Mumbai boy, 10, gained 10 kg in 5 months: Smartphone use before age 12 can lead to obesity, depression, says new study

“Parents casually toss a cellphone to a toddler so that they can see games and rhymes and stop throwing a hissy fit. Some give it thinking the children will gulp down food faster. That’s no emotional pacifier. That’s the biggest disservice to their health,” says Musale, who specialises in screen-time related disorders in children.

What early exposure to smartphones does to children?

What many parents do not realise is that the learning phase of a child is best between ages nine and 12. “The brain development picks up pace, so we should be sharpening it by exposing the child to external stimuli, allowing them to be exploratory and absorptive. Screen time dulls the brain. It can delay cognitive and language development by replacing face-to-face interactions, which are crucial for a child’s growth. We are looking at reduced communication skills, and difficulty with emotional comprehension and regulation. Early and excessive use can lead to reduced gray matter, lower cortical thickness and impaired cognitive function,” says Musale.

The other worrying part is that the pre-teen brain does not have the maturity to decide filters. “A 16-year-old will know how to gatekeep, a 12-year-old won’t. At this age, the brain hasn’t evolved enough to develop filters, so it takes in everything without processing. It is swamped. Besides, the younger the age, the higher the chance of behavioural addiction,” says Musale.

Studies have already shown how adolescents with smartphone addiction spend less time socialising in person, exercising and sleeping as the blue light from screens can suppress the sleep hormone melatonin. Excessive screen time makes them prone to sedentary behaviour, which is a risk factor for childhood obesity. “Trapped in the solitude between the device and themselves and seeking online validation, studies have shown how young people have been driven to self-harm,” says Musale.

How to wean off pre-teens from smartphones

Musale usually begins with parental counselling. “There has to be familial digital hygiene. Children still follow parental behaviour and can adapt if they change. Their neuroplasticity or the ability to change and adapt is high, so they can change and learn fast,” she says.

She began with ensuring parents cut down on their device use and engaged in more participatory activities with their child to begin with. “Then I asked them to put protection and limits in place. Weaning off may seem difficult when you make it seem like a punishment rather than pleasure,” says Musale. So, she worked on replacing the 10-year-old’s screen time with an alternative visual stimulation activity.

“He loved superhero cartoons, so we first switched over to watching short videos on TV. Then we immediately followed an episode with discussion on what it meant to a child, setting a safe space for communication with the parent. That got them bonding in a neutral space that was not about queries on school work, performance benchmarks and stock-taking. Storytelling by parents helped his reading habit. We looked at the kind of games he played online and looked for equivalents and board games. We upgraded puzzles, mimicking the challenge levels in a game. We encouraged parents to share their hobbies, like gardening, with the child. The idea initially was to make offline seem attractive as online,” says Musale.

Then she got the parents to form a group in the building where other children could meet their child for a game or casual interaction at an appointed hour every week. “Soon the 10-year-old fell back to socialisation patterns and looked forward to them. In fact, the child tends to be hyperactive in the pre-teen years as growth hormones kick in. They need to expend physical energy. So, break their screen time with something as casual as a stroll, walking the dog, stretching, having a run around the community park or cycling in the society compound. Make sure your kids do something active frequently. Parents need to rebuild patterns and the child easily follows them,” says Musale.

The parents adopted new house rules. They took out phones from the bedroom, charging them in a different room overnight. They discontinued phone use while eating, not keeping it lying around the table. They set smartphone use time, like a school routine, after their school work, play time and before dinner.

“Smartphones have educational value too, so abstinence isn’t a way out. But once you make them look like one of the many activities that the child is into, children won’t throw a fit for it. Children basically look for fun and entertainment. And if they get that from something else, they won’t depend on the smartphone,” says Musale.