Study on Tween Girls Shows Multitasking May Harm Development

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"Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

It annoyed me when my mom said it, usually because my nose was buried in a book instead of looking at her. In today's world tweens are usually texting, watching videos, playing games, talking on the phone, or all of these things at once. But, a new study finds that multitasking in the tweenage years could be detrimental to their emotional and social development.

Old Friends by Wentuq via Flickr

The study by Stanford researcher Roy Pea, Education and CASBS at Stanford Fellow Cliff Nass, Communication, analyzed survey responses from 3,461 girls ages 8-12 about their electronic habits and their social lives. "The results were upsetting, disturbing, scary." Nass said.

The good news is that higher levels of face-to-face communication were associated with healthier social lives.

Of course, that also means that we all need to put down our electronic devices while talking to tweens ourselves. And it probably would be a good thing to make it a habit in general.

In the video below Cliff Nass discusses the study's results:

Read more about the study and the full story on the Stanford website.

Uncool Mom 5 pts

Thanks for sharing this. It makes me want to be even more vigilant about controlling electronics around here. I've definitely noticed an aversion to face-to-face talking by teens and it makes me sick! They ask eachother out on dates by text, break up by text, get in arguments by text-- it's no wonder my older teen can't get up the nerve to go talk to her teachers when she needs to. She was already shy when it comes to talking face to face with adults-- the dependence on texting and email only makes it worse! What are these tech-savvy kids going to be like as adults?

And I think all this multitasking contributes to, or heightens, ADD/ADHD as well. Would love to see a study on that!

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Tricia Soto 5 pts

Uncool Mom I'm shy myself and was super-shy in school - my nose was always in a book. I cringe to think how hard life would be if I was never asked to communicate face to face during those middle school years that felt so awkward.

Tina Ann Forkner 6 pts

Good points. I also have a tween girl. She is not on the electronics all the time, but it can be a struggle to keep it from becoming a habit, and at the same time I don't want to keep her from the electronics all together. We are in a changing world. It's tough. This is a great article.

TiaBach 13 pts

Interesting. I have a tween girl, as she keeps reminding me she is no longer a kid (12), and two more girls in the wings. She's always on electronics. Some of it is great (she's an avid reader, and on her Kindle a lot), but I do worry about social connections. Thanks for the reminder to get her off the electronics juice and get her talking!

TiaBach The study indicates that face-to-face time with parent and friends would balance out the tech. The hard part is that even when they're "hanging out" together they are more often than not looking at a screen of some sort.