In our Scholars Semeinar, we spent the year learning about the brain. We read articles about positive and negative effects of screentime on the brain. We also learned about the development of the brain. After we had gathered all this information, we split into groups to create a project about screentime effects on the brain.
To start off our projects, we recieved a promt. The promt was should the AAP raise the recomended daily screentime from 2 to 4 hours? My claim was that the AAP should not rasie the recomended daily screentime to 4 hours, but keep it at 2 hours. To prove this claim, I created a tri- fold including negative information about screentime. I also wrote about the development of the brain and how screentime effects it.
I learned many things throughout the year during this seminar. One very important thing that I learned about was dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical inside our brains that makes us feel good when we do certain things playing video games, smoking and trying drugs. Somthings that trigger dopamine are negative and can cause us to continue bad habbits. I also learned that when you are sitting around and watching TV, for every hour that you do this you gain 167 calories because of snaking and not moving your body. In addition to these, I learned about the prefrontal cortex and that it is the central for desision making.
This year I learned so much and had lots of fun in Scholars Seminar. Here are some of the articles, images and websites we read and that I used in my project incase you would like to learn more about the brain!
Works Cited
Delser, Margaret. “Guest Opinion: Step Away from the Screen.” Contra Costa Times (n.d.): 15-16. Web. 12 May 2017. This article is mostly about how much time kids spend on screens, how they spend their screen time, and some negative effects that screen time creates. Dr. Margaret Desler is a pediatrician and is certified to practice medicine in Richmond, California.
Mukherjee, Sy. “Why Facebook Could Acuatully Be Good For Your Mental Health.” (n.d.): 19-20. Think Progress. Think Progress, 19 Mar. 2013. Web. 18 May 2017. <https://thinkprogress.org/why-facebook-could-actually-be-good-for-your-mental-health-127a06f23e90>. This article contains mostly positive effects that Facebook and other social media sites have on the brain. Sy Mukherjee attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and is now a writer who covers healthcare, biopharma and related topics for Fortune Magazine.
A picture of 3 kids sitting on a couch glued to their screens. Digital image. Bdiusa.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2017.
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains. Dir. Nicholas Carr. Perf. Nicholas Carr. Youtube.com. PBS News Hour, 24 Nov. 2010. Web. 12 May 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGY_RjqlSRU>. This video is mostly about how screen time negatively impacts our brains, like decreasing social interactions, lowering wellness scores and interrupting our train of thought. Nicholas Carr is an author who writes about culture, technology and science.
Woman on her phone, complete ignoring the baby in her arms. Digital image. ECN. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2017. <https://abm-website-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/ecnmag.com/s3fs-public/Raising-Children-Network.gif>.