💻👎 More bad news about the screen time

Dadpack Digest, V17 🍤🍟🍦

Pranking your parents is a rite of passage when you're a kid, even though it sucks to be on the other side of it now. But in the age of smartphones, children can take this further than a little Saran wrap on the toilet. This was the case for a 6-year-old boy in Michigan who took his dad's device and ordered $1,000 worth of Grubhub including $183 in jumbo shrimp and “endless” chili fries and ice cream. 

Consider this another reason to limit your kid's access to your iPhone for as long as possible. They might get a little too hungry for mischief. 

This Week From Dadpack 

• 💻👎 More bad news about the screen time: And what parents can do instead of going to the blue light.

• 🗞📰 In case you whiffed it: All the news you missed because you were too busy catapulting your kids across the room .

• 🎧👂 Kid-friendly podcasts to take a break with: It's gotta be better than plopping them in front of another Pixar movie.

• 🍩😭 Why young children are never happy: All you did was make them pancakes and this is the thanks you get?

Your Kid's Brain Waves On Screen Time

By now, most parents are well-aware that screen time is bad for young children, but as some moms and dads hedge on how bad, it's important to note new scientific discoveries. And the most recent one suggests that it is worse than you may have hoped. 

The study analyzed data from 437 children who were a part of the Growing Up in Singapore towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort study, and monitored their brain waves using electroencephalography  or EEG. Parents were similarly surveyed about their participants' screen time exposure and children were given a variety of cognitive ability tests at 9 years old to gauge the impact over time. 

They found that the more screen time they were exposed to at 12 months old, the more "low-frequency" brain waves they had at 18 months of age, which led to slower cognitive development and deficits in their ability to focus, process information, and regulate emotions. And the more screen time they were exposed to, the more difficulty they had controlling their impulses, emotions, and completing tasks at 9-years-old. 

The important takeaway for parents is how delicate the brain can be at this stage of early childhood. The prefrontal cortex in particular, which controls attention, information processing, emotional regulation, and general aspects of executive functioning, is very vulnerable, researchers warn. And screens seem to be something that can hinder this neurological development during this crucial time. 

The study did not take into account socioeconomic differences, and the authors acknowledge that other issues like food and housing insecurity can similarly hinder development and potentially be linked with greater screen time. Future studies should consider these factors. 

As for screen time alternatives, The Cleveland Clinic recommends playing outside, giving them chores around the house, arts and crafts, building things, puzzles and board games, reading, and even kid-friendly podcasts, which may feel screen-time adjacent but do not come with similar consequences. As long as you're not making your toddler listen to you binge on episodes of The Doughboys, pods are fair game. 

Good News, Dad News

• 🕵🏻🎈 It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a ... spy balloon? That's right, U.S. fighter jets apparently shot down what defense officials believe to be a spy balloon from China containing surveillance equipment the size of two-to-three school buses. China claimed the balloon was meant to observe weather conditions. In any case, the might explain the helium shortage that bankrupted Party City.

  • 🐦💅 Speaking of birds, a pink pigeon was rescued from New York City's Madison Square Park this week, and was thought to be deliberately dyed as a part of a gender reveal party. Because what better way to say that "we're having a girl" than defacing innocent wildlife. At least they didn't start a wildfire.

• 👀🎒 Children lost 35 percent worth of learning during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a recent study. Whatever scientists do, please don't crunch the numbers on how much work parents lost during this time. We don't want to now.

• 🏀🏆 LeBron James crept closer to breaking the NBA scoring record on Saturday night, and is now 36 points away from breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 38,387 point-record.  Hopefully this cheers him up about the Kyrie Irving trade.

Playing Pod: The Best Audio For You And Your Family

They might seem too close to screen time, but podcasts are better for kids than iPads. One in four children currently listen to podcasts and 75 percent of them bring up topics from shows in conversations later.

 But with the increased demand for kid-friendly podcasts, there has been an increased saturation of options and it can be difficult to know where to dive it. Here are some shows to start discussing at the dinner table. 

• Aimed at slightly older kids, NPR's science podcast Brains On features plenty of lessons adults can learn from as well. If you're child isn't into science, the podcast But Why? answers a broader selection of questions that tend to pop into young minds. And beyond that, NPR has a large catalog of additional family-friendly podcasts to pick from.

• If you're more into history The Past and The Curious might be the show for your family. Featuring lesser known stories throughout history retold my actors, and a quiz segment, you and your kid will be too entertained to realize you're learning.

• Winner of the 2020 and 2022 iHeartRadio awards for the Best Kids and Family Podcast, Story Pirates is a show of original stories created by kids, portrayed by comedians, improvisors and actors. With tales titled "Fart Out Loud Day" and special guests like Billy Eichner, Lin-Manuel, Miranda, Kristen Bell, John Oliver, and Paul Scheer, it shouldn't be a hard sell.

• Music may be more your speed, in which case Spare The Rock, Spoil the Child gives you the feel of a good old-fashioned radio show, featuring indie rock takes on children's songs. Perhaps you didn't realize that you needed to hear They Might Be Giants sing about the ABCs, but you definitely do.

Parting Paternalism: Embrace The Wrath

If there's one thing toddlers have in common it is that they're easy to piss off. John Smillie vividly illustrated this point in a Sunday morning scene on Twitter. Most parents with kids that age know this look of inexplicable blind rage. How could anyone with a life so cushy get so angry?

The reason is because it's entirely developmentally appropriate for them to fly off the handle at this age. Experts agree, the toddler brain is rapidly developing and they're experiences a flood of new impulses. But they have not yet developed the verbal skills to communicate that they want a different breakfast, and this is why they lose it. 

Or as one Reddit user pointed out on Daddit, where Smillie's tweet was reposted, "I think kids want the platonic ideal version of the thing they want, and then have a philosophical crisis when reality does not match the hypothetical French toast that only can exist in the mind."

Rest assured, although your kid may seem like they've malfunctioned,  blind rage over cinnamon rolls is a sign they they are functioning just as they should be. Try to stay calm and appreciate what this really means: you have a healthy child and more cinnamon rolls for yourself. 

Polling Your Leg