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A friend sent me this article in Japanese today. If the link to the Japanese below becomes disabled, I have a copy of the original Japanese. This along with vaccine injuries is another topic taboo in the West that Japan is starting to talk about. Tokyo Shimbun is a major daily newspaper, and is considered the most open to controversial content.
Children Who Spend Much Time with Smartphones Show Impaired Brain Development
‘Inconvenient Truth’ Seen in 220 Childrens’ MRIs
Internet Addiction Children in the Corona Crisis (Part 4)
(Tokyo Shimbun, TOKYO Web, March 28, 2023, Shakai (society)
https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/240516)
“I just chanced upon this and began researching it,” recalls Dr. Kawashima Ryuta (63), Director of the Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer at Tohoku University.
◆A Realization While Seeking Ways to Increase Motivation to Learn
Children who spend a lot of time using smartphones show impaired brain development. What led him to reach this shocking conclusion was a request about 10 years ago from a Sendai City Board of Education member.
The person asked him to “find ways to increase students’ motivation to learn.”
[Photo: Dr. Kawashima]
Caption: “I want to inform children about the serious risks from digital gadgets” says Director Kawashima Ryuta. At Tohoku University’s Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer.
Kawashima asked the Board of Education to provide him massive amounts of data on the lifestyles and academic abilities of elementary, junior high and high school children. Do they eat breakfast? Do they converse with their families? In the midst of analyzing the relationship between various circumstances and academic ability, he noticed smartphones.
There was a tendency for academic ability to suffer if smartphones were being used for long periods of time. That had a clear correlation.
Next, he followed changes in the deviation value of each subject for two years. The biggest improvement occurred in the group of children who had initially been using smartphones but stopped the following year. The second biggest improvement was in the group that did not use smartphones during the two year period.
Conversely, decreases in ability were seen in children who continued using smartphones for both years, and the biggest decrease was in the group that had initially not used smartphones but began using them the next year.
Says Kawashima, “Their academic ability declined because of their smartphones. These are the data from about 70,000 people, and there is no clearer evidence than this.”
◆With Continued MRI Observation…
So, why does the students’ academic ability decrease? To resolve this mystery, magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) was performed on about 220 of the students, who were followed for three years.
The results were astounding.
[Photo: someone poking a smartphone.](No relationship to the article)
Children with no or little habitual smartphone use showed steady growth in their cerebral cortex and cerebral white matter, which play important roles in cognitive functioning. In terms of volume, they grew by about 50 cc.
However, children who used them nearly every day showed almost no growth at all in volume.
“That their development had stopped is a very serious matter. I wonder if this is related to the characteristics of a smartphone, frequently switching many apps on a small screen, making it difficult to focus on one thing at a time,” says Kawashima.
◆ Applying the Brakes to Protect Children’s Future
Kawashima calls such research results an “inconvenient truth.”
Even if he tells teachers, even if he appeals to parents at PTA lectures, it makes virtually no difference in the state of education. “It always ends with them saying, ‘There’s no way we are going to deprive them of the Internet.’ Considering only convenience and efficiency, they readily hand their children digital gadgets,” says Kawashima.
Research overseas also points again and again to the negative side of digital technology. For example, there are studies showing that merely owning a smartphone leads to sleep deprivation and has a bad effect on emotional and cognitive functioning; and studies showing that reading on digital devices makes it harder to understand compared to hardcopy reading; and countless more studies.
Kawashima is currently working on research to clarify the effects of excessive Internet use at the genetic level. “I want to spread information throughout the country that conveys the serious risks to children themselves. To protect children’s future, we adults must apply the brakes.”
(Yasucho Usui, honorifics omitted)
◇
Series: Internet Addiction—Children in the Corona Crisis
Digital devices are making their appearance in children’s lives at a furious pace. Are there no negative effects from this on their health, learning and communication? In this five part series, we consider how to have an appropriate relationship with the Internet without succumbing to addiction.
(1) “Call the police!” shouted the husband of a wife who had written a will—Specialists say gaming disorder resulting in premature aging is ‘accelerating further’ https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/240019
(2) 2nd grader with visual acuity of 0.2 ‘gradually losing vision’—Headaches and lethargy…children beset by physical and mental disorders https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/240200
(3) Unable to write letters with a pencil, choosing responses without thinking—The situation with rapidly progressing digital learning and guardians’ concerns https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/240339
Children Who Spend Much Time with Smartphones Show Impaired Brain Development
‘Inconvenient Truth’ Seen in 220 Childrens’ MRIs
Internet Addiction Children in the Corona Crisis (Part 4)
(Tokyo Shimbun, TOKYO Web, March 28, 2023, Shakai (society)
https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/240516)
“I just chanced upon this and began researching it,” recalls Dr. Kawashima Ryuta (63), Director of the Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer at Tohoku University.
◆A Realization While Seeking Ways to Increase Motivation to Learn
Children who spend a lot of time using smartphones show impaired brain development. What led him to reach this shocking conclusion was a request about 10 years ago from a Sendai City Board of Education member.
The person asked him to “find ways to increase students’ motivation to learn.”
[Photo: Dr. Kawashima]
Caption: “I want to inform children about the serious risks from digital gadgets” says Director Kawashima Ryuta. At Tohoku University’s Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer.
Kawashima asked the Board of Education to provide him massive amounts of data on the lifestyles and academic abilities of elementary, junior high and high school children. Do they eat breakfast? Do they converse with their families? In the midst of analyzing the relationship between various circumstances and academic ability, he noticed smartphones.
There was a tendency for academic ability to suffer if smartphones were being used for long periods of time. That had a clear correlation.
Next, he followed changes in the deviation value of each subject for two years. The biggest improvement occurred in the group of children who had initially been using smartphones but stopped the following year. The second biggest improvement was in the group that did not use smartphones during the two year period.
Conversely, decreases in ability were seen in children who continued using smartphones for both years, and the biggest decrease was in the group that had initially not used smartphones but began using them the next year.
Says Kawashima, “Their academic ability declined because of their smartphones. These are the data from about 70,000 people, and there is no clearer evidence than this.”
◆With Continued MRI Observation…
So, why does the students’ academic ability decrease? To resolve this mystery, magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) was performed on about 220 of the students, who were followed for three years.
The results were astounding.
[Photo: someone poking a smartphone.](No relationship to the article)
Children with no or little habitual smartphone use showed steady growth in their cerebral cortex and cerebral white matter, which play important roles in cognitive functioning. In terms of volume, they grew by about 50 cc.
However, children who used them nearly every day showed almost no growth at all in volume.
“That their development had stopped is a very serious matter. I wonder if this is related to the characteristics of a smartphone, frequently switching many apps on a small screen, making it difficult to focus on one thing at a time,” says Kawashima.
◆ Applying the Brakes to Protect Children’s Future
Kawashima calls such research results an “inconvenient truth.”
Even if he tells teachers, even if he appeals to parents at PTA lectures, it makes virtually no difference in the state of education. “It always ends with them saying, ‘There’s no way we are going to deprive them of the Internet.’ Considering only convenience and efficiency, they readily hand their children digital gadgets,” says Kawashima.
Research overseas also points again and again to the negative side of digital technology. For example, there are studies showing that merely owning a smartphone leads to sleep deprivation and has a bad effect on emotional and cognitive functioning; and studies showing that reading on digital devices makes it harder to understand compared to hardcopy reading; and countless more studies.
Kawashima is currently working on research to clarify the effects of excessive Internet use at the genetic level. “I want to spread information throughout the country that conveys the serious risks to children themselves. To protect children’s future, we adults must apply the brakes.”
(Yasucho Usui, honorifics omitted)
◇
Series: Internet Addiction—Children in the Corona Crisis
Digital devices are making their appearance in children’s lives at a furious pace. Are there no negative effects from this on their health, learning and communication? In this five part series, we consider how to have an appropriate relationship with the Internet without succumbing to addiction.
(1) “Call the police!” shouted the husband of a wife who had written a will—Specialists say gaming disorder resulting in premature aging is ‘accelerating further’ https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/240019
(2) 2nd grader with visual acuity of 0.2 ‘gradually losing vision’—Headaches and lethargy…children beset by physical and mental disorders https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/240200
(3) Unable to write letters with a pencil, choosing responses without thinking—The situation with rapidly progressing digital learning and guardians’ concerns https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/240339
