181 | The Addiction We're Ignoring: Screen Time and Child Mental Health

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You're listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr. Brenna Hicks.

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Your source for centered and focused play therapy coaching.

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Hi, I'm Dr. Brenna Hicks, The Kid Counselor.

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This is the Play Therapy Podcast where you get

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a master class in child-centered play therapy

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and practical support and application for your

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work with children and their families.

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In today's episode. I am answering a question from Carolyn in Vermont.

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Carolyn. I think you might be my first Vermont

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write in. So congrats on that.

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Hello to all of my friends in Vermont. I don't know what you all call yourselves.

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Vermontians.

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I don't know. Anyway, nice to have you. Thanks for emailing in Carolyn.

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All right, y'all. So, I,

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this one is quite an interesting email in question

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and I was ready to do a lightning round because I want to get caught up on some

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emails and, and questions.

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But honestly, I felt like I needed to devote an entire episode to this topic alone.

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And if you know me, you'll understand why as soon as we dive in.

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But Carolyn is asking about

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the trend that she's noticing lately in child and adolescent

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psychotherapy where therapists are using video games in therapy.

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She actually linked to a website geek therapeutics

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and every therapist on there provides virtual video game based therapy.

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They have a dungeons and dragons section.

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They have other video game section and you book appointments online

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and you do video game therapy.

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So

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I'm quiet because I'm gonna bite my tongue. OK.

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So I'm going to read parts of her question

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and then I'm going to share some thoughts and for

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those of you that are new to the podcast.

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first of all, welcome. So glad you're here.

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You will not find a more amazing group of tribesmen tribes people

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than this podcast. So really glad that you found us.

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If this is one of your earlier episodes that you've listened to,

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I really do encourage you to start at the beginning

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and listen in order from the very first episode,

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all the way through,

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you will really kind of get a foundational training in everything from

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the first episode on.

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So if you are a veteran, you know, my bent

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about this, and

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I just appreciate being given an opportunity to

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kind of clinically talk about this more than just

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my opinion. So

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let me read part of Carolyn's email and then we'll get going

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therapists are claiming that video games are used

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to build a therapeutic relationship with quote,

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difficult to engage clients, end quote

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and often use person

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centered language such as stating that the therapeutic use

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of video games is meeting the client where they are

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honoring who they are or making therapy more inclusive.

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Sometimes they describe clients experientially learning coping skills

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in a process that sounds similar to play therapy.

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Some say these children are not very social, not very verbal or neurodivergent.

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Therefore, this is the best way to interact with them.

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My concerns about increasing total screen time

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for kids likely already addicted to video games

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have been hand waved by peers and it had me

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feeling judgmental and perhaps out of sync with the times

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as a play therapist.

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I do use board games and card games which I know some people will see as hypocritical.

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Not even close.

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Carolyn don't ever let that be something that burdens your brain because

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board games and card games are 100% part of a child-centered playroom,

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I digress. Anyway.

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However, I am also counseling parents to reduce screen time. Yes and amen

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and even show them the AACP

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recommended limits for screen time by age.

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Yes. And amen

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since you wrote a book about reducing screen

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time for children and our registered play therapist,

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I think you can probably offer a balanced and informed perspective.

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I will try.

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Please tell me,

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am I overlooking the clinical value of video games thus missing an opportunity

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to better serve some clients or am I right to be skeptical?

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Also,

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just wanna add that many schools are also

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relying on increased screen time with movies,

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TV,

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youtube chromebook to teach lesson plans for movement breaks

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for celebrations as rewards for getting work done.

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It seems they are also embracing screens as a modern tool for educational purposes.

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All right, Carolyn. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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I couldn't have crafted a more helpful question myself.

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So I'm really happy and excited to talk about this.

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Not just because

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it's

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a personal rant topic. So I promise I'm going to be neutral.

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I promise I'm going to be clinical and

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have some legit things to say even though y'all know my opinion. So,

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all right, let me share an overarching thought and

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probably not going to be received by some in the therapeutic community

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as

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favorable. But

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this is just

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the way that I see things,

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we all can have different views on things.

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My

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overarching opinion of this

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is

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that this is dilution of what therapy is supposed to be.

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And I could pretty

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solidly make the argument

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that it's rooted in laziness.

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And I don't mean that to be offensive,

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I try to be pretty diplomatic and neutral when it comes to

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colleagues and other models and things like that.

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I mean, you, you never question where I stand, but I do try to be respectful that,

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you know,

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there are different approaches and different beliefs

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and different ways to do things.

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But I think it's pretty solidly clear

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that if you are going to sit and play a video game with a child

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that is not therapy,

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that's a fun hour.

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And I would argue it doesn't require a lot of clinical skill.

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In fact, I don't think it requires any. I'm not saying it can't be worked in,

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but it does not require any.

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And I think that falls in the laziness camp.

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So not only are we diluting

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therapy and what it's supposed to be and

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let's be mindful that children and adolescence,

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which is the the

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population in question here, Carolyn specifically referenced

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child and adolescent psychotherapy.

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So we're talking about children, you know, that are not

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of age, their brains have not fully developed yet.

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We still know that the frontal lobe is developing until age 25.

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I can get into all kinds of neurobiology. But I'm gonna try to curb that.

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The point is we have children

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that

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are not at a place

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where they have full cognitive, intellectual, rational reasoning.

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Therefore,

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to

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sit and play a video game

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that is dilution of what child therapy is supposed to be.

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Especially from a child-centered model.

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We understand that kids need to engage emotionally

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because they feel

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they don't think they feel.

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So when they feel and when they process and when they play,

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big things happened for them.

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Video games are in a totally different track

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because video games require concentration, they require thinking,

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they require cognitive processing,

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not to mention all of the things that are going on neuro biologically.

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If you have not read my book,

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I, this is not a plug for you to buy it.

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This is a plug for you to understand what's going on.

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And if you don't want to do the research yourself,

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I did it for you in my book.

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Look at the addiction

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experts in the field that are talking about

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the exact same

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scans of a drug addict's brain

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are mirrored in kids that are playing video games.

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Not to, not to talk about the dopamine, the adrenaline, the cortisol,

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the pleasure centers that fire.

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I mean y'all, I could go on and on and on and please read the book or do your own research

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because

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it is so harmful. What is happening

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to a child's nervous system?

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It is so harmful to keep them in fight or flight. It is so harmful.

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The cortisol levels that are being elevated in kids

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that are playing video games all the time.

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Therapy is the antidote to that stuff.

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The kids that come into our center are there because they're on screens too much.

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Why in heaven's name

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would anybody say the answer to what's going on?

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Culturally for our kids and the screen addiction epidemic that's

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going on is more screen time and more video games.

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Oh my gosh, make it stop. Ok.

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So that was just my overarching thought

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another

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I guess observation or perspective.

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I'm not really sure what's the most ideal word there, but

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I think what I'm hearing a lot in the therapeutic world is everyone's looking for

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the next innovative thing. What what can we do? That's innovative.

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What can we do that

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really elevates this and what can we do that expands this? And

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there's kind of these verbs and adjectives that are being thrown out like, wow,

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we're really trying to achieve this thing which the field,

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you know, I, I think it's important that the field doesn't stay stagnant.

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And I think it is important that the field explores new things as a general rule.

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But

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one of the things that I've really been thinking a lot about

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is I truly believe the way forward in our field,

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especially for those of us that work with children.

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The way to be the most innovative and the way

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to be the most forward thinking and the way to

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plan for what needs to come next

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is to go back to the basics.

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It's to go back to seminal work. It's to go back to seminal theoretical model.

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It's to go back to the foundations upon which our entire field was formed

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and

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know that stuff and do it really well

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and stick to what we know works

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because the more we introduce and the more we dilute and the more we water down

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and the more we add and subtract and modify and

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whatever,

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you know, what we've lost, what we're doing,

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we've lost what works we've lost what's been empirically validated.

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So I truly believe in an attempt that therapists

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have to be very forward thinking and innovative.

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They're actually losing the entire premise of therapy.

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And I think our best bet as child-centered play therapists

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is to ground ourselves in everything that we can

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read and learn and know that came from the original

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texts and works,

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which is why we're doing the summer school series right now.

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So I truly believe the way forward is looking back,

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which I know. That's a little bit

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ironic, I suppose.

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Ok,

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so then a couple of other thoughts I have Carolyn. Thank you again.

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Screen addiction is real.

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When I give talks, one of the one of my most requested topics to present on.

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I've presented on devices and screen use with kids

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more than I've presented on any other topic.

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It's what I'm consistently asked to present on

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and I quote

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news article after news article, I quote

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medical journal after medical journal,

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I quote psychological journal after psychological journal,

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I quote scientific journal after scientific journal,

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I pull up screen addiction facilities, internet addiction facilities,

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they're popping up all over the place.

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No one talks about it. No one knows about it.

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But there are internet addiction,

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video game addiction,

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social media addiction, inpatient residential facilities popping up

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everywhere in our country.

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China has completely locked down

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video game use with their teenagers.

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There's a video clip that I show in my presentation

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of a news anchor covering this story,

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they realized that the Chinese youth were so addicted to video games

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and because they're a communist country they do whatever they want.

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They have been quoted, the Chinese government has been quoted saying

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we are not going to allow a digital drug

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to ruin the lives of our youth.

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End quote.

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Ok.

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So when you have a communist country, shutting it down and limiting

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video game play

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for children

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to three hours a week,

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let me say that again. Three hours a week

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is what Chinese youth are now limited to

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why. Because

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the CCP knows how dangerous it is. They know it's killing a generation.

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They actually call it

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an opioid

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in the video clip

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which is

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a reference to drugs, which is exactly what it is. It's that addictive

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and I mean, I could go on and on y'all like my book,

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my book has so much information in it and

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I'm trying to give you like little snippets so that

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you have a sense of what's going on.

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But

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screen addiction is real. Video game addiction is real.

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This is why kids sit, can't sit still.

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This is why every child's being diagnosed with ADHD.

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This is why kids have through the roof anxiety. This is why kids are suicidal.

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This is why kids are self injuring.

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This is why kids are struggling across the board everywhere

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because their poor little brains and their

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poor little nervous systems cannot handle this.

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And guess what the video game companies are hiring

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the most

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prominent psychologists, psychiatrists,

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you name it even

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addiction experts

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to intentionally make games addictive.

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This is on purpose

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and parents are blind to it. Therapists are blind to it.

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And

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I mean, I know that you hear the passion and you hear the,

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the boldness. I hope that this enrages you.

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I, I hope that you

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are

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so annoyed and angry about this,

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that you become

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the personal advocate to your parents

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about how much they need to limit their children's screening and Carolyn.

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I'm so glad that you've been advocating for that.

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All of us should be,

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it should be in our intake paperwork.

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It should be something we discuss at every single consultation.

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This is an epidemic.

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And

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when I speak on this topic, I liken it to

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everyone and their brother

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was convinced that it was cool to smoke.

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Decades ago.

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They,

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the tobacco companies got actors,

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they got cowboys, they got athletes,

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they put all of these prominent well known figures in their ads

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talking about how cool it was to smoke. Guess what

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the surgeon general knew even back then how harmful cigarettes were.

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But the general public wasn't aware of that.

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They were sold a bill of goods about how cool it was.

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Now, what do we have commercials where the people who've smoked their whole lives

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now

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have to put their finger over their tracheotomy

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because they had to have part of their throat cut out.

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And now we have them talking on commercials

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about how they wish they would have never smoked

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and how awful it has been

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and how damaging it was.

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This is what's going to happen 20, 30 years down the road,

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the future generation is going to look back

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at the early two thousands, like the 2010 to 2030.

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And they're gonna say, why did someone not stop this?

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Why did someone let all these kids get addicted to video games like this?

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00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:23,989
Why did they let social media become so prominent for, for kids?

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00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:28,549
Why did they start giving tablets and phones to two year olds in strollers?

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00:16:28,559 --> 00:16:30,869
What were they doing? What were they thinking?

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Who, why did someone not stand up and say no, this is bad. This is dangerous.

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This is terrible.

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It falls on us to do it.

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Ok. A couple more thoughts.

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It is really interesting

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to me

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how when we're in a child-centered playroom,

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you can tell the kids that are on

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00:16:53,289 --> 00:16:55,489
video games and screens all the time

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00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:57,590
because their play

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00:16:58,020 --> 00:17:01,200
almost always mirrors and copies

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something from a TV show from a movie, from a video game.

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They replicate

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what they have already been exposed to and what they are really, really deep into

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a child that has not been exposed on that level to screens.

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They will play creatively and imaginatively

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because their brain is capable of it.

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Kids that have been on screens too much,

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they don't even really know,

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they have to relearn how to play imaginatively and creatively.

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We see it hinder the child-centered process

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00:17:34,599 --> 00:17:39,010
even when we're trying to do traditional child-centered play therapy, we see it.

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00:17:39,020 --> 00:17:41,040
We've been talking about it on the collective calls.

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00:17:41,050 --> 00:17:43,319
I've been talking about it with my coaching participants.

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00:17:43,890 --> 00:17:46,790
It's this phenomenon that has happened only recently.

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00:17:47,439 --> 00:17:49,569
Never once in my 20 year career,

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00:17:50,569 --> 00:17:55,150
ages ago. Did I ever see a kid come in and replicate a video game in the playroom?

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00:17:55,660 --> 00:17:57,729
But it happens pretty regularly. Now,

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they replicate youtube videos. They've watched, they replicate

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00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:05,489
movies and TV, shows that they're really into.

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It's hindering our process even when we're doing true child-centered play.

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So

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00:18:14,890 --> 00:18:20,660
I can't fathom why anyone would say let's play more video games and call it therapy.

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00:18:22,050 --> 00:18:23,989
How will a child ever know what it feels

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00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:28,630
like to let their subconscious direct them and self-actualize.

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00:18:29,239 --> 00:18:31,630
How will a child ever have the freedom and the

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00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:34,819
space to dive into the work that they need to do

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00:18:34,989 --> 00:18:38,709
if their brain is so consumed with their video game addiction,

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00:18:39,910 --> 00:18:43,689
it's a huge barrier. We're seeing it in the playroom a lot.

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00:18:45,300 --> 00:18:46,670
My final thought is

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00:18:47,380 --> 00:18:50,599
yes, Carolyn schools are making it infinitely worse.

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00:18:51,300 --> 00:18:53,420
And I talk about that when I give

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these presentations and, and when I speak on this topic,

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00:18:57,290 --> 00:19:02,650
because the question inevitably is, well, if the pediatric association and

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00:19:02,770 --> 00:19:06,609
you know, if all of these organizations are saying that, you know, by this age,

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00:19:06,619 --> 00:19:08,589
a child should only have this many hours a day,

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00:19:08,709 --> 00:19:09,000
you know,

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00:19:09,010 --> 00:19:11,650
my kid has to do like four hours on a

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tablet or a chromebook every single day for school.

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00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:15,719
I mean, does that count?

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00:19:16,229 --> 00:19:16,949
Yes,

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00:19:18,050 --> 00:19:18,069
it

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00:19:18,170 --> 00:19:20,069
is total screen time.

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00:19:21,479 --> 00:19:23,150
Total screen time.

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00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:26,849
That means TV, shows movies,

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00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:29,589
youtube videos, social media,

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00:19:29,869 --> 00:19:33,349
video games, homework, schoolwork,

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00:19:33,869 --> 00:19:35,670
anything related to a screen

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00:19:35,930 --> 00:19:39,760
that counts as screen time and it's cumulative. So it's not

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00:19:39,869 --> 00:19:45,510
two hours on homework and then two hours on video games and then two hours on TV.

385
00:19:46,849 --> 00:19:49,439
Let me just share an alarming statistic.

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Children 8 to 18

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00:19:54,270 --> 00:19:55,750
were asked to self

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00:19:55,949 --> 00:19:56,609
report

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00:19:57,449 --> 00:20:00,310
how much time they spend in front of a screen each day.

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00:20:01,189 --> 00:20:02,959
Children, 8 to 18,

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00:20:03,270 --> 00:20:04,689
they self reported

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00:20:05,189 --> 00:20:06,449
nine hours a day,

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00:20:10,020 --> 00:20:12,069
an eight year old is in third grade

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00:20:13,709 --> 00:20:16,160
and these are children self reporting.

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00:20:16,810 --> 00:20:20,020
The numbers are probably a little bit higher because what kid is really

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00:20:20,030 --> 00:20:22,630
truly keeping track of the time that they're in front of a screen,

397
00:20:24,810 --> 00:20:27,790
they're reporting nine hours themselves.

398
00:20:30,219 --> 00:20:33,689
If you don't count, they're sleeping and they're eating,

399
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,500
they're on a screen every waking minute of their day,

400
00:20:40,939 --> 00:20:42,040
it's horrifying.

401
00:20:43,390 --> 00:20:48,550
So when schools are complicit in this and when schools require homework

402
00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:52,050
on a device and they require chromebooks in the classroom and they

403
00:20:52,060 --> 00:20:55,310
require all of the work to be done online and they have

404
00:20:55,319 --> 00:20:58,369
to take tests online and they have to watch lectures online.

405
00:20:58,979 --> 00:21:00,709
It's only making things worse.

406
00:21:02,069 --> 00:21:02,890
So

407
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:04,329
what is the answer?

408
00:21:04,819 --> 00:21:05,640
We

409
00:21:05,869 --> 00:21:07,040
are not silent

410
00:21:07,609 --> 00:21:11,369
with knowledge be, you know, we're we're called to responsibility.

411
00:21:12,569 --> 00:21:15,449
So now that, you know, and maybe you knew before, but

412
00:21:16,380 --> 00:21:21,719
you have to become an advocate for children's health and safety and well being.

413
00:21:22,180 --> 00:21:25,319
And that means every parent, every consultation

414
00:21:25,609 --> 00:21:28,209
you're monitoring screen use and you're talking about

415
00:21:28,219 --> 00:21:31,199
the dangers and you're making sure they're aware.

416
00:21:31,969 --> 00:21:33,079
Parents don't know,

417
00:21:33,319 --> 00:21:35,839
just like parents didn't know about cigarettes.

418
00:21:36,069 --> 00:21:37,260
Way back in the day.

419
00:21:37,699 --> 00:21:40,359
We all know now and I promise you

420
00:21:40,810 --> 00:21:42,599
2050 rolls around.

421
00:21:43,260 --> 00:21:47,900
Everyone's gonna say, man, they were a bunch of buffoons back in the 2020s.

422
00:21:47,910 --> 00:21:50,849
What were they doing? Damaging their kids like that?

423
00:21:51,540 --> 00:21:53,150
How did they not know?

424
00:21:54,500 --> 00:21:55,089
And

425
00:21:55,270 --> 00:21:58,150
it's our job to advocate. It's our job to educate,

426
00:21:58,510 --> 00:22:03,189
it's our job to do everything we can to prevent this from being what it is.

427
00:22:03,729 --> 00:22:06,609
It's, it is truly an epidemic and it's so scary

428
00:22:07,449 --> 00:22:08,089
and

429
00:22:08,530 --> 00:22:11,270
we're very, very strict with our son.

430
00:22:11,630 --> 00:22:15,469
We have been since he was six years old. He's the reason I wrote the book.

431
00:22:15,479 --> 00:22:18,500
If you read the first chapter, you learn all about my story.

432
00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:24,109
We, we can't, we can't escape this, but we can't ignore it.

433
00:22:25,349 --> 00:22:28,439
So Carolyn, truly, thank you so much.

434
00:22:28,449 --> 00:22:31,530
I knew that I would need an entire episode for that question alone. So

435
00:22:31,630 --> 00:22:33,609
thank you so much for writing in

436
00:22:33,930 --> 00:22:34,449
and

437
00:22:34,699 --> 00:22:35,969
I hope that

438
00:22:36,349 --> 00:22:39,530
you're charged and I hope that you're ready

439
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,180
to continue to fight this fight because

440
00:22:42,369 --> 00:22:46,569
no one else is doing it and, and that means that it's our job.

441
00:22:47,180 --> 00:22:47,689
So

442
00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:51,520
love you all. If you wanna reach out to me, I'd love to hear from you.

443
00:22:51,530 --> 00:22:54,959
If you wanna join the Collective and have live Q & A with me twice a week,

444
00:22:54,969 --> 00:22:56,599
I'd love to have you on there as well.

445
00:22:56,939 --> 00:22:59,489
So that's at ccptcollective.com.

446
00:22:59,839 --> 00:23:04,199
If you're interested in trainings, go to childcenteredtraining.com.

447
00:23:04,469 --> 00:23:07,160
All kinds of things coming up. Y'all, my,

448
00:23:07,780 --> 00:23:10,880
my juggling balls are numerous at this point,

449
00:23:10,890 --> 00:23:12,579
but I promise you there's lots and lots

450
00:23:12,589 --> 00:23:14,819
of good things coming in the child-centered world.

451
00:23:15,010 --> 00:23:18,540
So, thanks for being patient with me. Thanks for hanging out with me.

452
00:23:18,550 --> 00:23:20,800
You know how much I love you. We'll talk again soon. Bye.

453
00:23:21,949 --> 00:23:24,859
Thank you for listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr

454
00:23:24,959 --> 00:23:28,089
Brenna Hicks for more episodes and resources.

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00:23:28,099 --> 00:23:33,010
Please go to www.playtherapypodcast.com.