Computer Screens Cause Lower IQ?

Another less than accurate advertorial for Debi’s book on brains. Makes my brain want to explode it’s so filled with falsehoods, just like the book “Create A Better Brain Through Neuroplasticity”

The Pearls go to a familiar place yet again, hating on any and all technology, claiming that screens warp your children’s brains and cause lower IQ.

” On the other hand, children who have been raised by cartoons and computer games and are relegated to the out-of-the-way back bedrooms filled with toys and music are dull and unresponsive. They lack interest and generally seem to have a lower IQ than children of interactive parents. The on-his-own child is full of embarrassing, silly nonsense or is seen to have a dull, disinterested stare. It is a sad state seen in most children today. It has been proven that the blue screen alters the brain of children”

Ah! The old electronic babysitter argument. Pre cell phones and computers the evil bugaboo causing deviant kids in Pearlworld was television and “Law & Order: SVU”! Debi mentioned SVU as pornography several times through the years. I’ve been watching Benson and Stabler for years and never seen any porn!

Do you know what does impact IQ negatively? Trauma, the type of trauma caused by being hyper-vigilant to keep from being beaten for small things. Children at the mercy of violent petty tyrants, being consistently abused, and being deprived of food, medical care and so many things that are essential end up with PTSD, which does impact intelligence levels. Nutritional issues impact the brain, and we’ve all seen the Pearl stories about only having cat food and feed corn to eat.

“When a very young child is constantly interacting with his parents, it is readily apparent that his understanding exceeds that of his screen-viewing peers.”

Peer reviewed studies please or it’s not true. Just like most everything else in this book Debi fails to back this with scientific studies.

She goes on to claim that making a child fear God is the beginning of wisdom and that most people do not properly fear God. More PTSD talking again.

“The child who is encouraged to interact socially and in projects will not be a slobbering, screen-headed fool. He will be marked with bubbling self-confidence and self-respect.”

You just know that the distance learning taking place during this pandemic has to be killing her. All those kids staring at screens for hours on end! This all follows her singing the praises of having your children interact and help you with everything you do, from cooking to cleaning out an old sewer pipe. While my daddy taught me to swing a hammer, and use a skill saw I can honestly say I would not have been interested in cleaning out a sewer pipe. No kid is going to be 100% interested in daily adult doings, no matter what she claims. We all pick up enough adulting skills along the way to survive when we leave the nest without being the main focus of our education!

“Time spent at the table talking is more important than times tables.”

Not for anyone that hopes to go to college, or even be a carpenter or laborer. Math skills are useful in cooking and just about anything else you could imagine. More important than listening to your parents babbling out crazy conspiracy theories.

“It is common for fathers to leave the raising of young children to Mother and not get very involved in their sons’ lives until they are old enough to tag along and participate in their adult work and play, but it is then that Dad discovers his son is a lazy mama’s boy, an insecure, disinterested sissy.”

There they go again, with that derogatory word again, ‘Sissy’. I’m not sure if this is some sort of code word for ‘gay’ in this context, or just anyone not turning out like Michael Pearl’s idea of hyper masculinity. Kids are all different, and not every boy is going to turn out violent, pulsing with machismo and all the other attributes that Michael thinks are ‘manly’ that seem like some grotesque parody of manhood.

Reminded of Sam the Slayer or Samwell Tarley on “Game of Thrones”. For those that do not watch the show Sam was a rather rotund son of a Lord, who loved books, hated hunting and masculine pursuits. Loved his mother. His father, disgusted with his lack of manliness, sends him away to exile to the Night’s Watch, where he flounders before coming into his own. He is smart and sensitive, but no less brave and courageous than his father. When the going gets tough he can be counted on to do the right thing. He makes it right to the very end, surviving and thriving as a ‘sissy’.

Michael Pearl would have written Sam off immediately as a ‘sissy’.

“A good vocabulary doesn’t come from books; it comes more from conversation.”

Another Pearl of un-wisdom. Reading is vital in childhood. Not only is it one of the best ways to expand our vocabularies, it exposes us to new ideas, different people, different ways of life, different ways of speech. You can travel the world from your bedroom by cultivating a habit of reading. It’s been proven to add IQ points, and add to any child’s base of knowledge.

Children are better served by allowing them to be who they will be. The wonder of life is that there is endless diversity. Trying to force a child into one of a few specific molds only harms the child, and frustrates the parent. The Pearls are abusive monsters.

Recent photo of Michael Pearl.