jumping, or let them hang out with rougher children. But in today’s environment, our children are under nearly constant assault from electronic screen devices, and they react in the same way as they might to any other danger, resulting eventually in distressing symptoms and dysfunction — Electronic Screen Syndrome. When a child is experiencing ESS, it only makes sense to use the same strategy we use in other stressful situations: minimize stress where you can — electronic or otherwise — and minimize overstimulation. Whether or not other stressors are present, electronic screen media heightens stress states, and therefore all mental, neurological, and physical symptoms worsen in tandem. Conversely, many times when electronic stress is removed, other stressors become more manageable or are no longer experienced as stressors. Figure 1 depicts the cycle of stress and dysfunction, compounded by additional stress from interactive screen-time.
Figure 1. Electronic screen stress and stress reactions influence each other in a vicious cycle
Sensitive and Vulnerable: Eyes, Brain, and Body
Exactly how do electronic screen devices cause stress? To understand what factors may be affecting your child’s nervous system, we need to take a closer look at the workings of the brain when confronted with the many electronic stimuli present in today’s environment. Although in Aiden’s case it was video game play that disrupted his behavior, it’s essential to realize that any electronic screen interaction, regardless of content, can irritate the nervous system — “it’s the medium, not the message.” Why? Because the interface between the screen and your child’s nervous system allows natural processes to be disturbed. The three main points of access for development of ESS are your child’s eyes, brain, and body, including the body’s natural energy fields. Understanding the various pathways by which electronic screens affect your child helps you appreciate why any kind of interactive screen-time can wreak havoc.
The Eyes
The eyes provide a particularly potent route for electronic screen toxicity, regardless of content being processed. How does this communication between unnatural screen stimulation and the brain occur? The eyes are directly connected to the central nervous system, which allows the physical environment to have a powerful influence on brain activity. In fact, the eyes are the only part of the central nervous system exposed to the outside world. Directly behind each eye are the retina and the optic nerve, which receive information from the environment in the form of light. The optic nerves extend back from each eye and then cross at the base of the brain, where they communicate with the small but vital pineal gland, whose main job is to help regulate the sleep-wake cycles by secreting a sleep hormone (melatonin) that’s triggered by darkness.
There are at least three eye-related “routes” that can be accessed. First, because electronic screens emit unnaturally bright light, they convey information to the brain that’s inconsistent with what’s occurring in the real world, desynchronizing the body clock and other biological rhythms.1 Second, interacting with a 2D screen alters normal eye muscle movements, including those used for changes in depth. This influences visual and vestibular (relating to sense of balance and body position) development, cognition, and mood regulation. Third, electronic media provides intense, unnatural, “arresting” visual stimulation that affects sensory and attention processes.2 This is true no matter what the specific content is. Thus, screen devices affect your child through his or her eyes by light, muscle movement signals, and visual stimulation.
The eye itself may suffer as well. Aside from eye strain or “computer vision syndrome,” which causes blurred vision, headaches, and dry, irritated eyes,3 the LED light emitted from screens has been implicated in retinal damage in various laboratory and animal studies.4 Both blue light and intense light have been implicated. Screen-time has also been linked incrementally to a narrowing of retinal blood vessels — a marker for cardiovascular disease.5
The Brain
The second point of access for screen activities is the brain itself. The brain is evolutionarily designed to respond to stimulating visual input — brightness, color, contrast, and movement — called the orienting response. Back in the day when we had to hunt, gather, or fish for our food, this kind of sensory input suggested the presence of prey or predators, and a rapid response to such input increased our odds of survival. In other words, the orienting response helps us assess a threat before we determine whether to fight or flee. When these stimuli are artificially created, however, the brain’s orienting response gets hijacked, creating chemical, electrical, and mechanical shifts that raise arousal levels. When this happens repeatedly, the brain remains on heightened alert.
Screen devices access the brain on a psychological level as well; video games, for example, are purposely designed to exploit psychological needs and thus activate natural reward pathways, releasing feel-good chemicals in the brain. The brain is attracted to interactive screen-time for other psychological reasons, too, including our need for immediate gratification and responsiveness, aspects that gaming, social media, Internet use, and even texting can provide.
The Body
In addition to effects of electronic screens on the eyes and the brain are the effects on your child’s body. With electronic screen interaction, blood flows away from organs like the gut and reproductive organs and toward the limbs and heart. Heart rate and blood pressure increase and stress hormones are released, preparing the body for fight-or-flight. This reaction might not be surprising when one considers how a child playing an action-oriented video game might respond, but in fact research tells us that all forms of screen-time create subtle changes in the cardiovascular system that can cause damage over time.6 In addition, sitting for lengthy periods of time can cause unhealthy bodily changes within as little as thirty minutes, and the majority of screen-time is spent in a sedentary fashion.
The fact that screen-time is associated with metabolic syndrome is telling. Metabolic syndrome is a combination of high blood pressure, midsection weight gain (“spare tire”), abnormal cholesterol levels, and high fasting blood sugar. It’s a serious condition that can lead to diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Up until recently, it was rarely seen in children; now it’s become common. It’s unclear why it develops in some but not others, but it’s thought to be related to chronic stress and poor sleep. Even more telling is the fact that the link between metabolic syndrome and screen-time holds true regardless of activity level — a finding that suggests that screen-time produces unhealthy physiological changes that are above and beyond changes seen in those with low activity levels.7
The Biofield
The matrix of biological electromagnetic fields present in the human body represents yet another potential interface between electronics and your child, but this will be discussed in more detail in appendix B on EMFs.
All Revved Up: Fight-or-Flight Mechanisms Related to Screen-Time
Thus, through the eyes, brain, and body, use of electronic screen media sends unnatural and overstimulating messages to the nervous system. Via these pathways, numerous mechanisms promote and maintain the fight-or-flight response, leading to the chronic hyperarousal associated with ESS. It doesn’t take much screen-time exposure for some children to get all revved up because so many mechanisms can occur at once and then feed off one another. Each of these mechanisms is capable of self-perpetuating the stress cycle, while simultaneously lowering a child’s resistance to future stress. Figure 2 depicts the array of screen-related factors that can elicit fight-or-flight reactions. Let’s look at each of these factors in turn.
