As a first grade teacher I see every day the effects of unlimited amounts of screen time negatively affecting children both academically and socially emotionally. First graders when I first started teaching in 1998 versus now are not even com[arable. The EBD children then aren't even comparable to most so called neuro typical first graders now. I know this isn't a popular opinion but I believe it's mainly due to screen time and this new generation of parenting. The fact that many constantly validate their child's every emotion or feeling is causing a a generation of big emotion children who are unable to process simple disappointments in life .I’d blame lack of exercise more than smoking, processed foods, vitamin D, etc.
When we were kids we had 3 channels of tv and board games, if there was nothing good on TV we were outside playing games and riding our bikes, there’s now hundreds of channels of tv, endless streaming, YouTube, thousands of video games, combine that with parents worry of what will happen if kids are outside and you get a bunch of kids sitting on the couch rather than running around.
Makes me glad I was a kid when I was.