Are Our Kids Being Wired for Disconnection?
By Julia Grover-Barrey, MSc., OTR/L
Founder of In-Tuned®
Children are becoming less grounded, more anxious, harder to engage—and more easily overwhelmed. And we’re not just talking about tweens and teens. This shift is showing up in our youngest children—in preschool classrooms, in therapy sessions, and around the dinner table. Not being able to get a child to sit at the dinner table is a common complaint amongst parents who bring their children into me for evaluation.
One of the biggest culprits? The tiny glowing rectangles in our hands.
We live in a culture where screens are everywhere. They entertain, distract, educate—and they do it fast. But what’s happening beneath the surface, in the brains and bodies of our children, when screen time takes over sensory play and real-world connection?
The Immature Brain Is Not Ready for This
Young brains are still wiring. The areas responsible for self-regulation, decision-making, and emotional resilience—the prefrontal cortex and its network partners—are under construction well into our twenties.
But here’s the issue: social media platforms, games, and even “educational” apps are specifically designed to stimulate the brain’s reward centers without any real effort. Likes, level-ups, notifications... all of it creates a highly myelinated dopamine feedback loop that kids can’t easily self-manage. It’s not a lack of willpower—it’s biology.
When Sensory Input Gets Replaced
Here’s something we don’t talk about enough: children need rich, hands-on sensory experiences to build the architecture of a healthy nervous system. That means movement, texture, weight, balance, sound variation, and human-to-human interaction. Use of screens interfere with the sensory development that is foundational to mature executive brain function.
When screens become the main source of stimulation, a few things happen:
The tactile, proprioceptive, and vestibular systems go underused. This can show up as children being hyper or hyposensitive to sensory input and has a huge impact on the attentional resources.
Children lose opportunities to practice self-regulation in real-world settings making them less emotionally resilient.
Emotional outbursts become more frequent, focus wanes, and body awareness slips.
We see this in clinical practice. We hear it from teachers. And we feel it, as parents.
What Can We Do?
This isn’t about guilt. It’s about awareness. The good news? Children’s brains are also wonderfully plastic—they can adapt and thrive when we start making small, meaningful changes.
We can reclaim tech-free routines. We can reintroduce sensory-rich play. We can help kids slow down, breathe, and reconnect—with their own bodies and with the world around them.
And we can do it together. Now is the best time, as AZ House Bill 2484 takes effect to restrict public and charter school students from using cell phones during the school day.
Join Me for a Deeper Conversation
If this resonates with you, I’d love to invite you to a special workshop for parents and early childhood educators:
🧠 Title: How social media is shaping the way we parent and teach
📍 Location: Resurrection Lutheran Church, 11575 N. First Ave, Oro Valley, AZ
📅 Date & Time: Saturday, August 30th, 2025, 8:30 am - 1:30 pm
🎟️ Details: https://www.in-tunedchild.com/trainings-dates/2025/8/30/parent-educator-collaborative-workshops
We’ll explore the neuroscience, the challenges, and—most importantly—the strategies to help children thrive in a digital world.
Come with questions. Leave with tools. Let’s reconnect, together.