Autism Link of the Day - Screen time

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Over a period of six years a psychiatrist in Romania has witnessed an astonishing rise in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among youngsters in a children’s hospital. The cause was unknown, so he dug into the activity logs the hospital collected on all patients admitted. In those records he found a strong trend: children presenting with autism were spending four or more hours a day watching some kind of screen: television, computer, tablet, or phone.

The child psychiatrist asked parents to take them away from screens for a while, to go outside more and engage in outdoor activities, read books together, talk face–to–face, and simply play. He wanted affected children to engage in more day–to–day social interactions given that socialization is the primary challenge for anyone on the autism spectrum. Could pulling them away from their screens of solitude relieve some of the symptoms

Yes, symptoms resolved, leading the doctor to identify something entirely new: “Virtual Autism,” or autism induced by screens. With their more malleable brains the youngest children, say 18 months old, resolved within a few months while the hospital’s oldest patient, an 8 year–old boy, took 2 years to recover fully from his ASD symptoms. Yet recover he did, along with an astonishing series of 82 children with a similar clinical course. Alerted by his observation, the doctor finds that 90% of children who present to him with ASD have this Virtual Autism.

His was both a retrospective and prospective study. In Romania now, treatment of ASD by screen withdrawal is considered routine and has public support. But a controlled study needs to be done given these shocking findings resonate with what experts have previously warned: screens are not good for developing brains. “In my opinion,” says Dr. Leonard Oestreicher, this is earth–shaking information. Even for the skeptic it highlights the need for a controlled randomized study.” Dr. Oestreicher is the author of The Pied Pipers of Autism: How Television, Video and Toys in Infancy Cause ASD.

Substantial evidence already exists that screens impede mental health in the young. Study after study—more than 200 at last count—tie increased screen exposure to overt screen addiction, ADHD, aggression, and anxiety. Matt Miles & Joe Clement, experienced teachers in Virginia’s Fairfax school system and authors of Screen Schooled: Two Veteran Teachers Expose How Technology Overuse is Making Our Kids Dumber say, “The one thing parents are most concerned about today is Autism. But you can’t mention autism and technology in the same sentence without being immediately dismissed as a ‘fear monger’.

But a study just released in France is being reported under the headline, “Autistic Disorders: Alarming symptoms in toddlers exposed to screens.”