We won’t know what screen time is doing to kids’ brains for decades, expert warns | CNN

Kara Alaimo is a professor of communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University and advises parents, students and teachers on how to manage screen time. Her book “Over the Influence: Why Social Media Is Toxic for Women and Girls — And How We Can Take It Back” was published in 2024. Need another reason not to give your kid screens? It may permanently alter their brains, according to a new paper that reviewed and reported on current literature. A lot of what happens in childhood profoundly affects the skills and challenges people have later in life, according to the conceptual paper published Tuesday in the journal Brain Health. The researchers found that our sensory experiences, movement and social relations growing up, along with our culture and environment, profoundly and sometimes irreversibly determine who we become. The authors call this concept the “criticome,” which is the first time it has been given a name, said Dr. Julio Licinio, coauthor of the review and a distinguished professor of psychiatry at the State University of New York’s Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. “The main takeaway is that there is a critical window of development that goes f