Maja
RebeccaA group of more than 20 American organizations fighting for children’s rights sent a petition to the US Federal Trade Commission in November 2022 against aggressive advertising aimed at children.
They focus particularly on bombarding children with ads and other devices targeted at young users to become addicted – from feedback loops to various virtual rewards. They also state that all this has a negative impact on the emotional, physical, and mental development of children.
Included in the petition is the Talking Tom game franchise and TikTok network, which in particular are harshly criticized.
The Las Vegas Effect
The authors of the petition point out, among other things, the problematic nature of the virtual prizes that children earn if they persist long enough in the application.
They state that the brain will, “chemically produce higher doses of dopamine when responding to an unfamiliar reward.” They also write that this is a phenomenon used in psychological research: the so-called “Las Vegas effect.”
As adults we are of course aware that addictive mechanisms are lurking everywhere, but it is often difficult to break away from them. Youth are easy victims, as they cannot consciously avoid these traps.
Children lose track of time
Ljubica Marjanovič Umek, emeritus professor of developmental psychology, says, “youth, especially younger school children and teenagers, are a vulnerable group because they lose a sense of the time they spend in front of the screen, control over their behavior, and the amount of money they have invested in excessive shopping. Thus, they become entangled in a chain of goal after goal for which they are perpetually rewarded”.
The providers of games and applications skilfully take advantage of the fact that it is difficult for children quit playing by themselves, and that they are often emotionally connected to virtual heroes.
Ljubica Marjanovič Umek , professor of developmental psychology
She also warns that the franchise’s games are “manipulation of children, especially younger children, who do not know and cannot establish a critical attitude towards a video game that largely plays with their emotions”.
Consequences of excessive screen use
Miha Kramli, who heads the Center for the Treatment of Non-Chemical Addictions in Nova Gorica, is much harsher.
With the use of video games and applications, the adaptation of the child’s brain to intense stimuli begins already in the cradle, or in the earliest stages of childhood.
Miha Kramli, therapist
Pediatricians and other professionals dealing with child development have been pointing out this issue for years.
Only two years ago the public received the first guidelines concerning screen time. The guidelines provide experts and parents with support in deciding when and how to give a child access to devices and for which activities are suitable for the child.
Dysfunctional in the future
Kramli points out that the consequences of the excessive use of screens in children and adolescents are also visible in the form of dysfunctional youth due to addiction.
In Slovenia today, we have between 2,500 and 3,000 young people who fail to finish primary or secondary school due to excessive improper use of new technologies. These are people who will not even be able to take a step towards an independent and functional life.
Miha Kramli, therapist
At the same time, he gives an additional reason for concern: “Intense content has a strong impact on how the child is equipped behaviorally. Restrictions on the use of technology can cause very violent and uncontrollable reactions in addicted children. Out of a hundred people addicted to drugs, three are violent, and out of a hundred people addicted to new technologies, as many as 37 people are violent.”
I think we all need to think a bit here.
Above all, what kind of role model are we for children and youth? It will be difficult to talk about limits for the child if we are not able to set them for ourselves.
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The original version of this article was published on January 21st.
Mateja
Rok
