Screen Addiction Questions and Answers

Although this is a cartoon, I'd say it is a pretty accurate representation of today's society. 


Screen Addiction Research Update

 My research has been going well so far, and I have found some helpful resources. The most successful part of my research has been finding articles for my topic. Even though my topic is not very well known about, some sources I have been using, such as Ebsco Host, have been very useful in finding articles that relate to my topic. The various phrases I searched yielded many results, and I had not had much luck finding articles before. Due to the fact that the source produced lots of useful articles, my research has been going well so far. I tried using Google Scholar and I found that the database was not very useful in finding information about my topic. Although I tried searching many phrases, I felt as though the database was not suited to my needs. Many articles would show up that contained either the word 'screen' or 'addiction', but were unrelated to my topic of screen addiction. I also attended a viewing of the documentary Screenagers at a local high school. Although I had high expectations for the film, I was disappointed as I knew a lot of the information that was discussed and had hoped to learn something new. 

This is reality for some screen addicted gamers. 
As for sources that have been suprisingly helpful, I have to go with people. When I went to the documentary screening, some people I talked to before the screening provided me with resources that were being handed out. I also learned about two new book titles from the documentary (one of the only pieces of information I got out of it), which I hope to read at least one of: The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr, and Mindful Tech: How to Bring Balance to our Digital Lives by David Levy. Here are links to the books: The Shallows: https://www.amazon.com/Shallows-What-Internet-Doing-Brains/dp/0393339750 , Mindful Tech: https://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Tech-Bring-Balance-Digital/dp/0300208316. One lady helping out with the screening told me about a class at the elementary school of the district where they taught the students to interact with each other. Knowing that technology has created a barrier for communication, I found the fact that this class is taught very interesting. 

As for my research question, I changed it from finding out the causes to screen addiction to what the effects of screen addiction are. There is more research about the effects of screen addiction than the causes, and I personally find the effects more interesting anyway. I am also figuring out how to educate others- specifically, familes- about screen addiction. There are many resources that exists- graphics, speakers, articles- that talk about screen addiction, yet I feel as though they are unknown. Here is an article I found to be very helpful, containing guidelines for the amount of screen time each age should be exposed to, as well as potential health risks. (You can click on PDF full text to read the article.)

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,custuid&custid=infohio&db=tfh&AN=95976721&site=ehost-live 

As for my smaller research questions, I have adapted them based on what the effects of screen addiction are, with topics ranging from 'does e-disicipline effect screen addiction?' to 'how does screen addiction affect children's minds?'. It was a bit of a struggle to come up with questions so far into my research (as I have learned a lot), but I managed to come up with new ones that fit my new essential question better. So far, most of the information I have found has been helpful, considering that my topic is not very widely known about.