Dangers of Excessive Screen Time for Generation Alpha

Greg Godard, Division Psychologist with Prairie Rose Public Schools, and his wife MaryLou Godard, Division Psychologist with the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education (MHCBE), presented first in the Navigating the Online World discussion and presentation series.  

Their talk revolved around increasing awareness for parents in the digital age and much of the focus was about the serious ramifications of allowing children, particularly those in Generation Alpha (born between 2010-2024) excessive screen time and access to social media accounts. While the benefits of screens were acknowledged by both, they wanted to talk about the reasons for setting limits and the importance of parents being in control of screen time and not their children.  

Greg began with discussing two newspaper articles, one from 2024 and the other from 1981, both talking about excessive screen time, highlighting how this is not a new question. One of the families profiled in the 1981 article is the Godard family, with a much younger Greg in the photo, because his parents chose to raise their children without a TV in the home.  

“My childhood being deprived of a television did not mean I decided to have a screen-free life, I think there was a bit of a rebound effect,” stated Greg. “We had lots of screens in our house when our kids were young and we still do, but we tried to implement strict limits upon it and ensure our kids knew, from start to finish, we were in the driver’s seat.” 

Statistics show Gen Alpha is spending as much as nine hours per day on their screens. “We know when we look back at the research, screentime jumped 50% during COVID,” said MaryLou. “This isn’t a COVID specific problem, this was in place before that. Gen Alpha is the group we are focusing on because they have a unique situation no other generation had.”  

They are the first generation to be fully immersed in a digital world, having never known life without screens. “That’s really important for us to become aware of,” continued MaryLou. “They don’t know any different, they don’t know what life looked like before. That’s key as we look at this generation.”  

Gen Alpha are experiencing mental health problems that are different from previous generations. They have 30% less physical activity compared to Millennials, 20% have problems with social comparison, cyberbullying (a unique problem to this generation), sleep issues, increased suicidal ideation (one study in the USA states one in ten have seriously considered suicide), increased anxiety and increased problems with addiction, specifically screen/video game addiction or Internet Gaming Disorder.  

“Also, more of a tendency at this age to seek mental health help, which doesn’t necessarily mean increased mental health problems, only they are seeking help, which is a good sign. There is a lot of trouble in this generation and much of it can be attributed to two things: excessive screen time and social media,” concluded Greg.  

“We are going to be biased on the negative side effects today,” added MaryLou. “Part of that is because we are talking prevention and we are talking about the Alpha Generation, we want to prevent things from getting worse.” 

Excessive passive screen time, more than two hours per day, can lead to multiple problems and all data looked at by the pair was correlational, meaning the problems occur at the same time as the activity, indicating there is a strong likelihood they are related. The first was obesity, which makes sense as someone on screens is unlikely to be outside getting exercise. However, also contributing to obesity, a study done by the National Library of Medicine found, was the pairing between screens and food choices. Their research showed adverse changes in diet that included less fibre, fruit and vegetables. 

“When people come into my office asking about their child’s anxiety, there are three things I want to find out,” said Greg. “Do they have sufficient diet and nutritional needs? If not, that might be one of the causal factors. Second, are they having sufficient sleep? A solid eight to twelve hours of sleep depending on the needs of the kid. Third, exercise, are they getting sufficient movement? Those three things outline the health recommendations needed to be addressed before we even look at cognitive behavioural therapy or anxiety medication.” 

Sleep is important for everyone, but particularly for a developing brain. Staying up late at night on a screen or watching a movie means, according to studies, less good sleep. Additionally, if the person is watching stimulating content – movies and media are designed to arouse your sympathetic nervous system to make you feel an exciting sense of danger with suspense and plot twists – it raises one’s sympathetic nervous system, making them alert.  

The result is the parasympathetic nervous system takes longer to kick in and calm them down, resulting in delayed onset of sleep and less or no restorative REM sleep. Recommendations are to not watch stimulating content within an hour or 30 minutes of going to sleep. Additionally, youth who are allowed phones in the bedroom often have them under their pillow or in their hand. 37% of adolescents report their phones waking them up several times a night either because of the light, haptic signal, or the sound.  

Cortisol normally spikes in the body upon waking up, giving the person energy for the day to come. “When an individual is on screens, it messes with the cortisol spike, and causes less cortisol in the morning,” explained MaryLou. “More cortisol is pumped through the body because it is in flight or fight mode due to a post coming in or we aren’t sure what is going to happen. That cortisol stays in your body while you are sleeping, meaning you aren’t getting the letdown you need for your body to have a restorative sleep…we need REM sleep, which is a very deep sleep…we see this in kids who we talk to in clinics or at school, they will say they got sleep, but if we get them to a sleep examination site, we’ll see that they didn’t get the restorative deep sleep they need to function at school, causing multiple problems.” 

Regardless of age, excessive screen time leads to nature deprivation. “I strongly recommend the book Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt,” said Greg. “Half of his focus is on the current generation having a reduction in play and too much parental hovering and helicopter parenting, not being allowed to go out and experience a bruised knee or what they call risky play, which is what kids need to develop resilience. He also talks about nature deprivation, this generation, from 0 – 14 years, compared to previous generations are suffering from a lack of free time outside to explore, risky play, exploratory play or what is called discovery mode learning.” 

Gen Alpha, according to studies, doesn’t experience transcendence, or moments when they are enraptured by wonder or awe. “There is an area of the brain that lights up that rarely does so,” explained Greg, “except at these times, when something is so stunning or breathtaking it fills us with wonder or awe, almost like spiritual rapture. According to research, many who are spending lots of time on their screens are lacking in transcendence.” 

The frontal lobe is most affected by excessive screen use and is the part of the brain that controls executive functions. “Executive functions are the pilot’s cabin of the brain, right behind the eyes to the prefrontal lobe, the area that pays attention to what the rest of the brain is doing,” said Greg. “If your mind wanders off and then you are quickly drawn back, that drawing back is your executive functioning coming back online to let you know you aren’t paying attention.”  

Executive functioning also helps us control impulses and regulate emotions, such as when we are having large emotions and can talk ourselves down and not freak out. For Gen Alpha, because the frontal lobe isn’t being used as much, one of the executive functions affected is attention and the ability to sustain focus. Attention time has reduced dramatically from previous generations and much of it can be attributed directly to screen time.  

“A meta analysis from 2022 by the National Institute of Health looked at 498 studies to verify, yes, there is a correlation between screen time and reduced attention span,” said MaryLou.  

Another issue is the inability to delay gratification. A study with Gen Alpha kids tested them with online messaging with 95% expecting an immediate response with any kind of messaging, gaming, social media, or any digital interaction. “I need an answer right now,” said Greg. “Very similar to their reaction to life in general. They want things quickly and have trouble holding off.”  

Mind wandering, allowing the mind to travel in multiple rabbit hole directions, is also an issue and Gen Alpha has lost the ability to pull their thoughts back. “On the screens with all those boxes open, they are drawn to the next and then the next and next. That is mind wandering, that is what is happening in the brain for these children, affecting academics,” stated MaryLou. “One study from Quebec did a longitudinal study of child development and found each one hour increase of TV exposure at age 2 resulted in a 7% unit decrease in class participation. If the mind is on a rabbit trail, it’s hard to participate in what is going on. Also, they showed a 6% unit decrease in math proficiency.”  

Around the time GenX was having children, there was a general thought that putting infants and toddlers in front of the TV featuring a show with language heavy content, Baby Einstein, would increase language development. Subsequent studies have shown passive viewing of language decreases a child’s language development later in preschool. 

“The only difference is if this is synchronous,” explained Greg. “If they are on the screen at the same time as someone talking back to them in real time, that’s the only time screen time from 0-2 years increase language, otherwise there is a negative effect.”  

Look for another article next week on the second half of the presentation the Godard’s gave at Medicine Hat College on January 22. All sessions are being offered free of charge. The second one, called Boundaries and Balance: Real Talk on Contracts, Compromise and Limit Setting, will be on Wednesday, February 26 at 7 p.m. in the theatre at Medicine Hat College.

By Samantha Johnson, Prairie Rose Public Schools Content Writer