COLUMBUS – If you need one, here is another reason to limit the time your children spend looking at screens.
Speech pathologists are voicing a warning: That the overuse of technology could cause irreversible damage to the communication skills of future generations.
May is Better Speech and Hearing Month and a survey from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association found the biggest concern of speech pathologists is that, when kids are on devices like tablets, laptops and smartphones, they’re not only missing out on verbal interaction with other people, but also physical language.
“What’s most important in communication development and also in the development of relationships, is direct communication – which means that you look at each other, you have eye contact, you laugh together – and that is not well done through devices” said Dr. Ann Kummer says, senior director of Speech-Language Pathology at Cincinnati Children’s.
There’s been a significant rise in hearing loss in young people in recent years, which Kummer and other speech and hearing experts say coincides with an increase in MP3 players and iPods.
She suggests encouraging kids to keep the volume at half-level, because most hearing loss is irreversible.