Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector of Üsküdar University, discussed the topic of “Screen Addiction” on the program “Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan with Akla Kapı,” broadcast on Dost TV and Dost FM. Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, pointing out that the main symptom in the diagnosis of addiction is loss of control, said; “Screen addiction disrupts the brain’s reward system. A person with a purpose and who plans their day can protect themselves from the social media trap and screen exposure.”
“Focusing on one point and losing touch with the realities of the world is a hypnotic state”
Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector of Üsküdar University, gave an example from a case of clip syndrome; “A child came with a complaint of delayed speech. Delayed speech means autism. We thought the child had autism. We researched and found that the child’s fine motor and gross motor development was very good. Mathematical intelligence was good. There was a delay in speech. When we investigated why this was, we saw that the child watched television all day. At that time, there were no mobile phones, there was television. The child had turned on the television. He watched music channels all day. He watched videos, watched song channels, listened to them. Since he never had to speak or produce words, he just watched. The mother, like a cheap babysitter, had given the child the remote control. The child ate, drank, and spent time with it. Since he didn't have to speak, the word-producing area of his brain atrophied. The child was being entertained at that moment. He was hypnotized, mesmerized, lost in it. Focusing on one point and losing touch with the realities of the world is a hypnotic state.” he stated.
It is sown as a seed and grows in later years…
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, stating that life scenarios are learned at a young age and these scenarios are experienced in older ages; “When the dose of screen exposure is excessive, the child cannot learn anything else. For a child to learn, all five senses must be active. In addition to the five senses, they need to learn by experiencing. They need to learn by disassembling and reassembling, by playing, by living. Life scenarios are learned at a young age. Individuals live out these learned life scenarios in older ages. Not only narratives and stories, but also experiences become permanent in the child. That's why what they experience with adults, what they experience with friends, what they experience while playing, disassembling and reassembling, takes root in their developing minds. It is sown there as a seed and grows in later years. For this reason, the time children spend with their parents is very important. Not just parents giving advice, but the events they experience together, the stories they share, are very important…” he said.
“Screen exposure exceeding 20 hours a week harms children”
Prof. Dr. Tarhan, stating that abstract thinking skills are a function of the brain's frontal lobe; “Screen exposure exceeding 20 hours a week harms children. Children should be under parental supervision until school age. At 6-7 years old, reality, abstract thought, and conceptual thought emerge in children. A perception of reality develops. Before that, they confuse imagination with reality. For example, if a child watches a video alone, and monsters seem to come at them in the video, the child perceives it as real. If a red color is reflected from there, they might think their hand is bleeding. Because during that period, they cannot distinguish imagination from reality. At 6-7 years old, the brain learns the reality test. Until then, concrete thinking exists. If the child is very intelligent, abstract thinking can start even before 6-7 years old. Abstract thinking skill is a function of the frontal lobe of the brain. It occurs with the combined work of emotional intelligence, social intelligence, and mathematical intelligence. Some children learn faster, some learn slower. This is very much related to social and emotional intelligence.” he said.
“Digital is a tool for us, not a goal”
Tarhan, pointing out that Turkey has a record level of screen exposure; “Our country holds the record for screen exposure in the world. The world average is 3 hours a day. In Turkey, it reaches 7 hours. This rate applies not just to children, but to adults as well. There is too much screen exposure. If you raise children by constantly giving them screens from a young age, those children become like autistic individuals. They cannot sit and chat with someone, they cannot form relationships with the opposite sex. In other words, digital is a tool for us, not a goal. Technology is inherently neutral. If we use it for our own purposes, it serves us, but if it manages us, then you are being used. There is popular culture, digital imperialism right now. It is heading in that direction…” he stated.
“Screen addiction disrupts the brain’s reward system”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, pointing out that the main symptom in the diagnosis of addiction is loss of control; “If a person’s ability to control their daily life and daily productivity is impaired, they are addicted. Screen addiction disrupts the brain’s reward system. Because the screen is a highly rewarding environment, continuously offering varied and immense pleasure, allowing access to all kinds of gratification. It is very convenient, accessible 24 hours a day, a very useful and practical environment. Twenty years ago, when televisions first came out, it was advised not to put them in the bedroom due to radiation. Now, there are mobile phones in bed. It looks like one is reading a book, but there’s a mobile phone in hand. It has become like a limb. It’s not strange for it to be so. It makes life easier and faster. It also has some economical aspects. It has provided tremendous convenience to life. For adults, the most important thing is purpose. A person who has a purpose when they wake up in the morning, who plans their day, can protect themselves from the social media trap and screen exposure. We call this media literacy. A person with media literacy uses their smartphone, tablet, or computer when they need it. They do not use it when they don't need it.” he stated.
“People with a purpose in life do not fall into the internet trap”
Tarhan, stating that a person should strategically determine their own path; “Currently, modernism tells us to live for today. If a person charts their own course without strategic thought, events will drag them wherever they please. They need to think, ‘What will happen in 3 years? What will happen in 5, 10 years?’ Imagine a ship that has left port. It doesn't know where it's going. The wind carries it, tosses it around, but if it has a compass, if it knows where it's going, the wind helps it. Similarly, a person with a purpose in life does not fall into the internet trap. They do not fall into screen exposure, they do not fall into digital addiction. The way to escape digital addiction is to plan your day, plan your future, and live a meaningful life. Anyone who does this should not be afraid at all. Let them take it and use it according to their goal.” he said.
The stony paths of this era are the internet…
Tarhan, emphasizing the importance of conveying truth in the digital world; “The stony paths of this era are the internet. If you have a cause, an ideal, if you have a concern about what you did for this truth, for monotheism, when you go before Allah, if you believe Allah will ask me, the best place to express this is the internet, the digital space. The man in America reads. During the Gaza events, that grandfather, with his grandchild in his lap, a turban on his head, with immense wisdom and immense submission, kissing and bidding farewell to his child, that calm, not fearing death, knowing they would meet again in the future, flattened Islamophobia all over the world. Many meetings were held, many books were written about Islamophobia. None were as effective. That man shattered the stereotypical, Islamophobic image of turbans and robes in people's minds. Digital did this. It is necessary to tell the truth here. If we have such a concern, social media becomes a tool. Therefore, for us adults, for believers, this is an important method; let's use social media for the purpose of how we want to be remembered, what kind of person we want to be when we reach the end of our lives.” he stated.
“The family environment should be stable, consistent, and continuous”
Tarhan, mentioning that children cannot manage themselves in the face of inconsistent parental discipline; “The family environment should be stable, consistent, and continuous. If there is such discipline, a consistent family environment, the child can use the phone consciously. Therefore, if we are conscious parents, the child also learns to consciously manage time, impulses, and desires. If parents say one thing in the morning and another in the evening, it becomes inconsistent discipline. When there is inconsistent discipline, the child learns nothing. They only learn indiscipline and lack of rules. Life, the home, should be a rule-based environment. The child gravitates towards whatever they like. In such a case, no pattern forms in the child's mind. Our brain learns through pattern recognition, through a modular system. It categorizes tasks as important, less important, and unimportant. For example, when we receive information into our brain, when we see a chair, you say this chair has four legs. When you see a three-legged chair, you don't put that chair in the 'chair' file in your brain; the brain opens a 'broken-legged chair' file. It records it there, and remembers it from there. The brain has such a learning model, and it needs to be taught accordingly.” he stated.