On this page you can read the introductory text appearing on pages 2–3 of the book Screenformation 2.0.
Screentime has been a topic of controversy for several generations. We’ve heard how our digital world promotes global communications, provides learning opportunities that were not possible in the past, helps us stay in touch with each other long distance, and gives us access to almost any information instantly. We hear digital technology can bring the global human family closer together.
On the other hand, we’ve heard that screentime isolates us, divides us into our segregated echo chambers, leads to depression, impairs mental and physical development, and takes away from more active and social pastimes.
These are commonly discussed issues, but they are not commonly understood. One of the first misconceptions people have is that there’s not a lot of research on the effects of screentime. The fact is, there is a wealth of scientific studies, educational research, and expert commentary on how screentime has impacted individuals and the population writ large today and over the past fifty years. But that rich scientific knowledge is not widely communicated to the general public; hence, the misconception.
To help remedy that misconception, this book compiles and communicates the rich body of knowledge to the reader. It provides a comprehensive, well-documented investigation into how mind and body respond to screentime. It pulls together the findings into one place for convenient access, including the best and latest research from the biological, psychological, physiological, sociological, and behavioral sciences on the subject of screentime. The Works Cited section provides over 200 references, which are explored in-depth throughout the text.
The findings are astounding in their consistency and universality, pointing to the same conclusion: Screentime significantly damages many areas of brain development, mental health, and physical health. To name a few areas of concern, screentime damages basic brain function, mental health, creativity, reasoning, concentration, attention span, problem solving, social skills, empathy, emotional development, motor skills, and physical health.
If that seems exaggerated, don’t take our word for it. Check the studies, the research, the findings, and the facts, which are now readily available and easy to access.
Screen-related damage takes many forms. Brain and body suffer, quality of personal and social life degrades, overall human experience shrinks down to a fraction of what we experienced all those millennia before the age of screens. But the bad news conversely points to the better path forward. With heightened awareness of the harmful impacts, we can build our own immunity to screen-related injury. Instead of thoughtlessly following everyone else’s daily slog through the mind-numbing sea of screens, we can forge our own active-living path, to create a better life for ourselves and our children.