
Sedentary, neglected, isolated, and overstimulated, the new millennium child can no longer pay attention and learn. Zone'in Products are designed by an occupational therapist to enhance child development and learning, ensuring successful futures.
Zone'in- enhancing attention, learning and self-regulation.
Move'in - teaches children to print, the foundation for literacy.
Unplug'in - builds skill and confidence in activities other than technology.
Live'in- media literacy guide for home, school and community.
Virtual Child - The terrifying truth about what technology is doing to children
By Cris Rowan, pediatric occupational therapist.
Virtual Child documents the impact technology has had on the developing child, and proposes tools and techniques to manage balance between activities children need for growth and success with technology use.
Cris Rowan is a pediatric occupational therapist committed to enhancing child health and academic performance. Well known activist, speaker, sensory specialist and author, Cris is the "Go To" expert on child learning, development and technology overuse. Cris has provided over 200 workshops for health and education professionals, and is currently developing the Creating Sustainable Futures Program for a First Nations Community.
Training & Consultation
Training
Instructor training for Foundation Series Workshops places pediatric occupational therapists on the cutting edge as experts in the field of technology's impact on child development.
Zone'in Programs Inc. and Cris Rowan are seeking your support and assistance to ensure sustainable and productive futures for our children. Find out more about how you can help us!
