HEALTH & WELL-BEING
KIDS HEALTH
Are our kids ‘byte-ing’ off more than they can chew?
WORDS DR MICHELLE REISS Lifestyle medicine physician
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he majority of Gen-X or even early Gen-Y parents (myself included) — with current school-aged children — were born and raised in a time without mobile phones, social media or instant information at our fingertips. Back in those days, ‘2020’ sounded space-aged. But here we are, living the reality of our imaginations of three or four decades ago. The trouble with travelling at lightspeed through digital advancements, and with technology bombarding us so constantly, we’ve had little or no time to prepare ourselves for the drastic lifestyle change that digital screens, in all their forms, have brought to our households. Of course, there are undeniable benefits of the digital age, but the purpose of this article, from a lifestyle medicine physician’s perspective, is to assist in creating an awareness of the ‘autopilot’ habits we have created with technology; habits triggered by instant gratifications, desires to follow the path of least resistance, and peer pressure.
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Our desires to ‘be connected’, ‘not miss out’, or as it’s referred to, ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out), has had a rapid but insidious impact on how much we move, how often kids play, and even the enjoyment of the simple things. Moreover, there’s a direct correlation with the rise in levels of fatigue and chronic disease throughout our communities. These impacts may be recognisable to those of us in Gen-X, in contrast to our own upbringing. But these digital devices have been part of the Gen-Z world since birth and, without guidance and teaching, Gen-Z will have no point of reference for a screenfree existence. As with all addictions, instant satisfaction and stimulation leads to firing of neurotransmitters in the reward centres of our brains. Digital connectedness, whether through social media, YouTube, or online gaming is no different, and the earlier in life a child experiences these reward pathways, the more entrenched they become in brain structure. If this sense of instantaneous
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