Can a kid "get used to" screens?

[Frank_Sm1th]

My older son, 10, shows some real talent with computers. However, after a couple of hours he begins picking his lips and becomes antisocial. He used to get coughing and other tics from screens, but doesn't anymore. I'm wondering if he can become immune to the screens' effects with enough exposure; people develop tolerances for all sorts of things. Why not screens?

 

I don't think we're playing with fire here; his screen-caused tics were never very severe. He seems to be addressing his post-screen irritability so that he can be allowed more computer time. Anyone have any actual experience with this?

 

Frank

[Chemar]

Hi Frank

 

I honestly dont know about screen "tolerance" as such. My son did tic more in movie theatres or with the regular TV on, but not at his LCD screen computer monitor. We also found that using those "daylight" spectrum lightbulbs while he is watching TV and even on the computer is beneficial.

I dont know if it is tolerance, or just part of his overall reduction in tics, but he seems to be less sensitive to the TV and movie theatre screens these days.

 

He has developed a preference for playing games etc on his computer rather than using TV game consoles, because he recognises the fact that the CRT screen "sets him off" and although he still goes to the movies on occasion, he is very selective and self limits this.

 

Thankfully he is old enough now at 15 to rationalise all this, but it was a major stress for him when he was younger and I tried to limit his CRT/ movie screen exposure. In fact, as I have posted here before, the stress of the restriction seemed to intensify his tics then, and so we reached a compromise and I was very pleased to see him begin to make wise choices on time limitations and on the types of games etc that he played or watched, as he realised that "explosive" stuff with lots of light changes set him off more.

[Andy]

Frank, my son has had little tolerance with TV or computer viewing in the past without an outbreak of tics. However, at the end of April my son had his third DMPS IV detox and was shown a video to ensure stillness during the procedure and for that 15- 20 minutes no tics were observed then or afterwards. This was a first at the doctors office. Also this past weekend he had his first two DMSA detox treatments at home where we let him watch TV for 1 hr on both days to allow the 45 minutes time for the supporsitories to be absorbed by the body. On both days there was no sign of tics during or after viewing. In addition my wife told me that when I took her parents to the airport she let the boys watch some TV and that is another 1 hr plus of TV viewing without tics. So roughly my son saw 3 1/2 hrs of TV is a short time span with out tics. This is something for we usually limit his viewing to 1/2 hr a week and at times no TV for months at a time. Now it is to early to tell but the data suggests to us that perhaps the more metals that we get out of our son the more tolerance he has to viewing and perhaps the visual-motor tic in response to the unstructured light rays is more of a toxic metal poisoning issue then anything else. Thing about how some people lose their stomachs on a ride if they had a few drinks vs no drinking. Why, because their inner balance was thrown off by the alcohol. Outside substance do interfer with how our body works.

Perhaps your child is really suffering from heavy metal poisoning and everything else is a side affect?

[mmazz]

Hi Frank,

 

I have a similar issue with my older son and video games. After a lengthy period of time on these games, he has this alter-ego. We call it his evil twin. The peronsality change is so noticable and grades drop, etc. Limitation is the key but being a teenager whose whole life revolves around computers, TV and video games limitation is tough. My older son does not tic. And I do not believe in tolerance building. If it is troublesme, testing is an option. But just a question, did you adjust the resolution of the computer screens.? Perhaps with an adjustment he may be able to spend a little more time with less of a mood swing. It seems to help me at work and with my little one that does tic, I have adjusted the LCD TV screen and it does help.

 

Marie

[Frank_Sm1th]

Thanks for the input... we'll proceed with moderation. Screens are such a part of the modern world that we need 'em so much-- for work, play, news, learnining, this forum,

and more.

 

Marie, we've got the crts set to the highest refresh rates; the whole family can tell on sight when anything flickers too much. I have the most tolerance of low quality monitors and am not actually bothered by flicker even though I can see it. Our next monitor will be an lcd, but they're still awful expensive.

 

Thankfully, metal poisoning doesn't seem to be part of the picture here.

 

Frank

[Guest Diane]

Frank,

not sure where you live (do you live near a Costco?). We recently purchased, at Costco here in Canada, a 17" LCD monitor made by ACER for $279 (cdn). The screen is so large, even though it is listed as a 17", it measures a full inch larger on the diagonal than our 17" CRT monitor. The resolution is crystal-clear and the colour is very good. They did not have a colour choice (black only), but that was fine. We are very pleased with it.