Screen Deep

Learning language involves much more than memorizing the ABCs. How do babies and toddlers acquire language and how can parents and caregivers foster its optimal development? 

On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry is joined by renowned child development researcher Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PhD, to discuss children’s language development, learning, and play in the digital age. Dr. Hirsh-Pasek emphasizes the importance of social interaction in the development of language, and discusses how digital media typically lacks this critical aspect and may even interrupt the language-learning process. She also describes the key pillars of learning gleaned from decades of research and the effectiveness of guided play in achieving learning outcomes. Dr. Hirsh-Pasek provides listeners with key insights on choosing effective educational apps, as well as maximizing learning opportunities, and critical skills children must develop for the digital future.

In this episode you will learn: 

• How babies and young children develop language.
• Why the quality and quantity of caregiver interactions shape a child’s early language journey.
• How media use – by children and parents alike - can affect learning and development. 
• Why play is an important aspect of successful learning - and how best to incorporate it.
• How to evaluate and choose learning apps that benefit  young children.
• The “6 C’s” of critical learning children need to thrive in the digital age.

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

How does adolescents’ use of digital media , particularly of image-based social media platforms, influence and amplify their body image concerns?

On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry engages in a compelling conversation with Dr. Jason Nagata, a distinguished researcher and a pediatrician, to explore the complex relationship between digital media use and adolescents’ physical and mental health.  Dr. Nagata sheds light on the connection between digital media, body image issues, and eating disorders– particularly among boys, who are often overlooked in discussions on this topic. He delves into how boys’ body image challenges and eating disorders often present differently from those of girls. In addition, he shares research findings linking specific mental health symptoms to use of digital media, explores other health outcomes linked to digital media use, and discusses demographic and gender-based differences in media-usage  patterns and their impacts on adolescent health outcomes. 

In this episode you will learn:

• What the ABCD study is and why it’s providing quality data for research into adolescent screen use and health.
• What mental health symptoms in adolescents are most associated with high amounts of screen use.
• Gender and other demographic differences in screen uses and their health impacts in adolescents.
• What aspects of screen use are most impacting body image and eating disorder symptoms in youth.
• How teen boys are experiencing body image pressure from media - and differences in how their body image disorder symptoms present.
• What warning signs parents and caregivers can watch for that indicate an adolescent’s attention to exercise is becoming unhealthy.
• The biggest predictor of high amounts of adolescent screen time (hint: parents).

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

When a young child watches TV or uses a digital tablet are they able to learn from what they see? What are the effects of media use on the development of attentional networks?

On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry talks to Dr. Heather Kirkorian about how digital media impacts learning, cognition, and attention in young children. Dr. Kirkorian describes the developmental milestones that allow for learning from digital media, explains the “video deficit effect” – the finding that young children have a hard time transferring things they learn on screens to the real world – and how interactive elements of digital devices may support or impede learning. Dr. Kirkorian also shares findings on how background television can disrupt parent-child interactions critical for early learning, as well as suggestions for parents in choosing high quality media for younger children.

In this episode you will learn:

• How media use affects young children’s attention and learning.
• How interactivity and engagement in digital media affects young children’s ability to learn.
• What developmental milestones indicate that a child is ready to learn from digital media {and what supports they might need to enhance learning.} 
• Why young children are more likely to learn from real-life demonstrations than video. 
• How to choose high quality media content and use it to support young children’s learning.
• How background TV exposure can affect young child attention.

Dr. Heather Kirkorian is the Laura M. Secord Chair in Early Childhood Development and a Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also has affiliate appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Educational Psychology at UW-Madison. Dr. Kirkorian is a developmental psychologist who studies cognitive development in infants and young children, particularly in the context of TV and digital media. She uses a combination of behavioral, observational, and psychophysiological methods to study the impact of child and parent media use on children (e.g., attention, memory, learning, play), parents (e.g., stress, burnout), and families (e.g., parent-child interactions). 

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Follow Children and Screens on:

Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Instagram: @childrenandscreens
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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Introducing the Screen Deep podcast - where we go on deep dives with leading experts to decode child and adolescent brains and behavior in a digital world.

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Follow Children and Screens on:

Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Parents worried about child media use may not be aware that their own media use patterns at home may be significantly affecting their children.

In this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry discusses “technoference” – the interference of technology in relationships – with the researcher who coined that term, Dr. Brandon McDaniel. 

Dr. McDaniel shares results from his work on how parent device use can affect relationships and impact children from infancy through adolescence, how children may manifest these impacts through behavior, as well as how parental mental health and stress inform and are informed by their own technology use. Dr. McDaniel discusses the challenges of limiting phone use, and provides suggestions for how parents can model healthy device use during family time, work to be more present in interactions with their children, and manage co-parenting conflict around family media use rules.

In this episode you will learn:

• What “technoference” and “phubbing” mean. 
• How parental technoference affects children of all ages.
• Behavioral signs in infants, children, and adolescents that may indicate negative effects of parent media use. 
• How parent stress and mental health influence media use and impact children.
• Early findings from an ongoing research study on parents of infants and the connection between their media use and mental health.
• Where the research is going to better understand the complex interplay between parent media use, child development, and behavior.

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Follow Children and Screens on:

Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Instagram: @childrenandscreens
LinkedIn: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
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Bluesky: @childrenandscreens.bsky.social

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Concern about youth digital addiction is a relatively recent but significant addition to the list of common worries for parents of adolescents in the past few decades. What exactly is digital addiction, and how does it relate to other forms of addiction such as gambling and substance-use disorders?
On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry sits down with Marc Potenza, MD, PhD, to discuss his pioneering research on Internet and behavioral addiction. Marc discusses the brain science behind adolescent vulnerability to digital addiction and its similarities to other addictions, and differences between individuals that might explain why some teens are more prone to problematic use of digital media. He also describes his work with colleagues on determining the diagnostic criteria for behavioral addictions, gambling in video games, and resources for parents.

In this episode you will learn:

• How Dr. Potenza and other researchers first identified gaming and other internet use disorders. 
• What brain imaging can tell us about the specific brain patterns associated with behavioral addictions in adolescents.
• How natural changes in the adolescent brain make teens more vulnerable to digital and behavioral addictions.
• What factors contribute to the development of addictive disorders in young people.
• Why some youth are more resilient to risk factors for addiction than others.
• About groundbreaking new research showing similarities in brain patterns between adults who started drinking heavily early in life and 9-10 year-olds with heavy internet use and behavioral issues.

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Follow Children and Screens on:

Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
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Bluesky: @childrenandscreens.bsky.social

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Adolescence  is an exciting period of life shaped by risks, rewards, and rapid changes in the brain. On this episode of Screen Deep, we explore how adolescent brains affect and are affected by their digital media use with Eva Telzer, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and  Co-Director of the Winston National Center on Technology Use, Brain, and Psychological Development.

An expert on adolescent neuroscience, behavior, and media use, Telzer discusses insights from her large and growing body of research, including multi-year projects investigating the dynamic relationship between teens’ social media use and the makeup of their brain. How does social media trigger the reward system of the brain? Can teens’ habitual smartphone behaviors impact their developing brains? Are some teens more prone to problematic smartphone use than others? Tune in to hear how Telzer’s research helps answer these questions. 

In this episode you will learn:

• Why social reward cues (likes, comments, etc) have a unique impact on the developing adolescent brain
• How research utilizing functional MRI is expanding our knowledge about changes in the brains of adolescents habitually engaging in social media use 
• What neurological factors put some teens at a higher risk for problematic social media use than others
• How research dispels popular stereotypes of adolescents as high risk takers and dependent on peer influence
• How the reward system in the brain works and ways it can be redirected for positive social behaviors and connections online by adolescents

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Follow Children and Screens on:

Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Instagram: @childrenandscreens
LinkedIn: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
X: @childrenscreens
Bluesky: @childrenandscreens.bsky.social

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Sleep is an essential part of life, and the quality and quantity of a person’s nightly sleep has wide-ranging impacts on cognition, behavior, and health. On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry discusses children and teens’ sleep and its relationship to digital media with Dr. Lauren Hale, Professor of Family, Population, and Preventative Medicine at Stony Brook University and Founding Editor in Chief of the Sleep Health Journal. 

Dr. Hale provides an overview of research into the impacts of digital media on teens’ sleep, including insights from a 2024 scientific consensus panel that evaluated how different aspects of digital device use influence sleep. She also discusses the societal implications of teens’ poor sleep health, and the policy changes that could improve them.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why sleep is important for cognitive and overall health - and why sleep regularity may be as important as duration
• Which populations are getting less sleep and possible consequences
• What the latest research tells us about technology use and sleep - delayed sleep, sleep duration, impaired sleep quality, digital sleep interruption, and blue light 
• What types of screen use and media content are associated with poorer sleep quality for youth
• Why abolishing Daylight Savings Time and changing school start times may positively impact youth sleep health

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Follow Children and Screens on:

Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Instagram: @childrenandscreens
LinkedIn: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
X: @childrenscreens
Bluesky: @childrenandscreens.bsky.social

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

On this inaugural episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry interviews Dimitri Christakis, MD, MPH, about his decades of experience investigating the impact of screens in early childhood, from baby videos to tablet apps.

Drawing on his experience as a leading researcher, pediatrician, and parent, Dimitri shares both historical and recent findings on screen use among very young children, particularly its possible uses for early learning and its relationship to cognitive and language development. He emphasizes the importance of caregiver-child interactions, and the risk that digital media can displace this important facet of development. He also suggests that more can be done to hold tech companies accountable and make it easier for parents to make decisions about what media to choose for their children.

In this episode you will learn:

• How brains develop in early childhood and what the research says on media use for infants under 18 months
• Why introducing “learning” technology in early childhood may negatively affect cognitive and language development 
• The importance of “joint attention” in infant development - and why caregiver interaction is crucial during this time
• How engaging apps make it more difficult to command young children’s attention

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Follow Children and Screens on:

Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Instagram: @childrenandscreens
LinkedIn: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
X: @childrenscreens
Bluesky: @childrenandscreens.bsky.social

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au