The Abstract of the study follows this article.
Children May Be Losing Their Ability To Read Emotions, But There's A Fix
by Jacqueline Howard, The Huffington Post,
by Jacqueline Howard, The Huffington Post,
26 August 2014
Sure, your child can read emoticons. But a provocative new study suggests that all that screen time is making it hard for children to interpret real-life emotions. It shows that the more kids use digital media, the more their social skills decline.
“Decreased sensitivity to emotional cues— losing the ability to understand the emotions of other people — is one of the costs" of heavy use of cell phones and computers, study co-author Dr. Patricia Greenfield, a psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a written statement.
But the study suggests a possible fix: just a few days of unplugging and having more face-to-face interactions can boost social skills, the researchers said.
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Sure, your child can read emoticons. But a provocative new study suggests that all that screen time is making it hard for children to interpret real-life emotions. It shows that the more kids use digital media, the more their social skills decline.
“Decreased sensitivity to emotional cues— losing the ability to understand the emotions of other people — is one of the costs" of heavy use of cell phones and computers, study co-author Dr. Patricia Greenfield, a psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a written statement.
But the study suggests a possible fix: just a few days of unplugging and having more face-to-face interactions can boost social skills, the researchers said.