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Showing posts from May, 2026

Screen Time & Kids' Brains: A Neurologist's Honest Take for Indian Parents

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 A toddler is fussing at the dinner table, and a phone with a YouTube video buys the parents ten minutes of peace. A five-year-old learns the alphabet faster on an iPad app than from flashcards. A twelve-year-old stays connected with classmates through WhatsApp and Instagram. And somewhere along the way, the screen — which began as a tool — becomes a constant companion. As one of the best neurologists in Attapur , I have been seeing a quiet but deeply concerning shift in the children and teenagers who walk into my clinic. Delayed speech in toddlers. Attention issues in school-going children. Anxiety and emotional outbursts in teenagers. Sleep problems across all age groups. And in almost every case, when we sit down and talk with the family, excessive and unregulated screen time is a significant part of the story. I'm not here to make parents feel guilty. Raising children in 2025 is genuinely hard, and screens are everywhere. I'm here to give you the honest, science-based pic...

Doom Scrolling & Your Brain: How Social Media is Rewiring Your Nervous System

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 It's midnight. You told yourself "just five more minutes" forty-five minutes ago. Your thumb is still moving. News alerts, reels, outrage threads, disaster headlines — one after another, without pause, without end. Sound familiar? This is doom scrolling — and if you think it's just a bad habit, think again. As a neurologist, I see patients every week whose sleep disorders, anxiety, chronic headaches, and brain fog trace back — at least in part — to what's happening on that glowing screen in their hands. The effects are not just psychological. They are deeply, measurably neurological . Let's talk about what's really going on inside your brain when you doom scroll — and what you can do about it. What Exactly Is Doom Scrolling? Doom scrolling refers to the compulsive habit of endlessly consuming negative news or distressing content on social media and news apps — even when it makes you feel worse. It spiked dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and ...