“Brain Drain: 4 Habits to Reverse Cognitive Aging and Boost Brain Power”

Expert Opinion: Our Brains are Undergoing Three Processes of Domestication

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Digital Screen Domestication: The “Atrophy Crisis” of the Frontal Lobe is Reducing Brain Flexibility

“Prolonged screen time of more than an hour daily may lead to atrophy of the frontal lobe.”

Professor Jiang Fan’s team from the Shanghai Children’s Medical Center made a concerning discovery through the SCHEDULE group, comprising 220,000 children.

They found that children who spent over an hour on electronic devices daily before turning six years old experienced an average IQ decline of 6.7 to 8.2 points.

Early exposure to screens before the age of three was linked to delayed development of cognitive control networks, resulting in attention deficits and hyperactive behavior.

Additionally, four hours of daily screen time for children aged three to six significantly impaired their language comprehension abilities.

These alarming findings were published in the renowned JAMA Pediatrics journal.

The researchers provided an illustrative example: A four-year-old boy named Mai, who played video games for an average of three hours daily, exhibited synaptic density in his language center that was only 73% compared to his peers. He struggled to accurately identify colors like “red” and “blue.” His parents used to boast, “My child has been able to use a mobile phone since he was two years old,” but now he is undergoing cognitive rehabilitation.

A Canadian experiment revealed that the prefrontal cortex of teenagers addicted to video games was 0.5 mm thinner than that of their non-addicted peers—equivalent to premature aging by two years. Meanwhile, Harvard University’s research on 5,000 children found that frequent mobile phone use was associated with prefrontal cortex underdevelopment and impaired self-control, potentially impacting them throughout their lives.

The captivating design of short videos and games, with their “15-second climaxes” and “special effects + rankings,” continuously stimulates the striatum, leading to the “low-reward syndrome.”

As a result, mundane tasks and the demands of academic life seem dull and uninteresting to children, causing them to lose touch with reality.

Brain scientist Professor Hong Lan asserts: “When a child’s brain becomes accustomed to 15-second stimuli, it loses the ability to sustain focus for 15 minutes.”

The inherently addictive nature of short videos and games, combined with the interplay between the pleasure mechanism and the brain’s reward system, is causing a generation of young minds to struggle with attention deficits, fragmented thinking, impaired social skills, and premature brain aging.

Thus, experts warn that children’s brains are gradually being “eroded” as their fingers swipe across screens.

“Prolonged screen time of more than an hour daily may lead to atrophy of the frontal lobe.”

Emotional Domestication: “Electronic Babysitters” Nurture Children Through an “Emotional Desert”

Another study published in JAMA Pediatrics revealed that children who spent more than four hours daily on electronic devices at age one were 2.68 times more likely to exhibit delayed communication skills by age four.

Early and excessive screen exposure can inhibit the development of the mirror neuron system, impairing children’s ability to understand others’ emotions.

Data from a Beijing general hospital showed that 72% of internet-addicted teenagers experienced family communication issues, with mobile phones becoming a “black hole” dividing the relationship between parents and their children.

The research further indicated that the longer the daily screen time, the higher the risk of delayed development in communication and problem-solving skills.

In real life, an increasing number of people struggle with empathy disorders, exhibiting a “laughing on-screen but indifferent in reality” phenomenon.

In the digital age, interpersonal relationships tend to be fragmented and performative. People often rely on standardized emojis or text messages to convey emotions rather than deeply understanding each other’s inner states.

These virtual interactions are weakening the neural resilience associated with genuine empathy.

Research suggests that Gen Z, raised in the “Internet native” environment, is developing cognitive patterns adapted to high-frequency virtual interactions (such as rapid attention shifting). However, their sensitivity to non-verbal cues, such as subtle facial expressions and tone of voice, is decreasing.

Many parents, in pursuit of peaceful moments, resort to mobile phones, cartoons, and short videos as digital babysitters. Consequently, children who should be nurtured with hugs and conversations are instead wasting their most precious emotions on colorful lights and virtual interactions.

When conversations between parents and children become mechanical, such as “It’s dinner time” and “Okay”, the emotional connection weakens.

Domestication of “Battery Hens”: Reducing Brain Resilience

The Beijing University’s neuroeducation research team made a concerning discovery after a decade-long study.

They found that prolonged exposure to high-pressure education could reduce the volume of children’s hippocampus by an average of 7%. Additionally, overactivating the amygdala (the emotional response center) can lead to anxiety, eroding memory storage abilities.

Experimental research by the University of Cambridge corroborates this theory.

Prolonged exposure to high-pressure environments, such as “cramming” teaching methods, results in abnormal “memory replay” in the hippocampus. This leads to inaccurate associations between old and new information, causing “erroneous memory reorganization.”

This explains why high-achieving students sometimes struggle with “confusion during exams” and “forgetting formulas.”

However, an even more concerning consequence than the hippocampal “memory disaster” is the development of “procedural knowledge.” This refers to the tendency to first seek standard answers when encountering a problem, while considering alternative answers as embarrassing or wrong.

Prolonged high-pressure education can reduce the volume of the hippocampus by an average of 7%.

Under the influence of this “perfectionist” educational model, children’s thinking becomes confined within established frameworks, discouraging creative exploration beyond these boundaries. This leads to a domesticated learning pattern where individuals passively absorb knowledge instead of actively seeking it.

Children become like programmed machines, mechanically searching for standard answers stored in their memory when faced with a problem, rarely considering the deeper logic and principles underlying the issue, and seldom daring to venture into creative solutions.

MIT has issued a warning: “Looking ahead, 65% of jobs will require “superpowers,” such as the courage to ask questions, the resilience to bounce back from failures, and the wisdom to flexibly integrate diverse resources.”

Thus, when parents prioritize textbook knowledge and standard answers, children’s ability to understand emotions and adaptively solve real-life problems diminishes.

Strategies to Regain Children’s Attention and Promote Healthy Brain Development

Redefine Information Reception Patterns

As psychologist Jonathan Haidt states, “Technology should be a tool, not a cage.” Parents must strike a balance between convenience and health, empowering children to harness technology while also relishing the richness of life.

Parents should guide their children to reduce screen time and establish fixed “screen-free” periods to disconnect from the virtual world and reconnect with reality. For instance, designate the hour after dinner as “no-screen time,” during which the family reads together, shares daily highlights, and engages in meaningful conversations. The unique structure and linear reading method of books enhance children’s focus and deepen their thinking.

Parents should guide their children to reduce screen time and embrace real-life experiences.

Foster Rich Emotional Experiences

Encourage children to explore nature, witness the changing seasons, marvel at majestic mountains and rivers, and care for others. Support their participation in family chores and community activities to experience the wonders of nature and the beauty of emotional interactions.

The “1+N” adolescent development program at the Dongsheng Community Public Classroom in Xi’an, China, organizes activities like “Blind Man’s Bluff” and “Sound Treasure Hunt” to motivate children to put down their phones and engage in social interactions through “gesture codes,” fostering real-world connections and emotional bonding.

“True education is about helping children hear their heartbeats again, away from electronic devices.”

No matter how abundant the information on screens may be, direct experiences and interactions with the world offer a richer, more flexible, and profound understanding.

Break Free from High-Pressure “Battery Hen” Environments

Children’s development is multifaceted, and scores are not the sole criterion for assessment. Instead of filling their schedules with academic pursuits, create spaces for free play, exploration, and imagination. Emulate some German schools that offer special free activity classes daily, where children can run freely in the schoolyard, play with Legos, engage in role-playing games, and more.

During these activities, children’s imagination and creativity are stimulated, enhancing the default mode network’s activity and expanding the space for creative thinking.

Encourage children to explore nature and experience the world beyond screens.

Encourage Questioning and Innovation

Guide children to ask questions and cultivate their critical thinking skills. Provide opportunities for creative experimentation, such as participating in science and technology innovation competitions or craft-making activities, where they can test new methods and ideas in practice, fostering creative thinking and breaking free from the constraints of conventional thinking.

True intelligence stems from the courage to question the unknown.

The University of Cambridge research team emphasizes, “The real breakthrough lies not in erasing the traces of domestication but in establishing a more optimized path of brain adaptability.”

Educator Maria Montessori wisely stated, “Children are not a blank sheet of paper; they are a seed waiting to sprout under the earth.”