Dear Editor:

“Excessive unregulated screen time can cause brain development to stagnate by reducing white matter integrity, slowing cognitive development, and inhibiting essential skill growth. High screen consumption (over 2 hours daily) is linked to lower language skills, poor emotional regulation and reduced white matter which is crucial for connectivity.”

Source: Harvard Medical School, CNN

Key impacts on children’s brains:

* Underdeveloped white matter

* Stagnant Neural connections

* Premature Cortical thinning

* Reduced functional brain growth Daily screen time among US Teenagers: age 12-17 (CDC National Health Survey, 2023)

* 50.4% = 4+ hours/ day,

• 22.8% = 3 hours/ day
• 17.8% = 2 hours/ day Teens that spend 4+ hours of screen time daily... (CDC data reported on CBS News) results in poor sleep and increased risk of anxiety & depression.

In a recent interview with Bryan County students, they said: (unsolicited) “We are spending 3-5 hours/day looking at screens & using our “Chrome books.”

“We want more ‘paper’ - more textbooks. (They are much easier to read & better on our eyes!)

Currently only 50% of our classrooms have textbooks. (No wonder our reading skills are low.)

If we truly desire to “keep students at the center of every decision” (Superintendent Miller) we need to reduce our use of Chrome books and increase our use of textbooks.

This over dependence on Chrome books is hurting our students.

Tom Seaman, Richmond Hill, GA

*** To submit a letter to the editor, email editor@bryancountynews.com. Letter submissions should include name & hometown. Letters may be edited for content and length, and are ultimately published at the discretion of the editor.