44 | www. Char l es tonPhys i c i ans . com | www.Hea l thL i nksChar l es ton . com We live in an age in which texting, messaging apps and social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook allow us to share every movement and every moment of our lives. While this connectivity is now firmly woven into the fabric of how we function as a society, there is a question of how much is too much, especially for a generation of children who have never existed without screen time being part of their day. “There is a definite Pavlovian response,” Michelle Liechty, certified nurse practitioner at Coastal Pediatric Associates in Mount Pleasant, agreed. “There’s a reward every time someone interacts with their phone. When you see a like notification from Facebook or a Snapchat notice, it triggers a dopamine release that leaves you with a feeling of reward. You now have the drive to continue to look at your phone every time you hear that bell.” Many apps and games are designed to keep people hooked, and people in certain age groups are exceptionally vulnerable. “Kids and teens have a strong need to belong and feel accepted – to feel part of a group. These apps play to those needs. Snapchat, for example, originally started off as quick interactions: photos or short videos that disappear after a short time. They then introduced the Best Friend feature, where you are publicly recognized as another user’s best friend. Then came the Snapstreak feature, where interaction through the app became almost a game,” Liechty said. “The message kids are getting is ‘Don’t break your streak.’ So even if a child is, say, on a hike with their parents, that phone might be in their pocket, and they feel the urgency to take it out and open the app, all in the name of keeping their streak,” Liechty added. There is no official recognition of smartphone addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is used to formally classify mental health disorders, but it is, according to Psychiatry Advisor’s “Criteria for Identification of Smartphone Addiction,” “ . . . increasingly recognized as a type of behavioral addiction.” Striking a balance between figuring out a way for your children to function in the here and now while allowing them to CELLPHONES AND SCREEN TIME: BREAK ‘THE STREAK’ By Amy Gesell
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