the brain is highly susceptible to oxidative stress for several reasons. First, oxidative stress can cause disruption of the blood-brain barrier, making it more vulnerable to toxins it should be protected from. Second, it’s also relatively hard to get antioxidant nutrients into the brain that could potentially provide the brain protection, so there’s never much of a buffer. And third, oxidative stress tends to attack the fatty sheaths that insulate brain cells, which can cause aberrant firing of networks. Meanwhile, a developing brain — because it is highly dynamic with increased energy needs — is more vulnerable to oxidative stress than a fully formed adult brain. This means that a child’s brain — especially if it is already compromised by a mental disorder — will develop damage from oxidative stress relatively quickly. The eyes are also vulnerable to oxidative stress; the retinal damage studies mentioned above also found markers associated with oxidative stress.46
Disturbed Sleep
The far-reaching effects of poor quality sleep have already been mentioned, and they can occur in children after just one night of not getting enough rest. Poor sleep goes hand in hand with both acute and chronic stress. In Aiden’s case, video game playing (and subsequent fight-or-flight rage) results in non-restorative sleep, which doesn’t allow his brain adequate recovery. After a night of poor sleep, the body produces adrenaline to get through the day, which can then cause difficulty falling or staying asleep the following night. Non-restorative sleep compounds hyperarousal and leaves a child feeling “wired and tired.”
Sleep hygiene is a set of practices sleep experts recommend to obtain quality rest on a daily basis. Recommendations include low levels of stimulation in the evening, exercise and exposure to lots of natural light during the day, banning electronics from the bedroom, and sticking to a regular sleep-wake schedule. Children and teens who are stressed tend to have poor sleep hygiene if left to their own devices.
Cognitive Dysfunction
If you’ve ever described your child as seemingly “out of it,” you may be witnessing the cognitive dysfunction that occurs when the brain has just been exposed to something it considers stressful. When Aiden tries to get ready for bed after his episode, he can’t quite get himself together and has trouble following sequential steps. After a poor night’s sleep, he continues to struggle with focus, long after the game has been turned off. Stress affects the ability to assimilate new facts, retain new information, and execute tasks. Short-term memory suffers. Cognitive dysfunction then translates into forgetting to complete or turn in homework assignments, falling grades, and a tendency to lose things. Chronic or repeated stress causes even more alarming effects, including loss of neurons, or brain cells, particularly in the hippocampus — an area important for forming and storing memories.47
Poor Sense of Time
Both sense of time and time management can be affected by stress. If we were to ask Aiden in the moment how long he has been playing his game, in all likelihood he will underestimate the time spent — even if he is being honest and not trying to minimize in order to avoid getting into trouble. In fact, video gaming has been found to cause time distortion in players, nearly universally.48 Both video games and Internet use cause problems with managing time as well: being late, underestimating how much time a task will take, procrastinating, forgetting appointments and activities, and so on. Interestingly, children with extensive traumatic histories have great difficulty with time perception. They appear to be forever stuck in the moment, unable to look forward or backward — an advantage if you’re trying to survive. Focusing on the “here and now” serves self-preservation in extreme situations. But in everyday life, it translates into impulsive actions, repeating mistakes by failing to reflect on their consequences, and an inability to focus on future goals.
Impaired Social Interactions
The very essence of survival mode centers around defensiveness. While in this state, being open and intimate creates vulnerability and therefore poses a threat. During Aiden’s episode, direct eye contact with his aunt provokes him. This is a primitive reaction, and it is why we don’t stare unfamiliar dogs directly in the eye — they’ll see it as a challenge. Try making sustained eye contact with your child after video game play — he or she will likely become uncomfortable and look away.
Chronically hyperaroused children get defensive easily when playing games and are often “sore losers.” They may feel wronged when something happens by chance, and they may be more prone to cheating. These behaviors can happen online and in other settings, like the playground. As this defensiveness rises, the child’s relationships can become affected. Interestingly, while both children and adults claim that social media helps them feel connected to others, it appears that, in fact, time spent online actually increases depression and a sense of social isolation.49
Mood Dysregulation
Emotional (or mood) dysregulation is one of the end products of all these disturbed pathways and mechanisms, and it is nearly always present when a child is chronically hyperaroused. It occurs as the fight-or-flight response causes shifts in mechanical, chemical, and electrical systems (such as blood flow, brain chemistry and hormones, and overstimulated networks) and is compounded by poor sleep. Mood dysregulation is characterized by poor frustration tolerance, tearfulness, irritability, mood swings, and meltdowns or aggression. Aiden becomes extremely emotionally volatile immediately following video game play, and then he continues to feel irritable and anxious for days and weeks afterward. If you’ve ever felt like you “have to walk on eggshells” around your child, then it is likely you are all-too familiar with this phenomenon.
For a summary that pulls all the pathways, mechanisms, and potential consequences together, see the table in appendix A, “Table of Physiological Mechanisms and Effects of Interactive Screen-Time.” In fact, bookmark this page to remind yourself why your child’s brain needs a reset!
Chapter 2 Take-Home Points
• The brain does not discern between real or perceived threats, and artificially intense stimulation from electronic screen media produces a psychological and physiological fight-or-flight reaction, regardless of content.
• These reactions have both immediate and cumulative effects, which eventually cause damage.
• Screen devices interface with your child via the eyes, brain, and body, triggering changes in blood flow, brain chemistry, electrical excitability, and hormones.
• Since the eyes are a direct extension of the central nervous system, they provide a pathway for overstimulation of the sensory system as well as for unnaturally bright light to suppress melatonin (the sleep hormone) and desynchronize the body clock.
• Numerous mechanisms, including disturbed sleep, reward/addiction pathways, brain-blood flow shifts, intense sensory experiences, and engaging content precipitate and perpetuate an ongoing stress response.
• Electronics-related sleep disturbance, in and of itself, creates a vicious cycle of exhaustion, compromised mood and cognition, more stress because of dysfunction, more insomnia, and craving for more stimulation.
• Examining the known effects of chronic stress and hyperarousal can assist in envisioning how screen-time may affect your child’s behavior, mood, and social skills.
* This story is a dramatization based on true events.
