The first week of May was National Screen-Free Week. While many adults have found successful ways to incorporate the use of screens and technology into their adult worlds, we sometimes forget that most adults were not exposed to televisions, mobile phones, video games and computers to the overwhelming degree of today’s children.

From a historical perspective, children have been developing (successfully) without this technology for thousands of years.

Such rapid change to a developmental process that was screen-free for so long is being studied, and while there are some educational advantages to select programs on the television for older children, the overwhelming conclusion is that screen time has detrimental effects on child development and childhood in general.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, some of these negative effects include childhood obesity, increased violence, poor body image, increased sexuality, and less successful human-to-human interaction.

As a teacher, I find that students who watch a lot of television or use computers, video games or mobile devices have shorter attention spans, have difficulty making conversation with peers, and are less creative than those who do not.

It is our job as adults and parents to protect children from the negative impacts of technology while they are young and developing. Three recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics are: limiting the amount of screen time for children and adolescents, eliminating all screen time for children younger than 2 years old (including “educational” baby materials) and removing televisions from the bedrooms of children and adolescents.

For more information about screen time and children, visit www.facebook.com/screenfreeweek and pediatrics.appublications.org/content/107/2/423.full.

Celina Gayeski is an elementary lead teacher and adolescent guide at the Hollis Montessori School. She can be reached at 465-2735 or info@HollisMontessori.org. For more information, visit www.hollismontessori.org.